Checking my Electric Fence setup

[goldeaglenest]

I would be so grateful if some of you could comment on my electric fence setup. I am not entirely confident in what I am doing, but have read many things online and I still have some questions!

Here is what I have:

-Kencove electric netting, 48 inches tall and I believe about 140 ft. Long

-A spool of insulated wire

-Parmak Super Energizer AC fence charger low impedance 50 mile range, model SE4

I have shown my setup in pictures below, but here is the description:

I cut one length of the insulated wire and stripped each end. Then I attached one end to the black (grounding) knob on the charger and the other to the grounding pole which is a 3 foot steel rod pounded with about a foot above ground. Soil is moist, groundwaterbisnpretty closensoni didn't want to pound the whole thing in (not sure if this matters?). The grounding rod is about three feet away from the the charger which is right inside the garage. It is about six inches away from the outside of the fence.

I'm stuck on the next step:
Attaching the charger to the fence itself via insulated wire running from the positive (red) knob on the charger to the bundle of wires where the two ends of the fence meet.
How do I attach the (soon to be) live wire to the bundle of wires on the fence? Do I need to buy another part to do this?

Do I cut another length of wire from the charger in the garage to where the bundle of wires is on the fence? This length will change every time I move the fence...can I just leave the wire on the spool and have one end on the charger and the other end on the fence so that I don't have to cut the wire and risk not having enough length for the next time I move the fence?

In the pictures, you will see a zoomed out view that shows the grounding rod in the foreground. The place where the two ends of the fence meet and are clipped together is almost directly across from the grounding rod. This distance is about 20 ft.

And lastly,

How do I get into the fenced area to feed the chickens etc every day. Seems like this would be such a hassle! I've been using the fence without electrifying it, so it's been easy to get in and out, but I need to electrify it for purposes of keeping dogs and wild animals out and some of the more curious chickens in.
I appreciate the help and anything that looks wrong, let me know!!! Thanks!!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Bumping this for you

 

[Trish1974]

I'm stuck on the next step:
Attaching the charger to the fence itself via insulated wire running from the positive (red) knob on the charger to the bundle of wires where the two ends of the fence meet.
How do I attach the (soon to be) live wire to the bundle of wires on the fence? Do I need to buy another part to do this?

I have decades of experience with electric fence, but ZERO experience with this all-in-one poultry netting so please take my advice with a grain of salt. I assume you'd be able to use a splicing buckle or clamp to attach the line from the charger to the fence. You could also use the small plastic clips they use for connecting electric fence tape (not sure what they are called) but I get better conductivity out of using the metal splicing buckles. If you have a farm store nearby I would suggest going there and just looking at all the electric fence products they have to offer and something should jump out at you that would work. Most the time the labels on packages are pretty self-explanatory on what they are for or how they are used. Maybe ask an employee also.

Just curious, is it okay for the bottom row of the netting to touch the grass as shown in your pic? With regular electric fence or tape it would ground out and not be effective, but I didn't know if poultry netting was designed differently.

As much of a pain in the rear as setting up electric fence is, you will be glad you did. I believe it is the best predator protection you can have. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Percheron chick]

You can use a wire clamp to hold the insulated wire to the bundle. You need to suspend the bundles to keep them from touching the ground and shorting the system out if you unroll them. I would be temped to cut them down to 1' tails to get rid of the excess. (But don't start there) You could leave the roll whole and not cut to lengnah but the fence will lose zap the more wire it has to travel. Instead of the entire roll you could cut a longer piece that will work for other spots and coil up the excess. Ziptie and hang next to the charger. If it's not a permanent set up than your only real option is to shut the power off every time you need to access the pen. If you have a permanent section around the coop and move the run to maximize grazing than build a gate and make your life easier. A 3' grounding rod is very short. I wouldn't think it will provide a good ground. Without a good ground the fence will not work properly.

 

[goldeaglenest]

Thank you for your tips!
The fence can touch grass, so long as weeds and grass are not tall. I think the more the bottom is in contact with the grass, the less power the fence will have, but it is unavoidable to have the very bottom of the fence completely clear of vegetation. Also, the very bottom row of netting does not have live wire running through it, so that also helps. My Harper also claims to be "powerful through weeds and grass" so I was kind of banking on that!

I will go back to the farm store and see what I can find.
So you are saying the connector should be a metal piece? I'm guessing I'd turn the fence off each morning and night so that I can go in there to take care of them?

 

[Trish1974]

So you are saying the connector should be a metal piece?

I personally get more voltage out of using a metal connector vs a plastic connector, however you can use either one. You do have an electric fence tester, right?
Genius of them to make the bottom row non-electrified! I was wondering how that wouldn't ground out!

 

[Trish1974]

Forgot to mention you may be able to get away with that short ground rod depending on your soil type. If it is dry, sandy or rocky you will probably need to go deeper. I have a 5' rod with 3' in the ground and average 3500-4000 volts. This is where a good fence tester comes in handy!

 

[goldeaglenest]

Forgot to mention you may be able to get away with that short ground rod depending on your soil type. If it is dry, sandy or rocky you will probably need to go deeper. I have a 5' rod with 3' in the ground and average 3500-4000 volts. This is where a good fence tester comes in handy!

Yes I have a tester and very wet soill. Our water table is really high. I didn't know if pounding the grounding rod below the water table would effect anything.

 

[goldeaglenest]

You can use a wire clamp to hold the insulated wire to the bundle. You need to suspend the bundles to keep them from touching the ground and shorting the system out if you unroll them. I would be temped to cut them down to 1' tails to get rid of the excess. (But don't start there) You could leave the roll whole and not cut to lengnah but the fence will lose zap the more wire it has to travel. Instead of the entire roll you could cut a longer piece that will work for other spots and coil up the excess. Ziptie and hang next to the charger. If it's not a permanent set up than your only real option is to shut the power off every time you need to access the pen. If you have a permanent section around the coop and move the run to maximize grazing than build a gate and make your life easier. A 3' grounding rod is very short. I wouldn't think it will provide a good ground. Without a good ground the fence will not work properly.

Do I need to cut the wire bundles? If you look at the picture, they don't touch the ground and are bundled up along the fence pile up to the top where they are tied to stay in a bundle. Then the two bundles are clipped together with the provided clips. I was think I'd attach the live wire via a wire clamp directly to the metal clips attached to the two bundles. Wouldn't that make sense?