Can anyone help me with my Premier Electric poultry netting?

[hayley3]

When I set up my Premier1 fence for my goats, I also barely had a tingle. The standard ground rod clamp is for a larger diameter rod than the 3’ T ground rod, so it was too loose to get a good bite and connection. I moved the wire to under the clamp, instead of in the slot with the screw on top, and it sure fired up the fence quite snappy!

One of the reasons that you generally use a 6-8’ ground rod is to reach moist soil to help complete the circuit. The shorter, shallower T-rods might end up in dry soil if you’re short on rain or snow. Zareba fence charger mfg has a great diagram to show how we complete the circuit- unless you are wearing rubber shoes, which most critters don’t!

http://www.zarebasystems.com/learning-center/how-electric-fencing-works

Premier sells Maxi Shock insulated cable so I bought that and clamped it to the 3 ft T-rod.
And yeah I wondered why those green clamps were so loose. Electric fencing is not difficult but it's those little details that can mess you up.

 

[aart]

is not difficult but it's those little details that can mess you up.

Like many things in life

 

[Howard E]

Before everyone gets too caught up in pounding in a gob and a bunch of ground rods......keep in mind, only purpose of the ground rod is to assure the electric shock that goes down the hot wire, through the shockee.....has a pathway through the soil back to the fencer to complete the circuit. The key element in this is the shockee. The only way it is going to feel the shock is through it's contact with the soil. Those wearing rubber soled shoes or rubber flip flops are insulated.....so won't feel much even if they pound in 100 ground rods. When insulation is good, it doesn't take much. Imagine a dinky little lamp cord....which is carrying enough jolt to start fires or cause some serious pain, yet is safe to use as that small amount of insulation used does the trick of protecting you. It only takes a couple wraps of black electrical tape to do the same thing. Amazing when you think of it in those terms.

But if your only contact with the soil is through the tip of your finger......and the shock you feel when you touch the wire still feels like somebody just jerked your arm clear off......you got a pretty good ground rod system......be it 1 dinky little ground rod or 100. After that, the level jolt felt by the shockee will depend on the volt of the jolt. More is more painful.....then if you want to really be mean about it.....bait the fence so they touch the fence with their tongue or nose. Here I will impose a major breach of etiquette and go straight to the "triple dog dare".

So the key element is "enough" of a ground so the circuit is complete. To throw out a suggestion or two.......the copper ground rod the electric system in your house is bonded to is a 1/2" or 5/8" copper rod about 6 to 8 feet long. You can buy them at hardware stores or the box stores like Lowes or HD. Not expensive. But a similar length of 1/2" rebar pounded in the ground serves the same purpose. Either should do the trick for about 99% of us.

My "permanent" hot fence is bonded to a woven wire livestock fence held up by a series of steel T posts spaced at 10 foot intervals. It is also bonded to a 100 foot section of chain link fence. So I've got about 20 grounding points in all.......and no actual ground rod anywhere in the system.