Electric Fence - not working.

[irwin]

I thought there might be a problem with the unit (open package) so I swapped it out. Same results - Little green blinking light indicating Fence OK, but no charge. I tried the back of my hand, nothing. I picked up a fi-shock fence tester & it doesn't register anything. I suspect ground issue too, and the ground IS very dry. I thought with 6' sunk in the ground it would be enough. I'll pickup another grounding rod.

The wife and I installed the same unit a couple months ago with no problem.

I'd start as drssg outlined, make sure unit works, you have a tester so no need to make your hair stand up (or anything else, SnowRidge.. )
I'd bet it's something basic, mostly because this is a straight forward unit. Hot wire not touching anything grounded, ground wire to ground before start of fence.
good luck .............

 

[Soundguy]

What problems were you have with your closed loop? I's a continous conductor..running open circuit, with reference to ground.

soundguy

 

[gator]

What problems were you have with your closed loop? I's a continous conductor..running open circuit, with reference to ground.

soundguy

Same problem he is having, no shock. Once I disconnected the far end (with the charger still on ) I got walloped.

 

[Soundguy]

Hmm.. I've had no problems connecting any of my chargers.. either pulsed line or solar or constant current to a continous run arounf my property.. including offshoots for small pens. Then again.. i have about 4-5 ground rods too..

Soundguy

 

[SnowRidge]

Same problem he is having, no shock. Once I disconnected the far end (with the charger still on ) I got walloped.

Just curious, but what did you disconnect the far end from? Was it grounded?

 

[Cap-n-Cray]

Grounding in Florida is hard. I went to a class on grounding cable TV head end units. They taught us how to cad weld to ground rods. The instructor told us the problems he had in Florida with grounding. He said you needed a network of ground rods spaced out in an array of 6 to 8, 8 foot rods to get a good ground. Must be true for fences too.

Cary

 

[midcarolina]

You can also run two wires, one hot and one ground...... just make sure they are just far enough apart so as not to short together..... this type setup works really well especially in sandy area's

 

[49tandc]

I'll get 2 more ground rods & hook 'em up. Thanks for all your input.

49T&C

 

[Soundguy]

Just curious, but what did you disconnect the far end from? Was it grounded?

That would be my guess. As with the fence just setting there.. it is not a complete circuit.. thus no current flow..( except for perhaps.. leakage current.. ) Current only flows once a ground path is presented.

Soundguy

 

[texasjohn]

Midcarolina has the answer... I not only ground my charger, but run a wire from the ground to ground wires on the fence... I have T posts spread all over the place... that gives hundreds of grounding points, some in the bottom of gullies, some on the top of hills. To test the fence, put one end of your fence tester on the hot wire, the other on a ground wire (not in the ground).

It's gotta be hot if you do it this way.