How To Add Additional Grounding for Poultry Netting?

[3KillerBs]

I've got the Premier 1 48" Poultrynet Plus kit with the solar charger -- 100 feet of netting. And I'm looking at getting another 100 feet of netting to add on (charger will supposedly handle 400 feet). But the only grounding for this is the spike on the bottom of the charger.

My soil is sandy and often dry in the summer and fall. I noticed a distinct fall-off in effectiveness last fall and would like to improve the grounding but don't know how to achieve it.

Advice?

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

TSC and other farm stores sell long grounding rods. You can drive one in the ground and wire it to the ground spike on your charger.

I’ve had electric fence for a few years now and I found that in dry times it helps to wet the ground around the grounding rod.

 

[3KillerBs]

TSC and other farm stores sell long grounding rods. You can drive one in the ground and wire it to the ground spike on your charger.

I’ve had electric fence for a few years now and I found that in dry times it helps to wet the ground around the grounding rod.

Pounding long rods into the ground isn't really compatible with mobile fence.

 

[RoyalChick]

Pounding long rods into the ground isn't really compatible with mobile fence.

I have had to add ground rods too. I now have three of them. One 6’ and two 3’. They are Daisy chained together. I move the fence but rarely move the charger.
I connect the charger to the ground with a 10’ insulated wire and I have a 50’ insulated wire which I use to connect the charger to the fence.
That way I am pretty flexible on the fence location without sinking new ground rods whenever I relocate it.
With sandy soil you will need to work at keeping the ground damp around the ground rod. I don’t have that problem but a bucket with a tiny hole set by the ground rod is supposed to be enough to do the trick.

 

[mowin]

I've got the Premier 1 48" Poultrynet Plus kit with the solar charger -- 100 feet of netting. And I'm looking at getting another 100 feet of netting to add on (charger will supposedly handle 400 feet). But the only grounding for this is the spike on the bottom of the charger.

My soil is sandy and often dry in the summer and fall. I noticed a distinct fall-off in effectiveness last fall and would like to improve the grounding but don't know how to achieve it.

Advice?

I think cinnamon roll was basically saying to wet the area around what grounding you all ready have, not necessarily put in 8' grounding rods.

But, is there a wet area close by? Possibly drive a rod a couple feet down and run a longer lead to that rod?????

 

[3KillerBs]

I have had to add ground rods too. I now have three of them. One 6’ and two 3’. They are Daisy chained together. I move the fence but rarely move the charger.
I connect the charger to the ground with a 10’ insulated wire and I have a 50’ insulated wire which I use to connect the charger to the fence.
That way I am pretty flexible on the fence location without sinking new ground rods whenever I relocate it.
With sandy soil you will need to work at keeping the ground damp around the ground rod. I don’t have that problem but a bucket with a tiny hole set by the ground rod is supposed to be enough to do the trick.

Can you provide a sketch plan of how you have the ground rods set up and where you move your fence?

I don't understand how you can have permanent ground rods when the fence and it's charger move around.

I think cinnamon roll was basically saying to wet the area around what grounding you all ready have, not necessarily put in 8' grounding rods.

But, is there a wet area close by? Possibly drive a rod a couple feet down and run a longer lead to that rod?????

No wet areas on this property. We're near the top of the hill.

Even the seasonally-damp area on the far side of the backyard -- a couple hundred feet away from the charger -- dries out mid-summer to fall. And I couldn't run a wire that far across mown lawn anyway.

 

[Cinnamon Roll]

Premier 1 has a ground rod with a T handle. I have used that to make a totally mobile setup. You don’t have to put it super far in the ground to have better grounding than you do now and with the T handle it’s easy to pull out and move. The water bucket trick helps a lot with a short rod.

With the traditional straight ground rod you can choose a central location like @RoyalChick does or you can place one in the current location and set a new one at the next location. As long as they are well marked it shouldn’t be an issue to leave them in place and then they are set for next time.

 

[RoyalChick]

Premier 1 has a ground rod with a T handle. I have used that to make a totally mobile setup. You don’t have to put it super far in the ground to have better grounding than you do now and with the T handle it’s easy to pull out and move. The water bucket trick helps a lot with a short rod.

With the traditional straight ground rod you can choose a central location like @RoyalChick does or you can place one in the current location and set a new one at the next location. As long as they are well marked it shouldn’t be an issue to leave them in place and then they are set for next time.

The big 'ah ha' moment for me was that you don't have to have either the ground rod or the start of the fence right by the energizer. You can just run an insulated wire from the energizer to where you need it.
Somehow I originally thought they all had to be within a few feet of each other and that was very limiting!

 

[3KillerBs]

Premier 1 has a ground rod with a T handle. I have used that to make a totally mobile setup.

I'll check that out.

you can place one in the current location and set a new one at the next location. As long as they are well marked it shouldn’t be an issue to leave them in place and then they are set for next time.

I'd hate to have permanent ground rods left anywhere that I'd have to mow around them or, worse, worry that my teenager might drive the mower over them and ruin the blade.

The big 'ah ha' moment for me was that you don't have to have either the ground rod or the start of the fence right by the energizer. You can just run an insulated wire from the energizer to where you need it.

I'm running wires already just because I don't have sun where I need it for the charger.

But I know that the grounding is inadequate once the soil dries out. It's not *quite* pure sand, but close.