Controller Sequence:
At power up (last battery installed), the LED will blink once and the servo motor is powered to the reset position (flap up). It then goes into sleep mode waiting for the sensor to be triggered. When the sensor is triggered, servo motor is powered 80 degrees back to the flap release position. It waits 1 second then powers the servo motor to the flap up position then goes back to sleep.
If the battery voltage goes below 4.7 volts, the LED will blink twice after the trip sequence has been completed to indicate low batteries. 4 new AA batteries usually produce about 6.2 volts. All servos are not made the same. Some will work down to 4.2 volts but others fail to work at just under 5 volts. Most problems are associated with low batteries. The larger servos on the Rat traps seem to need at least 5 volts to work.
If the trap isn’t resetting, flip it upside. Remove one battery, move the servo cam back to the flap down position. Put the battery back in. If the servo cam moves up to the flap dog but doesn’t turn all the way to the up position, it is probably low batteries.
If you are certain all 4 batteries are good and the servo doesn’t reset, it most likely is a bad servo. We don’t make the servos but do test them all multiple times before we ship. We have about a 1% failure rate on the servos we buy. You can but the servos on Amazon. The mouse traps use SG90 9G Micro Servo Motor. There are many companies that make them and some have more than a 50% failure rate. We have been buying ours from Miuzei as of late and have had the best luck with theirs. The rat traps use MG995 Servo Motor with a 180 degree rotation. It is surprising how different each motor is, some are loud while others are quite. Some seem faster than others. Have only had a few of these that did not work and we were able to take them apart and realign the gears to get them back working.
The traps all use TTP223 Capacitive Switch as the trigger sensor. We have been buying most now from HiLetgo. We have never had a bad sensor yet. Like all electronics they can get fried from moisture. We had a few in the early days get fried from rodent piss but now we coat them with liquid tape and haven’t had any more failures.
We hand make all the controller boards. They are all thoroughly tested. My eyes are getting very old so there is always a possibility that a stray wire may get away. The sensor power and trigger wires are next to each other. If a stray wire from one ends up touching the other it could keep it from triggering.
Hopefully if you buy a trap you will not ever need to read this. If all else fails, and your trap doesn’t work you can send it back and we’ll replace it or refund you.