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Elecric Fences

G

George

Well-known member
Joined
May 29, 2005
Messages
2,344
Location
Indiana
If you keep on top of the news you might have noticed how central Indiana has been pounded lately.

My fence tester has only been registering about 2.4 KV ( 2,400 volts ) when normal for my 5 miles of fence is around 7.5 to 8.5 KV so I knew I had a problem but I had more pressing issues to attend to but finally got to the fence yesterday. I did not count but had about 200 trees down accross the fence. There were at least 10 places where you could drive trucks nascar style ( three abrest ) right thru.

I got the trees off with a backhoe and loader and will restring the wire today. The good part is not one animal went out! I did lose one pipe gate and the animals did go thru it to an ajoining pasture but that is of no real consequence. I feel if I had had conventional fencing cows would not have allowed me to wait a week to check fence.

Make sure you do not skimp when you put up the fence - - - - buy the BIGGEST and best charger you can afford. I had a Gallager for several years and it did a good job but needed repair about once a year. The charger I have now is the biggest TSC sold about ten years ago ( states it will charge 150 miles of moderitly weedy fence ) and has never needed anything except power. Most of my fence is one strand of Hi tensil - - Two strands at the property lines ( lower strand conrtols stray dogs well ) and four hot strands at holding areas more to be visible than any other reason.
 
I am using some electric fence now,one strand with good luck,I agree with george get the biggest charger you can find,just works better especially in this ole droughty Texas weather,dry as a bone around here.
good luck
 
good ground is a big thing when usin electric fence...specially when it's dry.

I always used the bottom wire as a direct ground with rods in every 1/4 mile to maintain good ground when it's dry.Don't matter how much juice you have if the ground isn't there.
 
Don't matter how much juice you have if the ground isn't there.
Click to expand...

That brings to mind a dirty trick I have seen a couple times on kids who thought they were mechanics. Put scotch tape around the negative battery cable. Power everywhere but no ground!
 
George.....what brand do you use now (the one TSC sold 10 years ago)? My Galegher M800 is in the shop right now. With all the rain we've had this spring, the grass is really putting a burden on the fencers. At this time we could use about 25% more cattle for a couple weeks to get the pastures back to a grazable situation.....way too much grass!!!!
 
I'm not sure of the Brand - - - it just says TSC 150 miles with 12.5 jules - - I'm sure they had it made but what I like about it is no repairs in over 10 years. My son was going to get one like it but they told him the largest they can sell now are the 100 mile ones - - - seems to work fine.

When I got it I laughed at the directions to put in 3 ground rods at least 15' apart. At the time I had one of the 5 light testers ( I got the digital tester for my birthday about 5 years ago ) and I could only get 3 lights at the back of the farm ( about a mile away ) so I put in a second ground rod and got 4 lights then I got a third ground rod and got up to 5 lights at the back of the farm.

My son uses two strands and keeps the top wire as a ground. We bought several hundred used sigh posts from the state highway dept several years ago and use them for ends and corners so he is able to reground the top wire at each end or corner. I'm not sure if this helps but I'm sure it does not hurt.
 
George said:
My son uses two strands and keeps the top wire as a ground. We bought several hundred used sigh posts from the state highway dept several years ago and use them for ends and corners so he is able to reground the top wire at each end or corner. I'm not sure if this helps but I'm sure it does not hurt.
Click to expand...

darn tootin it helps.ground is half the equation!I was in the feed store a few years back when it was real dry and a lady was askin the fella that worked there why her fence wasn't workin even tho she"watered" the ground rod.He couldn't give her a good answer cept"bring in your fencer and we'll check it out"
took me about 5 minutes to explain how it works and that the water only expands the ground area slightly farther than the water...she left with a bunch of ground rods to put in.
gotta have a - with a + to complete the circuit.
 
Ground rod test...

Drive a new ground rod 10-15 feet from your present ground rod/system.
Attach a bare ground wire to the present system.
Hold the other end of the bare wire and grab the new ground rod.:shock: :o

OK...don't do that!!! :wink: Check it with your tester.

codymccue is right on the money. The electricity on the positive is limited by the resistance of the wire and what is drained off by shortages. But to complete the circuit, the positive side electricity has to return to the charger via the ground or through a ground wire. Using a ground wire tied to metal post increases your ground system, but the shock still has to go from the hot wire thru the animal to ground unless the animal touches the hot wire and ground wire at the same time. Bottom line, the bigger your ground system, the better. If you have a large fence system, start with at least 3 rods (5 are better) and if possible, put them in ground that stays moist.

For main hot wire, 12.5 gauge aluminum is best. Lower resistance than high tensile and easier to work with.(will get more power to the farthest point)

For polywire, I like Gallagher best.

For chargers, check this site... http://www.premier1supplies.com/
Also like their insulators. Cheap insulators drain off power.
 

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