Electrical fence guys, i need your help. :-)

[Chiriqui]

Your charger is fine for what you are doing. Plenty of overkill. Looks like you have your system in, but I'll share a little of my experience.
1) I have about 7.5km of electric fencing, 2 chargers. I use the flexible poly line, about 1/8" dia. because it is so much easier to install and repair. It works fine.
2) I use wood posts only for corners and gates. 1/2" or 3/8" rebar (whichever fits the insulators best) for intermediate posts
3) I still have plenty of aluminum and galvanized sections left. You do not have to apply tension, only enough to eliminate the sag. The electric zap does the work.
4) I install a .5amp fuse on the fence side because nobody ever remembers to pull the switch when there's lightening. This is protection for the charger. I've lost plenty of chargers to lightening.
5) Gates are a pain. I haven't found the perfect gate. Nothing seems to last long. I've tried the springs, spring handles, stretch rope etc. Just doesn't hold up. Now going to just a piece of electric string with a hook handle (insulated).
6) Design the system so that clasp side of gate is always powered, line side not. That way when you put the gate down on the ground, you are not grounded out and the line is safe to touch. You can use this to energize/deenergize large areas, which also helps the charger.
7) I use 2 lines for smaller animals (calves, etc.), 1 line for larger animals, such as cows, and 3 - 4 lines for bulls. Works fine. I do not believe any electric system is going to keep coons out, but it will be interesting to see.

 

[pickeringchris]

I did a little test a while back. Since the coons love to eat my garbage I put a small wire around it. I pointed my security camera at it so I could review each morning. The first 2 nights I had 3 or 4 coons touch the wire and take off like a bat out of ****. For the next week no coons period. I think they learned. I would say that's a pretty successful test.

 

[patrick_g]

My charger is AC. Time the tool man stole that motto from me. I am mr overkill on everything. My testing with this charger has been 100% successful. It's rated for 6 miles and I have 1/2 mile of wire. If have to get a bigger one I will but don't think it's necessary.

Miles ratings don't mean squat. That is advertising hoopla. What wire, what ground conductivity what animal?

A joule is a physical measurable verifiable quantity like ohms, volts or amps. Miles is a distance but... what is the observed potency at a distance of 6 miles? Nine out of ten people can barely feel a tingle standing in a puddle and touching the wire with their tongue or it will knock a 'coon on its backside leaving no interest in trying again? What % of a joule is measured at 6 miles? What is your previous experience with fence chargers and what critters have you previously dissuaded from trespassing?

Whistling in the dark, believing mileage claims or acreage claims may lead you astray. I truly hope your system works amazingly well. My experience may not be typical but I'd use a charger with more power.

More is better, especially if a few weeds , vines, grass, or whatever touches the hot wire. Some potent chargers are called weed burners and can be loaded down with a fair amount of vegetation and still deliver a potent shock.

If you are looking for advice...who you gonna call? An opinion pole is useless if those expressing opinions have not done the deed successfully. I'd be inclined to look at the suggestions of folks with more experience than reading advertising copy. Ignore me, I'm just some crazy dude but look at posts from folks who have done this and had it work. Any resemblance to their suggestions and mine is purely coincidental.

Pat

 

[pickeringchris]

Hey Pat, I'm not a total idiot. I know that much of the ratings is marketing. I also know that some companies fudge the ratings. So my charger is "rated" for 10 kilometers. I'm using less than a KM of wire. If this charger can't do one tenth of its "marketed" capacity i would ask why do they even make a 1 joule charger or 1/2 joule??? Seems to me they wouldn't stop a hamster.
Btw, I have no problem spending a few hundred on a super duper awesome charger if I need one.

 

[Chiriqui]

No need to spend hundreds of dollars on a charger. What you've got will work fine. Main thing is to keep the line from grounding out. Every place there's a ground, such as high grass, you lose power. If it grounds out long enough, it will damage your charger. Better to keep the weeds down under the line, and cut back the brush. My cows do a good job of mowing the grass under the line.

 

[patrick_g]

Hey Pat, I'm not a total idiot. I know that much of the ratings is marketing. I also know that some companies fudge the ratings. So my charger is "rated" for 10 kilometers. I'm using less than a KM of wire. If this charger can't do one tenth of its "marketed" capacity i would ask why do they even make a 1 joule charger or 1/2 joule??? Seems to me they wouldn't stop a hamster.
Btw, I have no problem spending a few hundred on a super duper awesome charger if I need one.

I'm sure you'll do fine. I may have just been unlucky, had bad installations, or maybe had atomic mutant critters (zombie hoards of 'coons?)

Oh, I never doubted your intelligence.

I have a digital meter that will measure my fence "umph" anywhere along the run. I've used it on several chargers I have had and those of friends. Seems to be a correlation between reputable brands and getting the output advertised with "cheapies" not producing so good, especially with some weeds in contact.

What will definitely deter me (I hate being shocked) won't stop a bull. A bull stopper takes on the the attributes of the fence in "Jurassic Park." I have only seen one solar powered charger with enough power to make a believer out of an Angus cow. That was a high powered (rated as a bull stopper) 12 VDC operated unit that I powered by deep cycle battery with large solar panels for a charger. Lightning got it.

Another topic. You are all set up with a good charger and everything is working fine and then one near miss of a good lightning strike and your system is toast. There are protective devices that will reduce the chances of the system being destroyed by lightning and they make sense but none will save you from an actual hit on your hot wire except maybe the good ole standby large knife switch which you open to disconnect your lightning collection system (aka electric fence wire) from your fence charger.

I have only lost the one system but have a friend who has all the protective devices and still gets blown up every couple years. Location location location.

Pat

 

[pickeringchris]

I purchased this charger last fall and had some poly wire running off it it. I purchased a digital meter too and it was giving me 9.9k volts (the max capacity of the meter). This was by sticking the ground probe in the earth.
Speedrite is made in New Zealand and a farmer buddy up here is Canada says they are they best money can buy. That's why I got it. It was defiantly more expensive than any other brand at 1 joule.

I thought about lightning strikes. I would think that my chances are slim compared to a 25 acre farm. Still, you have me thinking.

 

[Chiriqui]

Lightning loves electric fences, so chances are that your fence will be struck sometime. There are lightning arresters that can be installed in the fence line. I've used a number of them, some are better than others, but none of them provided complete protection. Right now, I have 2 lightning arresters, a knife switch and a .5 amp line fuse (not a car fuse). Nobody ever remembers to pull the knife switch, so it is useless. The fuse is the final protection. I had a car fuse before, but the lightning melted the fuse into a gob that passed the current on to the charger which blew up. If anybody has a better fix for this, I'm all ears, er. eyes.

 

[bullbreaker]

More good info IMO : Electric Fence - How To Install

Boone