# Electric fence question



## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

Not sure where to put this, so I'll stick it here.

We have a three wire electric fence around an acre using polyrope, this is then hooked to about a third of an acre single wire fence. It is set up so the top two wires are hot with a grounded bottom wire so the pets don't get zapped when going under and the ground dries up so I wanted to make sure it will still shock when it is dry.

We have it hooked up to a battery powered charger. It has always worked correctly. Tonight my wife noticed one of the ponies leaning on it. I took out my fence tester and it blinks when all I do is touch the wire. I don't even have the probe end touching anything. It also shows a lightly blinking light when I touch the wires holding the ceramic insulators to the post. These are totally isolated by the ceramic insulators and the wood posts. Then if I touch the posts, I also get a slight blink. Touching the hot wire and grounding the probe makes it blink brighter.

The next thing I noticed is that the light on the charger doesn't blink every time, unless I touch the hot lead bolt and the ground. It still makes a clicking sound, but it has had a high pitched whine ever since we hooked it up last weekend.

We did have an A/C unit on there, but I had all my extension cords tied up so we picked up a new battery unit. I am not happy with either of them, as my neighbor loaned me an old small metal housed unit that worked great. However, this new unit should work well enough, it is a major brand, Red Snapper.

Anything to look for? I am going to knock the weeds down tomorrow night, but it is designed to run with some weeds on it and the lower wire is grounded so it shouldn't matter too much.


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## mnld (Jun 4, 2013)

What's your ground system? Most people with weird fence problems need a better ground. I've got four eight foot copper rods in a row on mine. Makes all the difference.


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## Donohue Const (Dec 31, 2011)

If the light in the charger doesn't blink it sounds like the hot line is grounding out somewhere. 
Especially since your tester blinks when touching your insulator wire 
Might be a cracked insulator


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

We have two rods all the way in and one in about a foot until we hit hardpan. I can sink another one. That may help.

I'll check the insulators as well. I suppose one thing at a time till we find the problem.


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## Seven-Delta-FortyOne (Mar 5, 2011)

Does your charger have a voltage readout on it? If it's low, it can indicate a leak to ground, or too much wire for the controller to charge.

Gallagher makes a tester that does voltage and current. In my opinion, it's almost impossible to find a fault without a current tester. If you have current more than maybe 1 to 1.5 amps, you have a drain somewhere. Just go around the fence till the reading goes to zero, and there's your fault.

Also, I pound a ground rod at the farthest point from the controller as well, and tie it into the ground wire. But mine is a 5 wire assembly, alternating hot and ground.


Delta


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

You can make a voltage divider out of several 22 megohm resistors to drop the fence output voltage to some value you can read on a conventional voltmeter. Each resistor can stand about 500 volts, so in series they can hold up under much higher voltages.
Or you can rent something like www.bkprecision.com
PR28A probe.

Can you post a link to the manual for your particular charger? IIRC there are 'weed burners' and then there are lower power units.

The resistance looking into the fence should be 'infinite' ohms but there still may be a small gap somewhere that breaks down when the full fence voltage is applied. The ohmmeter applies a small voltage and so will not break down a gap.


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

I believe it is this one. It says ok for weeds, though I do need to do a little weedeating. There were a few weeds against the middle wire. The bottom wire is a ground.

http://www.zarebasystems.com/store/electric-fence-chargers/edc15m-rs


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

did you try sticking your tongue on it?


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

My kid grabbed it a few times when working around it. Supposedly it hurts a bit. :grin:


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## Seven-Delta-FortyOne (Mar 5, 2011)

Here's the one I have. It makes quick work of finding problems.

https://am.gallagher.com/us-en/prod...gement-tools/remotes-and-fence-testers/G50905



Delta


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

My earlier post was poorly written - sorry.

9.7 kV should be able to jump a gap of ~1/8". Do this test with the fence disconnected unless the maker recommends not doing this type of test.

An ohmmeter connected between the fence and ground with the zapper disconnected should read infinite.

It could a fence problem, a unit problem, or both - in that a fence problem may have ruined the zapper.



VinylHanger said:


> My kid grabbed it a few times when working around it. Supposedly it hurts a bit. :grin:


The one joule energy output of this thing can be fatal to some people, although the output of cardiac defib units goes up to 200.
He should have felt a very nasty shock.

The manual for the unit posted by Seven-Delta-FortyOne sort of says that you can use almost any DC clampon ammeter to find where the current is going. 
Upstream of a fence fault-to-ground you will see current flow in all fence wires, downstream you will see zero current flowing.


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## rrk (Apr 22, 2012)

GettingBy said:


> My earlier post was poorly written - sorry.
> 
> 9.7 kV should be able to jump a gap of ~1/8". Do this test with the fence disconnected unless the maker recommends not doing this type of test.
> 
> ...


Go to the TBA thread there is a question about batteries that I am sure you could answer. It's from a few days ago.


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## GettingBy (Aug 19, 2010)

rrk said:


> Go to the TBA thread there is a question about batteries that I am sure you could answer. It's from a few days ago.


I'm flattered :thumbsup: but what/where is that thread?

BTW, an ordinary compass needle will tell if there is ground fault current in the fence wire. It's not calibrated but that's easy to do.


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