Electric Fence Help

[Morelia]

Gday,

I've just had a fence installed. Its 5 wires with:
Top: Electric
Barb
Electric
Barb
Bottom: Barb

I'm new to farming so the contractor installed Strainers, posts and wires. I'm hooking up all the electrics.
Anyways I have a gallagher voltage/amp meter and while testing the fence the top wire is showing 5kV and so is the bottom electric. The Amperes on the top is 6 while the bottom is only 0.1 amps. Is this normal?????

The top wire at the ends is where I attach the insulated wire to the next run. The bottom wire runs to a dead end at the insulator.

Is there something I am doing wrong or is this normal???

TIA

cheers

J

 

[dhawken]

Is the current running serpentine then across all the wires? Sorry, just trying to catch up a bit and envision the set up. The end of the top wire connects to the second wire, which runs all the way back and then that end connects to the bottom wire and runs to the dead end? What are the lengths of these? As an aside, what is being kept in this fence?

 

[creekbend]

www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/beef/pdf/baa14s00.pdf Hopefully this helps.

 

[tcartwri]

I would hope you don't have 5KV @ 6A on the top wire!! It should be in the milliamp range.

 

[dhawken]

www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/beef/pdf/baa14s00.pdf Hopefully this helps.

Read something from the Manitoba gov't? Never!!

 

[creekbend]

Read something from the Manitoba gov't? Never!!

I posted the website in regards to assisting the OP. I, myself, found the report to be quite informative in relation to Electric Fencing. Are you suggesting that anything on the Web, relating to context written or provided by the Canadian province of Manitoba is unreliable and contains false and inaccurate information. Surely you Jest.

 

[dhawken]

I posted the website in regards to assisting the OP. I, myself, found the report to be quite informative in relation to Electric Fencing. Are you suggesting that anything on the Web, relating to context written or provided by the Canadian province of Manitoba is unreliable and contains false and inaccurate information. Surely you Jest.

Of course I jest, although possibly not as good as your jesting here. And don't call me Shirley. Yes, that was a good doc btw.

 

[joshuabardwell]

If you are showing 6 amps, something is shorting out the wire. Does your tester show the direction of current flow, or only the amps? If it shows direction, follow the direction of current flow, testing as you go, until you see the direction change. When you see the direction of current flow change, you just passed the place where the short is happening.

Think of a short on an electric fence like a hole punched in a container of water. All the water flows towards the hole. That's the amperage you're measuring on the top wire.

EDIT TO ADD: Here's an article I wrote on this topic. Using the Speedrite Fault Finder | Jack-Booted Liberal

 

[Gary Fowler]

You will also get a more consistant reading if you jump current to all the wires at the charger location. You will lose current as the distance from the charger get greater. By making your connections to all wires at the charger point, all the voltages should be the same at any point of measurement.

 

[bullbreaker]

Gday,

I've just had a fence installed. Its 5 wires with:
Top: Electric
Barb
Electric
Barb
Bottom: Barb
s there something I am doing wrong or is this normal???
TIA
cheers
J

It is prefered IMO to not be running your hot-barb-hot-barb etc all down vertical altogether flush. Hot should always be insulated back(inside) at least 5 to 10 " with insulators so horses and or valuable livestock don't have chance or reduce risk of getting shocked and caught up in barb wire at same time. Or get confused and get injured not knowing if to keep going forward or back up.
Lots of good advise given in post(s) above IMO. --------------------------

Electric Fence Supplies for Fine Electric Fencing

Just some thoughts.

Boone