Electric fencing question

[netwayne]

I am a newbie to electric fencing. We recently attached about 1200ft of wire or braided to the top rail of our wood fencing using a Solar charger from Southern States that is rated for 20 or 25 miles. Charger is fully charged and grounded to a 6.5 ft buried galvanized ground rod. After making all the connections, we turned it on and tested it with one of those cheapie test lights which showed current passing through all areas of the fence. But of course I wanted to know, if it's REALLY working so I grabbed the wire and barely felt anything but did feel the pulsing. Outside of me going barefoot in a wet area and then touching the fence..., what is the best way to test to make sure it is up to snuff? I see there are digital voltmeters for electric fencing and some just provide a digital readout for volts and others include some short or fault information. What's recommended?

 

[DanD78]

You may have had good shoes on and got lucky. I like to take a wood handle hammer and hold part of the head against a steel post and hold a gap about 1/4" to 1/8" away from the wire. You should get a blue/white spark with a loud pop. Make sure your ground rod is very deep and in moist soil. Use insulators for the wire or tape you are using. You can't attach right to the post even if it's wood.

I have used one of the multi light testers you talked about but a hammer tells me more.

Dan

 

[marimus]

When you say you attached the wire to the top of the wooden posts, you did use insulators right?

I have one of those digital meters, it gives the voltage readout, the amount of currant passing through as well as the direction (left or right) to any short.

My charger is rated to 100 kilometers, and its energising about 3 miles of gal wire, and about 600ft of poly braid.

I would be lost without the digital tester.

 

[Negligence]

You might want to re-check your line. The wire might be touching wood, etc., along the way and that would explain why your not getting much shock.

Of course, if you're wearing rubber boots you won't feel much. Where were you standing in relation to the charger?

The light meter I have has five lights, and the stronger the pulse the more lights flash. Got 5 lights going off anywhere I touch. How does yours work?

Also could be your ground. Loose/tight connection? I've got three 5' rods buried three feet apart. I think most chargers recommend more than one grounding rod.

 

[Kfbeal]

Also many new work books have the EH rating for electrical. One guys up here held a spark plug wire and turned the motor over on a lawnmower and didn't feel it. Needless to say he's braver than me for testing it, but it worked for him so the insulation may be your cause. I would check to make sure you have a good ground and that it's not grounded out elsewhere like the others have mentioned.

 

[netwayne]

Thanks all for your replies!

Here's some answers to questions I saw in your replies.

Yeah, now that I think of it, I was wearing rubber mucking boots so I guess I was pretty well protected.

I was within 10 feet of the solar charger (6 volt) when I was "testing" the wire.

Yes, I am using insulators for both the wire connections to the wood post and also the braided wire. My tester is a cheapie...just a single light that illuminates when current is passing. To test I just touch the wire after I stick a probe into the ground.

It's currently a single ground rod system which is what was suggested by the mfg'r but they did say depending on the situation I could add more ground rods. I figured I would just start out with one (it's buried about 6 1/2 feet) and my system is relatively small (1200 feet of fencing).

Curious about the actual ground rod connection to the charger. The ground wire itself is fairly thick and not easily wound around the connectors on the charger so I had used an aluminum connector to join that thick ground wire to a short piece of the thin wire used in this project which easily went around the wire connection on the charger. Is that what you all do for this connection? And those that mentioned fence testers...what make/model are they?

Thanks again!

 

[JohnDeere4300]

It's currently a single ground rod system which is what was suggested by the mfg'r but they did say depending on the situation I could add more ground rods. I figured I would just start out with one (it's buried about 6 1/2 feet)

I don't have the solar one...all electric.

On mine the manual said to use 3 ground rods...but I'm only using two and get good power on the fence.

Something i did and later found in the manual...was to put my ground rod where the ground is damp...seem like that really boost the power up.

You would want to check the insulators to make sure that they aren't arcing off a nail...or your wire isn't touching a post.

I have a tester, and another thing that i fixed up to test with, was take one of those insulator gate handles and run a wire from the fence to the handle...and hold it down to touch the grass and i can see the blue arc and hear the pop....(and all the worms come to the top of the ground)

It might be best to check to see if the ground is damp at the ground rods...if not, you could wet it down and then check.

 

[EastTexFrank]

My guess is that the rubber boots saved you from an unforgettable experience. If you want to test your fence again by grabbing hold of it, please wear sandals and have a friend take video.

I used crimp on terminals to connect the wire to the charger and they seem to work just fine. I have one of those 5 light (diodes) testers from TSC and to be honest, it's not very good. It's almost impossible to see the lights during the day. I have to check it at dusk when they are a little more visible.

If you've got your grounding rod 6' in the ground, that should be more than enough, if the ground is damp. I used two 3' rods because it was impossible to drive one rod that deep.

 

[JRobyn]

I almost hate to tell on him, but my FIL had a similar expereience with his little solar fence charger - he would gingerly touch the fence, and then when he felt little or no shock, he got mad at the charger (and the retailer he bought it from) assuming that it wasn't functioning. We (me and both of his sons) tried to tell him that without grounding himself first, he wouldn't/shouldn't really be able to feel much. He did not believe us. So we just silently watched as he took off his boots and socks and tried it again.

He has not "tested" the fence again in the several years since!

- Jay

(Sorry to say that no one got any video of "the test" - it probably would have been a contender on "America's Funniest")

 

[drssg]

I use an $11 tester that I got from TSC (Fence Tester), and it has multiple lights to indicate the strength of the charge. I've never felt compelled to personally verify its accuracy.

Or you could just hire these guys: Brainiacs