Went shopping for an Air Conditioning (AC) unit recently. I had my specifications in mind – budget basic function, split unit, with Low voltage start. Overtime, i have come to have a preference for LG products, so it was the brand’s boot i visited first when i visited Cash N Carry, Ikota Shopping Complex, Near VGC, Lagos.
After a quick scan of the different AC units they had on display, the one that caught my eye was the one that had a label on it reading “Anti Mosquito Repellent”. I was hooked. A quick check at the price tag showed a thousand naira shy of N70,000 for the 1.5Hp model. Notwithstanding that it was a little above my budget, i just could not get my eyes off it. The sales lady i queried about the authenticity of the claims being made by LG, Emilia by name, was surprisingly very knowledgeable about the product and verified their claims. She went further to say that this particular series has been selling very well.
I was very impressed with her knowledge of the product.
Fingers crossed, made the purchase, had it installed and waited till nightfall when those blood sucking anopheles mosquitoes come out from their holes to have a taste of blood. Waited…waited…No bites yet. Could this really be true?
Further research revealed that the technology being employed by LG in this series of AC units is called Ultrasonic Wave Technology. Pressing the “anti-mosquito button” on the unit’s remote control causes a speaker within the air conditioner to generate inaudible ultrasonic waves at a frequency of 30 kHz to 100 kHz. Ultrasonic vibrations apparently put pressure on their nervous systems, repelling the mosquitoes or causing immobility.
In the coming days, i will be putting this product into even more intensive use to verify the effective or otherwise of this technology.
PS: A closer search revealed that there are a lot of apps on the Android and iOS platform with similar claims of repelling mosquitoes using ultrasonic waves.
4 comments
Deoladoctor
Wale, I think you should try the anti-mosquito function without the a/c on and let’s see if it works. LG might have one more customer.
Talking about mobile anti mosquito apps, I have one on my iPad/iPhone that seem to have some limited function but you have to keep the device near to where you don’t want the bite. It’s not powerful enough to cover you from head to feet. Same goes for Anti-Mosquito app on blackberry from the App Store. I have not brought myself up to buying the paid version cos am yet to prove to myself that its worth the money.
Harry Echemco
I’ve known such apps right from my Java dumb phone days and unfortunately, it never worked. Some time last year, I needed to retrieve something from my Sony Ericsson K750i dumb phone and was reminded of the mosquito repellent app, I think it is called anti-gnat or something. I proceeded to search for such apps and found quite a bunch but unfortunately, none worked as advertised. Going by the principle upon which these class of apps/gadgets are based, it sounds quite plausible and realizable but I have tried a good number up till date and none yet seems to work.
In my searches last year, I also came across numerous other apps that are supposed to work on similar principle, but target to other pests like roaches and rats and I didn’t observe anything positive. Maybe I should do another search now and see if some developers have figured out the right frequencies or the right combination that does the magic.
And finally, you’ve already acknowledged that the A/C is working well. Has there been any negative changes in your observations between then and now?
Wale Falade
Let’s just say i am still in the testing phase. A lot of people have argued that mosquitoes do not like cold environments, a factor that may be working in favour of these AC/Anti Mosquito combos.
However, it is possible to use the anti mosquito function without the cooling function of the air conditioner being put on, i am yet to try this.
eye_bee_kay
interesting stuff, especially the apps generating those high frequency stuff.
I will sure give this a whirl and c if this class of apps is just spinning “tall stories”.
So the makers of “Raid” and “ShellTox” need to think again?
Hmm…