Coon or something

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry! Favored birds always die first!
Mary

 

[Howard E]

Back to the electric fence.

Problem with fence is lack of power when wires hooked to charger. I have used electric fences before so I have checked for anything touching it. But once the hot wires are attached it has no juice. I think the issue is the length of distance from the house so it's not getting the power it needs.

Please elaborate on the "length of distance" part. Is this an AC unit powered by an extension cord? or???????????

What is the actual fence charger you are using? Brand and size?

How is your ground rod setup?

If you can provide good clear pictures of the whole setup, it will help diagnose the problem.

 

[jrc85]

Back to the electric fence.



Please elaborate on the "length of distance" part. Is this an AC unit powered by an extension cord? or???????????

What is the actual fence charger you are using? Brand and size?

How is your ground rod setup?

If you can provide good clear pictures of the whole setup, it will help diagnose the problem.

Length from house is 225ft using extension cords. Ground rod is a 8 ft ground rod put 6ft in the ground. Carger is a 10 mile . 5 joule fi- shock charger. Used them before with no issues at the other house but they were only 50 ft or closer to the house instead of 225ft. Nothing has tried to get in the pen since I have put all the birds back and clipped their wings to make them stay in. Not sure if it's charging good enough or if they hear the click from the charger and just stay away.

 

[Howard E]

Sounds like it might be working then?

Rather than having 225' of extension cords, you might consider putting the charger inside the barn, shed or other source of the AC you are using, and then simply run an overhead hot wire all the way out to the coop. No drop off in juice that way. Ground rod moved to be near the charger.



Cattle fence across the road from me is done that way. To get hot wire up and out of the way, they nailed insulators to long, upright 2 x 4's wired to fence posts. About 10 to 12 feet in the air. High enough that trucks and tractors drive under it. And nothing up there is going to ground it out. If you want to try that, be sure to install a cutoff switch at the coop so you don't have to trudge back and forth to turn it off.

But if the extension cords are not causing you problems and the charger is working, OK as is. BTW, were you able to test it? If so, how may volts? Should be 5,000+.

I actually prefer to use 12 volt fence chargers. They are more expensive, but have some advantages, remote operation being the most important. But in most cases, AC chargers will need to be plugged into GFIC outlets, and I'm told that when a shock is delivered, it is possible that shock is enough to cause the GFIC to trip, cutting power to your charger. Even a hot 12 volt unit will last about 2 to 3 months on a fully charged group 24 deep cycle battery. Most AC chargers have to be mounted in a weather protected location. 12 volt chargers can be left exposed to the elements. My chargers are 30 mile 3.0 joule units and pack a wallop.

 

[tomfromsc]

Due to my kids, dog and cats I have tried to stay away from the spring and body traps. Going to reset my camera and see what I find now cause it is crossing 2 fences to get out of my yard carrying the bird.

If I find it's a different predator the spring traps will be next or snares or a hunting party. My old house I had neighbor dog issues moved half mile down the road and have other predator issues noe. Maybe something is telling to go back to goats and forget chickens lol but I want my feathered friends they follow me around the yard like a dog when I let them out

Try putting a bait tied down to a stake in front of your game camera if the predator likes chicken use some store bought chicken put the setup near the coop the easy meal should be its first choice ...this will give you some pictures of the predator your after dog , coon , bobcat or whatever then you can decide on the best trap to use.This has worked for me but not till I used chicken as bait the old smart ones have seen bait and traps before

 

[jrc85]

Sounds like it might be working then?

Rather than having 225' of extension cords, you might consider putting the charger inside the barn, shed or other source of the AC you are using, and then simply run an overhead hot wire all the way out to the coop. No drop off in juice that way. Ground rod moved to be near the charger.



Cattle fence across the road from me is done that way. To get hot wire up and out of the way, they nailed insulators to long, upright 2 x 4's wired to fence posts. About 10 to 12 feet in the air. High enough that trucks and tractors drive under it. And nothing up there is going to ground it out. If you want to try that, be sure to install a cutoff switch at the coop so you don't have to trudge back and forth to turn it off.

But if the extension cords are not causing you problems and the charger is working, OK as is. BTW, were you able to test it? If so, how may volts? Should be 5,000+.

I actually prefer to use 12 volt fence chargers. They are more expensive, but have some advantages, remote operation being the most important. But in most cases, AC chargers will need to be plugged into GFIC outlets, and I'm told that when a shock is delivered, it is possible that shock is enough to cause the GFIC to trip, cutting power to your charger. Even a hot 12 volt unit will last about 2 to 3 months on a fully charged group 24 deep cycle battery. Most AC chargers have to be mounted in a weather protected location. 12 volt chargers can be left exposed to the elements. My chargers are 30 mile 3.0 joule units and pack a wallop.

I have tested it only getting 2 lights on tester ( can't stand the new testers ) the light shows 1,000 under it so guessing that's what its getting. Tried running a battery and converter as well and weedeated the line again checked all lines. Seems nothing touching still waiting till dusk so I can see lights on tester and see if any of that is working better. If so I might be making a solar cell for it.

 

[Howard E]

This is an AC or DC unit?

On you tester, try unhooking the hot wire from the charger and testing output of the charger at the source, with no load on it anywhere. Test it right at the hot wire connection point on the charger, again no load. That should tell you what it is capable of, and if it drops off significantly when you connect the hot wire back up, you probably have a short somewhere.

Also, are you using actual wire for the hot side? Or poly tape or rope?

 

[jrc85]

Try putting a bait tied down to a stake in front of your game camera if the predator likes chicken use some store bought chicken put the setup near the coop the easy meal should be its first choice ...this will give you some pictures of the predator your after dog , coon , bobcat or whatever then you can decide on the best trap to use.This has worked for me but not till I used chicken as bait the old smart ones have seen bait and traps before

I might try that also trying to get my area cleared off so I can shoot from back porch again. I have ran red lights in the barn so can see in the pen and that's how I have gotten 3 of the 12 coons after they started showing up. Fixed how they were getting. Then they showed up again and took one of my 2 year old birds. Got the others after out smarting them and putting peanut butter on the trigger of the traps and then using DP traps. Now trying electric if I can get it to hit hard enough.

 

[jrc85]

This is an AC or DC unit?

On you tester, try unhooking the hot wire from the charger and testing output of the charger at the source, with no load on it anywhere. Test it right at the hot wire connection point on the charger, again no load. That should tell you what it is capable of.

Ac. Unit
Get 5 lights on it that way that's what doesn't make sense to me as soon as wires are hooked 2 lights. Would seem to be grounded out but have continued to check and reckeck the the lines nothing touching anywhere. Thought tester might not work right so been thinking of just grabbing it but I don't wanna test that way been there done that.

Never had these issues with red snapper might have to see if I can get one local and take the fi- shock back or find a better tester.

 

[cmom]

I have electric around my coops and pens. My average voltage is 9000 volts. It will make your heart skip a few beats when it's touched. 3 wires except around the back side of the coops I have a single and some places 2 wires. I have netting over pens and concrete under the gates. Nothing has penetrated. Everything I did was because of a loss to a predator. I also have some game cameras set up in different places on my property and most nights I get one on one of the cameras. I had an owl kill several of my birds so I put up heavy duty netting that covers all of my pens. How many joules is your fence charger? I used to use a tester with lights but eventually bought a digital tester. Please post some pictures if you have them.