Any tips on installing electric fence

[NellaBean]

I put up an electric fence (5 strands of 1.5" polytape) to keep my horse in when I had her on my property temporarily. The area we fenced was about 1/2 acre?? I ended up using a 20 mile charger although the actual length of the fence including all 5 strands added together was about....1/2 a mile. Let's just say it was painful to touch. I tested it as high as 9000 volts, but it fluctuated depending on how wet the ground was and how tall the weeds were. I nailed many dogs with that glorious fence and traumatized a house guest who was in bed and heard the "screaming" in the middle of the night

Never hurt any of the dogs, but sure taught them a few lessons about coming on my property.

I did find that a small dog could jump right through the strands if they were careful. 5 strands were distanced out evenly to make a 4.5 foot high fence. I did also use a strand along the top of a 4 foot no climb horse fence.....my sneaky dog tried to climb it and spent the next half hour hiding as far away from the fence as possible. I hit it a couple times myself and wow. Ouch. The fence was super sized because of a neighbor's dog who had gotten loose and killed another dog and a different neighbor's dogs who contantly were out chasing people/animals. Not on my property. One of them hit the strand as they were running in.....and then bounced like a pinball from fence to fence trying to find a way out.

My original plan was to do all mesh fencing and run a strand along the bottom on the outside to keep digging dogs out, a strand along the bottom on the inside to keep MY digging dogs in, and a strand along the top to keep climbers out. I plan on adding electric to my new chicken pen (as soon as I get it built) and will do the strand about 6" from the ground, another at about 2-3 feet tall (whatever height is my shepherd's face who likes to rip into the pens) and a strand around the top.

 

[MyTDogs]

Can anyone send me to some good info on the design of an electric fence? I did not know about the ground...what exactly is that & what is it for? I thought that the fence wire just ran in a continuous loop out from the charger and then back. I have an acre, zoned agricultural but near an airport. Unfortunately my perimeter fence isn't that great- 4' field fence in the back and on 1 side & 42" picket on the front & the other side (corner lot).

I'd like to keep my little dog in but more importantly I need to keep other dogs/critters out. Can I put a hot wire on the outside of my fence? I only have a couple neighbors but they are always out walking their dogs (cause they don't have fences). I'd hate for someone to get zapped- unless they were doing something they shouldn't.

I guess I need a website or thread called Electric fencing 101 :-D

Cindy in FL

 

[NellaBean]

My fencing is not a continuous loop. It stars at one end of my porch and then goes around the perimeter all the way to the other end of my back deck. My house would technically complete the "loop" but obviously it is not electric! My charger is off my garage which is in the back, kind of right in the middle of the fencing. I had a single strand that ran out from the charger to connect with a fence strand, and then had each strand connected to each other there.

I used a setup where there was the grounding rods.....they attach to the charger on one little hook. And then the ELECTRIC fence attaches to the charger on the other hook. Without a ground, the electric charge does not happen. Basically you standing on the ground/grass/dirt and touching the electric strand of fencing....completes the circuit. Your feet on the ground, connects to the grounding rods (via the dirt/ground), which connect to the charger, which connects to the fence, which connects to you touching it.


This is a good example.

There are other fencing setups that can be used...instead of grounding rods, you can use grounding stands of fencing. So then you would not need to touch the "ground/dirt/grass, but if you touched an electrified strand WHILE touching a nonelectrified strand, the nonelectrified strand works as the ground.

I didn't like that method, so went with the regular one.




I don't know the technical electric fencing regulations. I know you have to have signs posted, but I am not sure if there are rules as far as how far set back on your property the electric needs to be. My fence was set well back, so my theory was that anyone touching the electric part of the fence has to trespass to do it, so......oh well!

I did put a decent shut off switch right below the charger, so you could kill the charge to the entire fence if need be. I also showed my neighbor (who I was on good terms with, NOT the dog killer owner) how to shut the fence off completely, just in case.

 

[Davis5454]

Check on the zareba and gallager (sp) web site. I'm sure you can find manuals there (maybe).

There are special instructions as to how far the ground needs to be from the charger......and how far it needs to be from buried pipes, water mains, etc....

I have over 10,000 volts on my cattle fence and had to move the charger to a different location from where I wanted to put it due to the grounding requirements. I was too close to a buried water pipe and could have shocked someone trying to turn on the water by mistake.

As long as you are out away from the house, you'll likely be just fine. It's not too hard, but read the directions carefully.

PS - it's not a loop....it can be just a short single wire, or a mesh, or multiple wires, or even a loop if you need it to be.....but conventional method is at least one HOT wire on the fence (insulated) and a ground wire tied into a grounding rod. The connection then goes from the fence, through the critter, and through the ground....back up the rod to the other side of the controller.

The alternate method is to use fencing as both ground and hot on different wires. This lets the charge go through the wire.....through the person.....then back through the other wire to the controller.

Hope this helps.

 

[patandchickens]

The best primer I know is at www.premier1supplies.com (look around for the section where they have their instructional materials). Very clear and understandable and complete.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Monk]

I have a question, what effect on electic fencing if buried in snow???

 

[Brick243]

Make sure the soil around the ground rods stays moist.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote:
It will short out.
If you get lots of snow, put cut-out switches on the lower wires, and you can turh thm on and off as needed

 

[Monk]

Bear, thanks for the info.

 

[twentynine]

One tip-----

Don't plug the charger in until you finish.