Electric fence not charging to full voltage

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Electric fence not charging to full voltage

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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 17 9:13 am Post subject: Electric fence not charging to full voltage

In my latest innovation to keep Mr Fox out, I have gone electric. I bought a Gemini forty energiser, along with a proper battery and a couple of hundred metres of polyrope. These have been duly erected and charged. I don't think it's working properly though. Initially, I had two thousand volts on the fence, and discovered a loose end trailing and now I have six thousand. But the Gemini is supposed to be good for ten thousand over five kilometres.

There is nothing touching the rope anywhere, other than the insulators and the plastic posts. What do I need to make sure of to get the full voltage on the fence? I'd like to get it working properly as having gone to the expense of fencing, I've said yes to sheep and being woolly they need significant voltage to keep them in. Also if any of the components are faulty, I'd like to get them changed out now.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 17 11:31 am Post subject:

clean battery / unit terminals , corrosion is an enemy. tighten clips/terminals to give a good grip , loose is an enemy.

what voltage do you get from clean terminals and a couple of meters long loop of wire?

is the unit earth point a good connection?, is the spike deep enough and in damp soil ? imho the spike should get down as far as poss, be a decent size to give a big surface area and be corrosion free. making sure it is in damp soil helps, a bucket can sort that in dry weather.
the earthing point can make a lot of difference to how well the system works. scrapheap challenge often gives a better earth spike than the tiny rod that comes in a kit.

eyeball for any obvious points of leakage, one weed can half your voltage, a wire running close to an earthing point can leak voltage especially in damp weather.

wd40 sprayed on the insulator rings etc can reduce leakage via moisture and prevents corrosion on terminals.

did the blurb say volts at that length or works up to that length?

a small pv panel can keep the battery topped up but checking battery voltage is on the regular maintenance list.

don't get bitten

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 17 4:45 am Post subject:
The electric poultry netting is hellishly greedy.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 17 8:59 am Post subject:

Bodger wrote:

The electric poultry netting is hellishly greedy.

good point ,if netting for poultry or sheep is involved every wire in the net counts towards distance and as such will drop a test voltage from the maximum at the unit.

ps try not to get used to stepping over live netting as getting a toe caught and rolling yourself into a pasty is funny to watch but no fun to do

how might i know that ?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 17 4:23 pm Post subject:
I'd need a ladder! There is no voltage on the earth. I have removed the thebtrailing end and chopped down anything that's even close to the rope and got 9000 v, which is more like it. It has been very dry here, but perhaps last nights rain helped (it's only ripe, not netting) Fingers crossed! Thank you.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 17 6:28 pm Post subject:

keeping weeds from the wire is important and if a bit of rain helped rather than made it worse it seems likely the bucket and/or scrapheap challenge might be the way to keep it up to bite (rather than scratch).

glad it is better, a small warning, 9000v really hurts and can jump a small air gap so very close with a hand ( gates etc? ) needs caution or remembering to turn it off ( and on again )

rob has a key fob thing that beeps within a few feet of a live fence as a reminder, iirc it was less than a tenner and one would have saved me a few nasty surprises. they might be a good idea for a dog's collar as well to avoid ones wolf knowing the pen is "haunted"

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 17 8:50 pm Post subject:
One came with the engergiser. It's a bit quiet though. The fence itself is fairly out of the way, and unlikely to bother anybody much. Also, it would rely on me having my keys with me. I've just remembered I've left them in the gate padlock. Again.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 17 8:54 pm Post subject:

Bodger wrote:

The electric poultry netting is hellishly greedy.

I'd wondered about that. As I have the energiser, and it shouldn't be overly taxed with what I've got on it, I was thinking of getting some geese for the orchard, and using either electric netting, or mesh with an electric wire top and bottom.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 17 9:46 pm Post subject:

50m takes about a joule to give a decent whack even with a nonconducting strip laid under it and as bodger said it greedily eats energy . i might be inclined to get a second (largish) unit as 50m is quite a small pen and moving the stuff is quite a faff so for more than a few birds extra sections and a bigger pen are a lot easier.

another downside is the bycatch, hedgehogs are quite vulnerable as they try to bite their way loose if they get tangled up in it.

it does work pretty well to stop dogs or sheep wandering and keeps piglets out of a pumpkin patch ,small birds go through it (feathers insulate) and some bigger ones go over it or take a north korean army vs barbed wire option and climb up the first ones to bump into it.

how effective it is against foxes probably has more to do with a high line and a couple of outward low ones to discourage leaping and make digging a slow job.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 17 10:20 pm Post subject:
Ah, I forgot about hedgies. I'm very fond of them, and I've already had some unfortunate accidents, so I've no wish to endanger them further. I'm thinking of a plastic mesh fence to keep the birds in and an electric wire top and bottom to keep Mr Fox out. From memory the energiser is 3.5 joules. It's good for 5km of 6mm polyrope, and I've got about 300m on it at the moment.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Mon May 01, 17 12:46 pm Post subject:

3.5j should have enough capacity to power another set of fencing.

if there is a fair distance to the next area using a fairly thick insulated wire to do the unit to fence run will reduce losses and be safer than an exposed fence wire.

a spare bit of domestic wire, using all the conductors in parallel, is pretty good as a supply line over a moderate distance.
try to locate it so as it isn't in the way or getting mechanical damage. the longer the line the fatter the wire is a good way to go but if it is over say a couple of hundred m a second unit might be easier and cheaper than a suitable cable.

re plastic mesh fencing scaffolder's net is pretty good as bird pens and semi fox proof if well pegged down or buried.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon May 01, 17 10:46 pm Post subject:

It's not far. 5m, maybe 10, depending on how I set it up. And I've got flipping armoured cable all over the place. (I'm forever running over it with the mower. It's not live, but it fouls up the mower something dreadful! Left by the previous occupant who wanted power all over. It might be quite useful if I knew how they were supposed to connect back to a source)

I've got some of that plastic mesh they screen roadworks with. I'd thought a strand of electric top and (almost) bottom would keep Ms Fox out. But then, the top strand would be too high. She won't get a shock in mid air, so what's to stop her jumping clean over the lot?!

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Tue May 02, 17 10:03 am Post subject:

that close is effectively the same fence

to prevent jumping lines about a foot high and a foot apart outside the pen to maybe 6 ft out, the two or three in the mesh and a couple of lines above the mesh to make the top about 6 ft up will make it more

ie use long posts to give tall and low posts with horizontal battens (to hold the insulators for the wires to give wide.

:
looked at from the end of a run it is a 6ft L----- shape

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