Thread: Electric fence question...No gate tapes

Worth investing in a testing tool,simply touch the hot wire and it says if its live,makes testing/fault finding very quick.
Andrew[/QUOTE]


My wife is happy to be the testing tool - go figure.

Originally Posted by dullbird

So I could just get a small aamouth fo this wire run it under ground through some pipe and attach it to the tape on either side when it comes out the ground?

am I reading you right.

Yep, in a nutshell. Doesn't have to be some specific cable either - insulated electrical cable works just fine.

As someone mentioned, pick up one of those screwdriver-type fence testers if you're worried about tracking down breaks in the fence. Makes tracking down frays or breaks an easy task.

In winter time,a wet blade of grass works well.
Did see a workmate climb over an electric fence,they had switched it off at the gate thinking that because the switch was off it was all off.
NOPE it was still hot up to the gate,got him in the nuts,was a very strong system too,on a Bull Stud
We had to laugh,he rekoned they ached for over a week
Andrew

wow its good to know that you don't have to complete a circuit I'm guessing it doesn't matter if you do complete it though..

how does it work does the current flow backwards and forwards (AC?)...or does it only become live once the animal touches it effectively creating a circuit?

its even better to know that you can just piggy back off the line in different directions...

is there a good way of joining tape or do you literally just tie it in a knot one to the other

As you can tell I dont have a lot of experience with electric stuff hahahah

The circuit is between the hot wire and the ground,hence the need for an earth spike.Some systems do run a seperate eart wire,usually for big naughty animals and weak fences.
Havent had much to do with the tape,we did try it on a spring flush paddock with lambs to selectively graze,wasnt much good,we simply tied knots in the stuff.
Google Gallagher,they have some good gear and should have user guides.

Andrew

Originally Posted by dullbird

So I could just get a small aamouth fo this wire run it under ground through some pipe and attach it to the tape on either side when it comes out the ground?

am I reading you right............................................. ..

Exactly!

You can't feed the tape or string directly through the pipe as it is not insulated and would break down electrically to ground even though encased in pipe.

On a slightly different tangent, whilst you are designing and building your electric fence system, DON'T (sorry for the caps) have closed loops of electric fencing in your design. By this I mean having the electric fence connected in a continuous circle around your boundary or in your paddocks. This is gauranteed to provide all sorts of electric fence interference for you and/or your neighbours telephone, TV, radio etc. Always leave a gap, either at a gate or at a corner post.

From someone who has spent a large ammount of time chasing electric fence interference in the telephone network I can tell you that you, your neighbours and your local Telstra staff will be most grateful.

Deano

The electric fence is basically a step-up transformer - it converts the power in a 12 volt battery to 10,000 to 20,000 volts, but at a very low amperage. Much the same as a stun gun. High enough voltage to shock, but current so low that it can never kill.

The fence pulses at 20,000v quite happily, much the same as the power lines over your head do, without frying everything in the vicinity. However, when an animal touches the fence, it creates a circuit, and thus a potential difference between the fence (20,000v) and the ground it's standing on (0v), and thus the animal gets a shock. That potential difference has to exist though - if you went out to the fence and stood on a sheet of styrofoam, then grabbed the fence, you wouldn't get shocked - no circuit between the fence and ground.

so I would probably be better to run a single tape around the whole lot then (all paddocks and just run it at as single wire and not close any of them off to complete the circuit..

thank you all for your help


Thanks Mike thats what I wondered thanks for confirming......so the click you hear from the fence is simply and electric pulse running down the wire