How strong an electric fence to deter raccoons and coyotes?

[Mattsculpt]

I’m putting in a welded wire fence around my ½ acre backyard. The fence is 5’ tall and the mesh is 2” x4”. The total run will be about 500’ of fence line.

I want to run a couple of wires of electric fence on the outside to keep coyotes, raccoons and dogs away. The only things inside the fence are chickens occasionally free ranging.

From what I’ve researched the bottom wire should be 8” from the ground and 8” from the fence and the second one should be a few inches above the top of the fence. Is that correct?

I think I need an intermittent output AC charger to prevent small animals from being caught in the hot wire and getting hurt or killed.

The big question is how many volts or joules or whatever do I need for this fence to be effective against these predators? Any recommended set ups?

Thank You

 

[harveyhorses]

Head over to your local farm supply. My charger is good for two miles of fence, it is being used on about 100 ft total. I have coons, foxes, coyotes and I am sure some other things, nothing has bothered my girls. They are pretty easy to set up.
There was a thread a while back about the basics for them, something like 'electric fence 101' had good info.