Bat Listener

Name: Bat Listener
SKU: 8291
Price: 35.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.82 (7 reviews)

(7 Reviews)

Build your own kit to listen to the ultrasonic world of bats

Designed by The Curious Electric Company in United Kingdom

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Build your own kit to listen to the ultrasonic world of bats

What is it? Welcome to fascinating world of bats! This Bat Listener kit can hear the ultrasonic sounds created by bats and convert them to a lower frequency so that you can hear them communicate, nav…

What is it?

Welcome to fascinating world of bats! This Bat Listener kit can hear the ultrasonic sounds created by bats and convert them to a lower frequency so that you can hear them communicate, navigate and seek them!

Bats use ultra-sonic pulses to navigate and to detect prey. These pulses are very high pitch, in the region of 40-120kHz, around 5 times the maximum frequency humans can hear. The Bat Listener is an electronic circuit that converts the high pitched sounds produced by bats to a human-audible level. For extra fun use the Bat Listener to investigate other gadgets which make a high frequency noise .

You can hear compact fluorescent lights screaming away, the squeaks from sticky tape as it is unwrapped and the high frequency power supplies which power the back-lights in phones and laptops.

This kit has also been used to check if ultrasonic pet scarers are still working, check for gasses leaking from pipes and listen to the noises made by rats!

Why did you make it?

This kit was originally designed as a Xmas present for my Dad, who had seen bats in the garden. I then ran this as a workshop at Nottingham Hackspace (nottinghack.org.uk) and from there I decided to turn it into a kit to sell. I have recently updated this kit based upon feedback, and its now quicker to build, needs less fiddly wires and the end unit is much nicer to use. I've also added a visual indication of the output and, for more advanced users, an output for monitoring by an arduino or other microcontroller.

Included in the kit

Bat Listener Printed Circuit Board
16x Capacitors
13x Resistors
3x Integrated Circuits (ICs)
3x IC Socket Connectors
4x Diodes
Transistor
Ultrasonic Receiver
Speaker
Switch
Potentiometer
Instruction Booklet
Acrylic Enclosure and all fixings.

Please note: While not difficult to make, this kit does require quite a lot of soldering. It is recommended for people who have already done a bit of soldering and will take in the region of 1-3 hours to solder.

PCB files and DXF enclosure files are all here: https://github.com/curiouselectric/batlistener

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Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (4.86)

Documentation: (4.86)

Shipping: (4.86)

Communication: (4.71)

Erwin | April 9, 2024

Impressive and fun kit

The kit took like an hour to assemble, it is perfectly documented and the result is a fun little toy. Since it included printed instructions, it was a totally offline build

Chris | April 25, 2021

A well thought out project!

The build was fairly straight forward, the quality was good. Things were well documented and the listener is easy to use.
This isn't really so much a frequency shifting device, I think of it more as an alarm or detector. The facility my wife works in often has bat intrusion, this is a fun way to see if any are in the building each morning!
The kit contents were complete, shipped promptly, and packed well.

Przemek | Feb. 11, 2021

I'm waiting for bats

I'm an amateur, sometimes I don't know how circuits work, but I love to assemble them. I just fell in love with this set. Very detailed instruction, beginner-friendly. The only thing I missed was marking the length of the bend of the microphone's legs. I bent too long and it did not fit the case. On first sight
mounting the housing is a bit frustrating, but if you do it slowly and think logically everything goes well and the housing is perfect.Bat listener gives a lot of joy while checking what is generating ultrasound in our environment. I haven't heard the bats yet, but in the summer I will definitely "hunt" them.
To sum up, Bat Listerner is a very friendly KIT and it is one of the devices that you did not know you needed them but if you already have them, you are immediately happier :)

Roger | Dec. 6, 2020

Fun build, works perfectly.

I wanted a way to demonstrate the presence of ultrasonic sounds in our everyday environment for a class I teach. Wow, did this little build pay off. I learned that the motion sensors in our classrooms use ultrasonic sounds to sense people in the room. It must also be by echo-location. The idea behind these sensors is that they will turn off the lights when nobody is around - BTW, very few of those sensors work as they should. Anyway, this build sounds off while in a room with one of these motion sensors, and goes quiet as soon as we take it out the door.

I like the sensitivity adjustment too - (in a quiet room) you can adjust it so it is quiet unless you rub your fingers together near the sensor. Then it will crackle with the rubbing of fingerprint skin over ridges of fingers. I had no idea that made ultrasonic sound either. Fun stuff!

I also tested it with my "cat repeller" that makes ultrasonic sound when a PIR motion sensor is triggered. It sounded off like a charm in sync with the sounds from the repeller.

I'm very happy with this purchase. Perhaps I will buy another some time if the classroom demonstration becomes popular with other teachers!

Additionally, the creator was very responsive to my questions about frequency range sensitivity and other things. Bravo! for the perfect customer service as well.

Allen | Sept. 25, 2020

Works well, good instructions, case is a bit fiddly

It came to me in a reasonable amount of time for UK to Canada. Kit was well organized, may be a bit advanced for a absolute beginner. Built it in a couple of hours (I check all parts as I install them). I ended up with 2 extra 16 pin DIP sockets so thanks I guess. The case presented a bit of a challenge, a little awkward to assemble and I didn't realize there were different screw lengths (10 and 12mm). Two 12mm together would come up against each other and not allow the top/bottom to tighten up properly. Double checked the instructions and the parts list said 6 and 12mm screws, that would have been easier to notice (I was anxious to finish it). My store brand 9V batteries are bit thicker than they should be so I shimmed up the cover with small flat washers so the top wouldn't distort. I found the speaker a bit on he loud side (no volume control) so I replaced it with a 3.5mm jack. I then made a new speaker with the guts from an old earbud and soldered it directly to a 3.5mm mono plug (no shell). I covered it with a piece of heat shrink as it was still to loud and that seems to be better. I may add a volume control when I can get time to come back to it (Canadian winter). Volume was an issue because I like to crack open my bedroom window and just leave it on over night to get an idea of how many bats may be around my house. It worked great I can hear them coming and going and it doesn't wake me up now. I am currently in the scheming stage of hooking it up to a Raspberry Pi to get time stamps and pulse patterns for next year and maybe remote the sensor (Canadian winter). Maybe I'll even be able to identify individuals. Overall it's a fun project that connects you to the real though un-hearable world of ultrasonics.
Tip: I use plastic ice cube trays to organize parts before assembly. Helps assembly to go faster.

Adrian | April 16, 2018

Bat listener actually detects real bats at a distance!

This bat listener kit has been carefully engineered and is - thanks to the detailed printed instructions - easy to assemble in an hour or so if you are familiar with identifying and soldering electronic components. At first I tested it with my indoor ultrasonic spider repellent. Then at dawn I adjusted its sensitivity to just below self-triggering, went outside and waited for the vampires to dive upon me. A single bat passed by several times and the listener responded as expected with a creaky noise. The maximum detection range seems to be several ten meters, may be up to fifty if the bat is screaming straight at the device and the sensitivity has been adjusted appropriately. Do not forget to switch it off after use to save battery life.

Michael | July 9, 2017

Very interesting kit for exploring

The bat listener is an easy project to put together. The PCB is very well marked and the instructions are clear and easy to follow.
The sensitivity dial is very touchy in an indoor environment; it took me a few tries to figure out what the best settings for listening to CFL bulbs and power supplies are. I got the chance to try it out outdoors soon after in a place with lots of bats. I could track them chirping and flying around a security light pole. The bat listener picked them up from around 25 meters and was easy to track their flight with. It was a very neat experience to be able to put together a piece of equipment and test it out in the field.

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