Electric Fence recommendations

[Stoneheartfarm]

Having grown up around chargers, I can tell you that kids learn quite fast to stay away, and I've never heard of any kids being permanently harmed by a jolt. I would think the circumstances would have to be pretty unusual to cause permanent harm.

They will, of course, learn to play with the fence pretty fast, daring other kids to touch it, pee on it, grab a weed off it, etc. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

We have two of the Solar chargers (6v) that we picked up when Quality went out of business. One is protecting the wife's new goat pen and the other is still waiting in the box to protect beehives when we get them, (they work pretty good on bears).

SHF

[EJB]

I was thinking about going solar, to save the cost and trouble of running 110 out to the pasture (underground), but cowboydoc recommended against them, so I was planning on followiung his advice.

My primary concern is keeping predators out, not animals in, so I wanted the most amount of charge possible, so I was, as I said, going to go with cowboydoc's recommendation.

SOlar would defintely be easier for me to setup, and I have a nice south facing exposture...with this in mind, others have any opinions on solar versus 110? [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] My guessw ould be that either would work, but will solar work as well, and will it last as long? Will I need to replace expensive batteries often?

[hazmat]

Disclaimer: I have no experience with electric fences.

However, energy is energy. A big enough solar panel & battery will give the same jolt as 110V 15 amp circuit. You need to compare Watts to watts (watt=Volts * Amps).

Good luck.

I still stand by the no solar ones too. People may have great luck with them but if you run a current test there will be times that they are not up to the task. I have had animals get out when there has been no sun for days at a time. I went over and grabbed the fence and it wasn't even enough juice to make me let go. With an electric fence you know you will always have juice, excpet with a power outage. Animals will constantly test a fence. I like them to know each and every time they touch it they are going to pay. That isn't always the case with the solar chargers. They are absolutely great if it is your only way to get juice to a fence but given a choice I would rather have electric.

[MikePA]

I don't disagree with doc, we've just had different experiences. While I haven't made it a point to test the fence, I know it's working when I cut the grass since I can hear it 'clicking' on and off through my headphones. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] When I am at the barn, I also check the meter on the front. So far, so good. I had missed your comment about keeping predators out. In that case, I'd go electric. However, the other problem we have around here is having the electricity go out. We aren't Florida, but 4 to 6 times a year, our power goes out, anywhere from just a few minutes to a few hours.

I completely agree Mike. For alot of people that I know they have never had problem one with the solar units. If someone asks me though I recommend the electric but also certainly wouldn't say a person is a fool for getting the solar.

[Al_Wa]

EJB,


<font color="blue">...can I use a regular voltmeter (that I already own) or do I need to purchase a specialized unit?
</font color>
A fence charger outputs a short duration very high voltage every few seconds. The ordinary voltmeter would be damaged by the high voltage and in addition they read "average or RMS" which in this case is quite low and meaningless. You can buy a cheap neon light indicator which will flash every time the fence is impulsed. You could also build one from a neon light in series with a 100K ohm resistor.

[Argee]

You can get a fence tester that you stick into the ground and then hook on fence, if it glows you got juice. The brighter it glows the hotter the fence. Just remember to hook it up in the above mentioned order. I forgot , once , let me tell, it gets your attention in a hurry. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I couldn't drop it fast enough. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[EJB]

Thanks everyone for the help...fence is finally up and working. Didn't follow all the recommendations, but most of them, and so far the goats have learned very quickly not to touch it twice. My dog so far hasn't got a clue...walks up to it, gets a shock on the nose, yelps, growls at it..and then repeats it a few hours later...score one for the goats on the relative IQ's.

Only task left is to bury an underground 110 wire to the control unit (using 4 extension cords now) and get a more permanet/weather proof housing for the controller itself.

Animals are enjoying the much larger grazing area, and we have plenty of room to spare for the additional animals we may add along the way.

In the spring I'll probably add 2 or 3 more pastures the same size so that I can rotate among the fields.

Thanks again everyone for the helpful advice [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">(using 4 extension cords now) </font color>
How long are these cords? If they're too long, there could be a voltage drop which could cause a problem for the charger.