Cheap mains electric fence energiser - do they exist??

catembi

catembi

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My houdini horse needs to be contained, but unfortunately he treats the battery powered electric fence as if it isn't there.
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I thought I'd up the ante by getting a mains energiser, but they appear to be £££££££.
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Is there anywhere that sells reasonable mains ones? Local tack/farm shops only seem to do battery powered.

Or would it be cheaper just to cut his legs off to stop him escaping???
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You cant cut Adrians legs off woman! You wouldnt be able to take him showjumping then, tut
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At my local farmers mart the cheapest is £169 - was looking at them a couple of weeks ago.
 
With my mains electric fence I usually get approx 5000 to 6000 volts (runs 2 lines round a field approx 11 acres). I recently put new post and electric tape in another field but wasn't able to get mains power across and so use a car battery and energiser and still get 6000! The big difference is the quality of the tape used. For the new field I used tape by a company called HorizonT and their tape is by far the best quality I have used.
good luck
 
My OH recently bought one from Scats - I'm sure it was just over £100. However, he later found one quite a bit cheaper on Ebay.
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Wow, loads of suggestions! Thank you people!!

Over the past month, A has unlatched the gate & helped himself to rabbit food, then I put a headcollar clip on the latch so he lifted the gate off its hinges using his neck & finished the rabbit food, then I dealt with the hinges so he pushed through a roped off gap & went next door & wrecked their garden so we fenced that off properly & he uprooted the post on the other gate & went next door the other side. Got a knock from the neighbours at 3.45 am.

He also stole one of the neighbours' ladder when he was on his shed roof, leaving him stranded up there....

A few thousand volts up his nose will teach him not to go sticking it in places where it's not wanted!!!
 
Hi, thought I might chuck in my view, if its any help. You say that your horse ignores your battery fencer, but before you try out a mains unit, be aware that the important thing you need to look for is the "Joules" output "J" , quite often you will find that a fencer unit which is cheap, will be lower joules output. Even though the fencer claims an output of 8 to 9 thousand volts, it may well only be 0.6 or 0.8 Joules, whereas a more expensive unit will have a higher Joule rating.

One of the biggest problems i come across in my job, is the earth of the fencing system. This is often disregarded and if lucky, someone will ram a rusty old bit of angle iron into the ground or a bit of copper pipe.

The reason your horse gets a shock, is the current pulses from the fencer, run along the fence line (tape/wire) and goes nowhere until the animal touches the wire. As soon as he touches the fence, the pulse travels through his body and down to his hooves, then through the soil, back to the earth stake, up the stake and back into the unit. Thus completing the circuit and "zap" a shock is delivered.

All of the parts of your circuit have |"resistance", the joule output of the unit is the "oommpphhh" that kicks the pulse down the line against this resistance, less joule=less oommpphh! then less shock. So when setting up your fence remember the following for optimum performance:

1) Ensure a minimum of one x 1 metre earth pole driven well into the soil, close to the energiser. If running a long fence, it pays to run a length of cable to the furthest point of the fence and drive another earth pole into the ground there and connect it back to the fencer. This will decrease the resistance of the currents return journey.

2) ensure good quality tape or rope, the more conductors the better (More conductors = less resistance)

3) Join you tape/wire/rope with proper connectors, you need to ensure all the strands are connecting for optimum current flow.

4) If using tape in open or windy areas, use more posts closer together to cut down wind whipping the tape.

5) Teach your horse the fencer is on, I have heard of people putting mollasses covered foil strips hung from the tape, or a tempting treat in a spot where the horse will get a shock, just to teach the horse to respect the tape.

6) Look for a unit with a good output in Joules, especially if running lots of tape.

7) Test your fence regularly, a cheap 5 light tester is a worthwile addition to your fencing shopping list.

Hope that helps

Ian (The Engineer)
 
Thanks for all your comments, like all the tips from TheEngineer especially tip #1. Off to find a good joule output system and some mollasses ;-)
 
I have a 'suitcase' generator my OH fixed up to charge my battery and it sends a fair jolt. He got it off ebay I think and wasn't that expensive.
 
A lot of what The Engineer says is correct except;-

More conductors does not necessarily mean a better tape or rope. Conductivity is measured in Ohms per meter and the lower the figure the better. Example a 0.14 Ohm/m rope has 3 conductors. Another 6 Ohm/m rope has 6 conductors so the number bears no relation to the quality. Unfortunately the UK manufacturers do not quote in Ohms/m as they are not required to declare the product unlike those in Europe who have to tell you what you are getting.

A Joule is simply a mathematical equation based on Voltage x amperage x length of pulse = joules.

Baiting is very effective, some back a horse into the fence - I prefer baiting.

Why anyone uses tape I battle to understand. There are so many reasons not to use it.
 
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