I read a post mentioning Battery Operated Hot Wires. I am about ready to set up a coop (Im VERY new at all this) and think it's a good idea to set up Hot Wires along the outside of the run since my dogs are unpredictable and we do have alot of predacters around here. Have anyone ever made a home made Hotwire with a car battery? How did u do it?
Just pick up a solar charger for an electric fence on craigslist, theyre not overly expensive. You'd likely want a good deep cycle battery for what you're describing, so the price difference wouldnt really be that great. One is self contained and doesnt require charging or messing with, the other need protecting, charging, etc. And I like mesh, electric mesh fence, better for the plan. That way even a small animal is sure to come into contact with the hot wires.
Someone else is thinking about the same thing! https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=242042
Quote:You do not. By the time you purchased the electronics to interrupt the power flow it costs more then a premade one. A constant flow will not let anything get away from the shock. What even hits it will stay attached until the battery dies.
The problem isn't so much in interrupting the voltage to the fence as it is boosting the battery voltage to a level that will discourage a predator from going after the prey animals inside the fence. The DC from the battery has to be converted to AC or at least pulsed DC to get that boost. That'll mean at least one switching element and an inductance or two to get the boost. Pulsing the hot wire is a part of the process of making it hot for one approach and is trivially implemented for the other by removing the drive from the switching element/s. The bigger problem will be radiated emissions from the pulsed wire. Commercial broadcasters, amateur radio operators, land mobile radio shops, and military communicators have a simple name for any ungrounded wire carrying high-frequency AC voltage -- "antenna". If those radiated emissions interfere with your neighbor's radio or TV reception then you get to pay for fixing the problem. It doesn't matter whether the fix is a couple of ten-cent capacitors or purchasing a whole new fence charger -- or completely removing the fence charger -- it's still the interfering user's responsibility to eliminate the problem. I do have the skills and background to make a very nice fence charger with numerous bells and whistles (variable voltage, higher at night; wireless reporting; USB configuration port; telltale of the location and number of fence contacts; auto deenergizing shorted wires, automatic voltage increase of any wires in contact with weeds, and many other features), but when I need one I'll be buying one. RSD
