Patent ID: 6836999

Claim:
A high-voltage automatic rearming circuit, coupled to a pair of killing plates which are separated by a space, for use in exterminating a pest, said circuit being open as a result of the space, comprising: means for sensing a pest across the pair of killing plates as a positive load input, a body of said pest completing said circuit to thereby effect automatic activation thereof such that a high-voltage pulse train is delivered to said killing plates for a time period corresponding to a killing cycle; means for terminating current flow to said killing plates upon completion of said killing cycle; means for checking a stored trigger count, said count indicating a number of previous killing cycles completed by said circuit, to determine whether a sum of said killing cycle and said stored trigger count has reached a threshold value; means for automatically rearming said circuit in response to said sum being less than said threshold value in combination with a negative load input from said sensing means indicating the circuit is open, said circuit when automatically rearmed being capable of initiating another killing cycle in response to completion of the circuit by a pest across said killing plates; and means for initiating, in response to said sum being equal to said threshold value or to said sum being less than said threshold value in combination with continued receipt of said positive load input from said sensing means, a visual notification mode in which killing cycle initiation is disabled.