Testing electric fencing

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graham

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Hi,I have electric fencing around my field,3 strands of cord to keep my sheep in.I have an electric Shepard 300 energizer box,which when I put my tester on the existing fence it flashes up 5000 volts the highest reading and when I touched it by accident it made me cry out loud as I cavorted about.
I have connected in 2 poultry nets by connecting a jumper from the existing fence to the metal clip on the net. when i test the voltage now the original fence is reading 4000volts and the poultry nets are only giving 2000volts is this normal or even good enough to keep a fox out, it still made me jump when i touched it I certainly wouldn't want to touch it again.
My fence box is supposed to OK for 24 nets,I have a meter long earth steak knocked fully in the ground I have also chucked a bucket of water over it well 5 gallons to make sure its wet,I have s trimmed under all the existing fence and the nets.The battery is new 100ah.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated,I really don't know what to do will it be OK.

Graham.
 
Hi Graham. We've got something similar in size with a 'soft start' in case anything is leaning on the conductors when switched on. It starts at 2000V and rises to the 8000V maximum. Rose, a Golden Retriever, was leaning on the fence when I switched it on (accidentally) and my did she howl! So I would say the voltage is OK. We have only 2000V on our wall top wire which is a result of a bad earth, but you have already covered that. The problem with nets is contact with undergrowth. Often the lower conductors sag to near the ground and that takes a lot out of the circuit. Also leakage through the insulated poles/stakes when wet. You may not get better than you have Graham but worth looking for leakage points. In fact you can hear them 'cracking' when you walk down the fence or net.
 
Hello Graham, 2000v should be fine, the idea is that foxes investigate with their noses and it is the nose which touches the wire and gets zapped, I know when my netting dropped to 2000v for a while and the dog sniffed at it, it ran off yelping. The drop in my voltage (normally 4-5000) was due to a relaxation of the tension and the netting beginning to sag a little, so you could check everything is tensioned up, like chris says you can hear when it is leaking/earthing by the cracking noise that it makes.
 
To keep our netting tight (or temporary electrified wire) Graham we hammer wooden posts in at the corners or ends and pull the pole back using plastic string, keeping about 1' between the post and the pole. We bought a full set of extra poles for our Rutland 50m net and so doubled the number and it was still too saggy!
 
Hi,thanks for the replies.I have made up some metal corner posts as suggested to get the tension as tight as possible.I spent the whole day striming and looking for leeks yesterday.I was so desperate in the end I tried touching the fence my self not recommended.I'm glad you said about extra poles Chris ,that they don't work I was going to try that next.
I think I will try sinking a couple of extra earth stakes it can't do any harm and not to expensive.
Thanks again both of you hopefully i will sleep better tonight.

Graham
 
I've got a battery powered bungee around my run. Not sure what the voltage is, but must be a lot less than you guys. Happy to say no foxes, but has sent more than a few cats 'yowling' out of the garden and my dog stears clear at all times! I'm sure a foxes nose wouldn't take too much more than a cat, or would it?
 
I don't think so either BB. In fact they don't need to touch it. They can sense the charge in the air from the high voltage and will strike as soon as the power is down. So it's important to have another battery to plug in as soon as one starts to run down. You need big Volts and Joules when you have sheep or pigs. I know that sheep are supposed to meet 'Mr. Sparky' (our name for the electic flock net) when they are young lambs. If they encounter one when they are adult they are just as likely to go straight through it as back off !!
 
Hi,thanks again for the replies.I know what you mean about sheep I first introduced mine to Mr.Sparky when they were coming up for a year old.the kept going up to the fence getting a shock and bolting off in all directions including straight through the fence,running right across the field then coming back and doing exactly the same again.This went on for a hole day,slow learners sheep.
They are fine with it now they just keep away.

Graham.
 
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