Barbed Wire

[Bryant Redhawk]

The best setup for a roof I've ever seen was 1/2" mesh laid on the roof surface as the ground field (two ground wires were used to earth this ground mesh) then there were three sets of stand offs set up as a "ring of death" with the first one right at the edge of the roof line, there was 8" of space then the second ring and inside that another 8" the third ring of hot wire. When a raccoon jumped to the roof it's feet were on the ground field and any part of the animal that touched one of the hot wires completed the circuit which resulted in a high jump and run to the woods reaction. This was with a 3 joule energizer. (I like 6 joules to really convince them to leave forever or it actually kills them.)

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The best setup for a roof I've ever seen was 1/2" mesh laid on the roof surface as the ground field (two ground wires were used to earth this ground mesh) then there were three sets of stand offs set up as a "ring of death" with the first one right at the edge of the roof line, there was 8" of space then the second ring and inside that another 8" the third ring of hot wire. When a raccoon jumped to the roof it's feet were on the ground field and any part of the animal that touched one of the hot wires completed the circuit which resulted in a high jump and run to the woods reaction. This was with a 3 joule energizer. (I like 6 joules to really convince them to leave forever or it actually kills them.)

The only thing that I ever saw that likely was killed by an electric fence was a snake. Old No Shoulders attempted to crawl over the bottom hot wire and I doubt that it was able to run off fast enough after getting its first shock, seeing that snakes are not known for being fleet-a-foot. In fact snakes don't have feet.

However snakes are grounded well.

 

[RWise]

A possum decided to fight my wire, it bit him abd he bit it back and held on. When I fond it there was grease running out for 3 feet or so. I turned the wire off and gave the possum sausage to the dogs, an fired the wire back up.
They can kill, this charger was to cover 200+ miles of wire, with only about 30 feet on it.. As a child I watched a friend pee on the wire, LMAO, he fell to the ground and peed all over his self.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Yea I likewise had a school friend who irrigated an electric fence, Salts like those in sweat and urine make for a GOOD connection. That is why I only self test an electric fence with the back of my hand.

Electric fences are designed to knock anything that touches them away by way of involuntary muscle reflexes. However snakes and possums are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, and besides, Pogo goes around with his mouth halfway open and drooling on himself. Not the best combo if you blunder into a hot fence wire about lip high.

A 6 Joule fence generates about 4 1/2 foot pounds of repellant force every second, but don't stand there like a dummy and hold on to that sucker except how I use to do it.

 

[RWise]

Yes IF you are going to touch something that could be hot, as in may have power, use the back of your hand as the shock will cause you hand to grasp (which pulls your hand away) or try to, and IF that wire is in your hand and you grasp it, you can then hope there is someone around to kill the power for you.
I am speaking from experience here, Mine came from a machine that had a shorted electric motor and a bad ground. I had hold of the operators handles and it put me on my rear (500 volts AC). The operator saved my life!
Be safe!