Electric netting advice please

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Sallyhennypenny

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I've been having some problems with my electric netting - low voltage and shorting out.

So, would be grateful for suggestions for improving both.

In particular answers to these questions:

1. Does it matter how deep the earthing pole is in the ground. Mine is probably 1m long but only half under the ground.
2. The earthing pole is about a foot from the netting - is this ok?
3. Is it beneficial to have more than one earthing pole? If so, where do I put the second?
4. Any tips for keeping the 2nd horizontal wire off the ground (I use weedkiller, but the ground isn't completely flat). Would using horse paddock posts (plastic) help?
5. I find it difficult to get more than 2000v from my 200m of netting - would adding a 2nd energiser help? (I have a spare, less powerful one). if so, where would it be best to position it.
6. I use metal hooks to keep the bottom line of netting against the ground, is this ok?
7. With the ground so wet, I presume this could cause the fence to short out? Any tips for circumvent this?

Sorry for so many questions, but having met a fox inside the netting I need to understand this electric netting better.

Many thanks!

:D :D :D
 
Hi Sallyhennypenny. Consider electric fencing in two components-High Voltage and Earth. Only the fox is meant to meet these simultaneously. Both components must be present at all times in all places but kept completely separate. Poor conductivity in the ground needs extra earth points and undergrowth effectively leaks the High Voltage away.

To answer your questions in order:-
1 -No, we use surface conduction with a continuous ground wire against the soil.
2 -Distance to the netting is irrelevant. Could be 50 metres away if ground conducts well.
3 -Yes, as many as possible but you can't beat a continuous bare wire.
4 -We use extra posts. It's really important that the High Voltage doesn't leak to Earth via undergrowth. The only leakage point should be through the fox.
5 -Unless you have a poor energiser you should be seeing 5000V at any point to earth. So the resistance of the net may be a problem. Don't think you can add an extra energiser to the same circuit. 200 metres is a big stretch for any battery energiser, no matter what the claims are on the packet. Use a tester at all points. Connect your main energiser at the middle of the net not at one end.
6 -This may be your problem. Don't pull the High Voltage net to the Earth and certainly don't use conductive metal pegs unless securing the earth wires to the ground.
7 -Wet ground is what you need for your earth circuit. Wet undergrowth contacting your net will be a problem.

Can you increase the pulse rate on the fence? A fox can contact them between pulses.

Hope this helps Sally.
 
I agree with Chris, 200m is an awful lot of poultry netting, you would need a very powerful energiser to cope, which model do you have?

I addition to Chris's comments, a 1m earth stake should be in full depth..and consider using an additional one for conductivity although I take Chris's point on board, more of issue in dry weather.

Definitely take out the metal pegs, use plastic if you have too. It does sound like you a leak to earth somewhere along your fencing. Check carefully along your netting that there is no obstruction touching the fence and causing voltage to earth to the ground thus reducing the voltage of the fence.

When we have a problem we disconnect part of the fence and using a fence tester work out where the problem is section by section. Firstly check the energiser is working by disconnecting the fence and using the tester to check the energiser directly. If you can just use 50m of fencing right now with a good voltage of at least 5,000 volts you need to do this as soon as possible, the fox needs to learn the fence will give him a shock in order to work as a deterrent.
 
Thanks for your comments. Some things to think about.

I have a Rutland ESB225 and a ESB145 energiser. How do I test them?

This is the ESB225: http://www.rutland-electric-fencing.co.uk/PageProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=262&ReturnToListURL=PageProductList@2Easpx@3FSiteCategoryID@3D22&ProductListTypeName=ZarebaCommon.SiteCategoryProductList,%20ZarebaCommon,%20Version=1.0.0.0,%20Culture=neutral,%20PublicKeyToken=null&IncludeDealersOnly=False&SiteID=2&SiteCategoryID=22

Should be powerful enough since it says it can cope with 20 nets!

Are the metal pegs a problem if they only attach the bottom, non electric horizontal wire to the ground?

Thanks for your advice.
 
Part of my netting was going through quite a deep puddle and you could here it clicking. I was still getting a shock from it, but today with there being no puddle the "belt" was much more powerful - and in case you're wondering, no I didn't touch it on purpose. I have an " alarm" which flashes when the fence isn't working - great if I forget to re-attach the clip when I come out.
 
http://www.rappa.co.uk/search/fence+alert

There are others which flash while they are working but I didn't want something flashing all day and night. It's great because I can see it from the caravan door and it's quite bright even in daylight.
 
Hi Sallyhennypenny. Your energiser is bigger than our Rutland unit. But you are obviously losing energy somewhere. As said, if you walk the fence and you can hear 'clicking', that is the leakage point. You only need one. Need to test it using a voltage tester. They have a lead which you stick in the ground at the test point then touch the fence with the unit -ours is a very cheap unit with LED's lighting every 1000 volts. Our net showed over 5000V everywhere with three earth stakes driven in the full metre just 15 metres apart. We also ran an electric line from the same unit with no earthing 50 metres away and got the same reading so our ground conducted well. However when we used a seemingly wet wall as the earth the voltage plummeted to 2000V. Could be a fault with the net with some strands of wire touching the bottom line. May be your connections are poor.

As Foxy says the fox needs a deterrent immediately. They can sense when a fence is on and normally won't go near it as the voltage charges the moisture in the air. You can lose power just from that -a wet net or in rain.
 
Thanks for the advice. I find it difficult to keep all the live strands off the ground - would appreciate any tips for helping with this. What's the best way to connect extra earth poles - do I need to buy an extra earthing lead?

Would it be an idea to disconnect each net for the others and test each one individually? A couple are several years old and do have a few broken strands - do I need to ensure that all the horizontal strands are repaired?

Thanks again
 
Yes all the horizontal strands need repairing SallyHP. Rutland do a small kit for this which includes a bit of orange conductor, ferrules of brass to join bits and some black for the bottom. We bought two kits to repair our fence but they won't do that much. They are packed away somewhere -another job to do. We had a real game getting them as well because of confusion at Rutland. They had to be ordered specially and took a month to arrive. We had trouble keeping our wires off the ground so we bought a full set of extra poles, so doubling up on them. Still not great so we banged posts in at the end of each net about a foot away and used plastic cord to pull the net tight by pulling the end pole to the wooden post. Can't say I am too impressed with nets.

Extra earth stakes are simply connected to the previous one with cable. So you only have one earth wire from the energiser. If you want to be extra diligent you could loop back from the last stake to the unit thus feeding from both ends and keeping the earth circuit even with a break between stakes.
 
http://www.flytesofancy.co.uk/chickenhouses/Electric_Netting_Repair_Kit.html

Not cheap but you see what you get - I just Googled "Electriv netting repair kit"
 
Don't suppose the repair kits come with any instructions for those of us that are not very practically inclined?

Checked the netting this morning, no shorting out, but still could not get above 2000v even if I was just electrifying one net with no broken strands.

Maybe I'll phone Rutland and see what they suggest.

Thanks for all the suggestions ... Keep them coming!
 
Sounds like it could be a faulty energiser, or tester of course SallyHP. Have you measured the output direct at the terminals of the energiser?
 
chrismahon said:
Sounds like it could be a faulty energiser, or tester of course SallyHP. Have you measured the output direct at the terminals of the energiser?
Click to expand...

Yes, and it's fine - 7000 volts +

:D
 
How about a break in the leadout cable of either the earth or voltage side? Test between the net connection and earth.
 
chrismahon said:
How about a break in the leadout cable of either the earth or voltage side? Test between the net connection and earth.
Click to expand...
How would I test? Sorry, I'm pretty hopeless at these things!

I did test using my keyring bleeper:

hotline-fencing.co.uk/catalogue/line.aspx?lne_id=f3e88f97-8887-416e-86df-4964ee61846b

and that indicate that there was a current in both live and earth. But not sure how I would test with the 6 light tester with probe.

The keyring bleeper indicates that there is a voltage all the way round the fence, but using the probe tester I am only getting 2000v.

Thanks!
 
Use the probe tester between earth and the feed wire to the nets, without the nets connected SallyHP. So not at the energiser output but at the point it meets the net to test the cable. Then replace the high voltage cable and test again. If still faulty replace the earth connection cable. If that's OK (and 7000V no load is low anyway as our smaller unit is 8000V by the way) it must be the net construction at fault. It may be that the energiser is producing the voltage but not the Joules?

Need to accurately dismiss all the possible faults. You know the probe tester is reading OK.
 
chrismahon said:
How about a break in the leadout cable of either the earth or voltage side? Test between the net connection and earth.
Click to expand...

Tested and all ok, 7000 volts +

Now can get 3000v, one of the metals spikes had been in contact with one of the bottom strands. So I guess the next stage is to try and keep all the bottom electrified strands off the grass! :( :roll:
 
chrismahon said:
Extra earth stakes are simply connected to the previous one with cable. So you only have one earth wire from the energiser. If you want to be extra diligent you could loop back from the last stake to the unit thus feeding from both ends and keeping the earth circuit even with a break between stakes.
Click to expand...

What sort of cable? :-)07

Thanks
 
You can use the same lineout cable as the fence supply. But just standard fencing wire will do as for an earth you don't need insulation, it's just there to stop the wire from corroding.

So now you know your feed cables are OK - back to listening for the 'crack' sound of leakage. If you only have 3000v on the net, but 7000v at the actual connection points you still have more major leakage on the net.

Best of luck SallyHP.
 
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