locating break in Invisable fence

[Willl]

Hey

I edited it.
What can I say, I'm biased.

 

[tallyho8]

I know nothing about these systems but I know that you can detect a short in an electric fence by driving down the fenceline with your radio set on am and when you get by the shorted area you will hear it clicking in your radio. That transmitter will probably transmit a tone than can be picked up on an am radio and when you get to the broken spot the tone will stop. I would experiment with an am radio at the beginning of the wire going through the frequencies and see if I could pick up a signal from it on the radio. If it works, let us know.

 

[450EXC]

There was a thread on fences a while back where someone explained how to find the break with a radio. If I remember right he went into a little detail for us. Last summer maybe ? Try a search for underground dog fences.

 

[schmism]

There was a thread on fences a while back where someone explained how to find the break with a radio. If I remember right he went into a little detail for us. Last summer maybe ? Try a search for underground dog fences.

ya something about an AM radio and listening for the "right kind of" static

 

[BillyP]

If you have a buddy that works for the telephone company, I bet he would have access to what they use for finding breaks in underground telephone lines. Not sure it would work but sounds logical?

 

[wushaw]

Y'all almost got it right.
First you have to put a choke coil ( radio shack has them) in series with the transmitter so it will transmit the beeping noise on am band and just walk the fence line till it quits then look for your break.
I am at work so I don't have my manual, it is in my manual under troubleshooting and I see Innotek no longer list it in their online manuals.

 

[BobRip]

Assuimng you have a multimeter, try this.

Disconnect the fence wires from the electric fence module. Ground one of the fence wires.

Connect the other fence wire to a car battery, or car battery charger Plus side. Connect the negative of the battery or charger to a long wire that will reach any point on the fence wire. Connect the other end of this wire to your multimeter negative.

Set your meter to DC volts. Take the positive of the multimeter to a probe that you can stick in the ground. Take and probe near the fence wire. When you reach the highest voltage then you are near the break. I have never tried this, but if all else fails this is worth a try. If the voltage readings go to 12 volts to soon, try putting a resitor (try 1000 ohms as a guess) between the meter plus and minus leads. It might help to wet down the area around the fence wire to increase the conductivity. I hope this helps. This assumes that there is some connection between the broken end of the wire and the earth.
You can also cut into the wire at accessible locations and see where it shows a voltage reading. I would start in the middle and then cut each area in half. You should get real close with this.

My other thought is that the wire is 15 years old and it might be a good time to replace it.

 

[wushaw]

I found my owners manual for my fence, it is an Innotek brand. Here is what is says.

1.Unplug power from transmitter.
2. Disconnect the boundary wire from the loop terminals on the wall transmitter or optional lightning protector.
3. Bend the leads of the RF choke into the shape shown in the figure....(figure shows to attach one wire one each loop wire ( parallel) and have the coil wires 1/4" apart. Choke Coil is a Radio Shack part # 273-102)
4. Plug wires back in to transmitter and plug transmitter back in.

Set a portable radio to Am-60 or AM-600 whichever has no station.
Adjust the transmitter field width to the minium needed to obtain signal on radio.
Hold radio 1 - 2 feet over the ground and swing the radio side to side as you walk along the wire length.
If the pulsating stops, weekens, or changes mark the spot. No sound indicates a break.
After completing the entire boundary, return to the marked areas and examine the wire 3 - 4 feet in each direction.

Hope this helps.

 

[RonMar]

I know nothing about these systems but I know that you can detect a short in an electric fence by driving down the fenceline with your radio set on am and when you get by the shorted area you will hear it clicking in your radio. That transmitter will probably transmit a tone than can be picked up on an am radio and when you get to the broken spot the tone will stop. I would experiment with an am radio at the beginning of the wire going through the frequencies and see if I could pick up a signal from it on the radio. If it works, let us know.

What you are describing is called Broad Spectrum or White noise. It is caused by the voltage arcing. Same thing you hear on AM radios during a lightning storm or with bad sparkplug wires or supressor in an engines ignition system.

The telco equipment does just what Wushaw describes. It puts a known radio signal on the wire and the technician uses a receiver with a directional antenna to locate the buried wire and find signal changes that would indicate breaks or bad connections. I used one to find a failed splice on my buried well pump wiring. it took me right to the problem and also to a splice that was failing a few feet farther along. I repaired both.

Any wire splices out in the elements should be soldered to prevent internal corrosion and eventual signal breakdown. A good soldered "linemans splice"(google it) will be physically as strong as the surrounding wire it joins and be as corrosion resistant.

You might find cable locators at your local tool rental...

 

[CtRick]

i've got about 2 acres of fence and I have just about replaced all of it rather than try to find breaks. There may only be a couple of hundred feet of original wire to my system. I've taken out a lot of trees ands stumps, dug trenches and ditches, the brush hog wheel catches it. Seems like everything I do breaks the line, but I'm almost done with the projects and hopefully the breaks. It's just so much quicker to lay out new wire, but my wire is all in the woods, no lawn to worry about.