Electric fence earth help needed

meleeka

meleeka

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My electric fence isn't as powerful as it should be. I'm pretty sure it's because the ground is so dry. I have a 1m earth stake and wonder if adding another earth stake could help. My question is how do I connect another earth rod? Ive tried watering the ground where the rod is but as it's next to my barn I don't want to flood that as well.
 
I'm having exactly the same problem with my electric fencing. Like you, I'm sure it's because the ground is so dry. I don't think that adding an extra earth rod will make any difference - but I stand to be corrected! Just got to wait for some decent rain I guess.
 
Is the rod in the best possible place? I believe they work best if they are approx. in the centre of the fencing rather than at one end (and if you moved it, maybe you could water more). I'm not an expert though so it's worth a Google to see if this is true!
 
An earth rod that is longer and thus goes deeper in the ground will help as it will have a better contact with earth.
 
Two earths do earth better than one. Can pick up very cheaply from farm store.

I would take original out, dig two small holes, and put earths in (use decent sledge hammer or similar to knock deep enough) and connect.

Water the holes regularly like a plant. The water should only go in the holes, and not run down to stables.
 
A length of copper pipe (a cut off from a heating engineer would do the job) and attach to existing stake with cheesegrater type wire.
Bang some holes in the ground with big tent peg to ensure water gets in the ground and water well.

In 1990 I had 3 or 4 earthing rods for 1 unit as weather so dry!
 
Water the earth stake - it really does help.

I thought my energiser was broken because I was getting no reading at all on the fence tester - watered around the earth spike and voila. Unfortunately it's so dry a few hours later it needs doing again
 
If you are having to water your earth stake it is not installed properly to earth correctly they need to be deep and multiple.
We used to keep fencing working in desert conditions so it can be done.
 
It's raining here now so fingers crossed. I think I am going to get a longer one for a start. It's quite a powerful unit and my research says 2-3metres is correct. Mine is only 1m.

Thanks folks.
 
I put my earth on the spike that the battery box is mounted on. Two of my minis touched it and notibly got shocked. Either people completely exaggerated the proficiency for miniatures to get out of any fence, or my lot are broken.
 
meleeka said:
My electric fence isn't as powerful as it should be. I'm pretty sure it's because the ground is so dry. I have a 1m earth stake and wonder if adding another earth stake could help. My question is how do I connect another earth rod? Ive tried watering the ground where the rod is but as it's next to my barn I don't want to flood that as well.
Click to expand...



There could be many reasons for this problem and without knowing your set up it is hard to say, but here is a few suggesions:
  • Is the battery fully charged
  • Is there a branch or twig touching it somewhere
  • Is the grass long any weeds with stalks touching it? is the wire good etc
  • Is the tape touching wood or something else
  • Fenceposts too close together
  • Wires tied tight to each fencepost
  • Bottom wire in contact with heavy, wet vegetation.
  • Poor-quality insulators
  • Staples driven in all the way
  • Kinks in high-tensile wire.
  • Kinks in high-tensile wire.
  • Inadequate charger
 
Tyssandi said:
There could be many reasons for this problem and without knowing your set up it is hard to say, but here is a few suggesions:
  • Is the battery fully charged
  • Is there a branch or twig touching it somewhere
  • Is the grass long any weeds with stalks touching it? is the wire good etc
  • Is the tape touching wood or something else
  • Fenceposts too close together
  • Wires tied tight to each fencepost
  • Bottom wire in contact with heavy, wet vegetation.
  • Poor-quality insulators
  • Staples driven in all the way
  • Kinks in high-tensile wire.
  • Kinks in high-tensile wire.
  • Inadequate charger
Click to expand...

It's a pretty good fence I think and the energiser is more than capable of still giving a good current through the small amount of vegetation that's touching it. its a 6 joule M7 mains one and is only going round 2 acres with 3 strands. I've just set up my pig's Summer field which is why I checked it. It's 20mm tape with no obvious clicking/breaks in it.

It'll be interesting to see in the morning now it's finally raining.
 
meleeka said:
It's a pretty good fence I think and the energiser is more than capable of still giving a good current through the small amount of vegetation that's touching it. its a 6 joule M7 mains one and is only going round 2 acres with 3 strands. I've just set up my pig's Summer field which is why I checked it. It's 20mm tape with no obvious clicking/breaks in it.

It'll be interesting to see in the morning now it's finally raining.
Click to expand...

The mains units themselves can develop faults we always keep a spare to check.

However from the Gallagher manual.

Verify your ground system works
Unplug your fence energizer.
Place the fence under heavy load by “shorting” the fence as follows: At a location on the fence at least 100 yards from the energizer, lean 3 or 4 steel stakes or unpainted T-posts against the “hot” wire of the fence. Alternatively, some people have found a successful method is to push several pieces of fence wire into the earth and wrap the opposite ends around the hot wire.
Plug the fence energizer in and check the fence line voltage with a digital voltmeter. You want to see that the voltage has dropped below 2,000V due to shorting the fence. On some high-powered fence energizers you may not be able to short the fence below 2,000V. However, you can still test them at a higher voltage.
Continue to short the fence by leaning steel posts or by making wire connections to ground at 100 yards distance or more from energizer until the fence line voltage drops below 2,000V.
You are now ready to test the energizer ground system. Connect one lead of the digital voltmeter to a 12-inch metal stake driven into the ground 3 feet away from the last fence energizer ground rod. Connect the second lead to the ground rod furthest from the energizer. The voltage reading should ideally be zero or no more than 200V.
If the digital voltmeter reading is under 200V, your ground system is adequate and you will get near maximum performance from your electric fence energizer.
If the reading is above 200V, then your ground system needs improvement.
You must:

Add more ground rods connected in series, ten feet apart and/or
Move your ground system to moist soil until the ground system voltage is below 200V.
Most common grounding issues
The most common misconception by farmers, ranchers and weekend hobbyists is that the grounding process isn’t important. The cow completes the circuit so that the electrons flow from the fence energizer, through the soil to the grounding rods and up into the cow’s legs to where the cow is touching the fence with its nose or body, producing an electrical shock. Therefore, the effectiveness of the ground system is extremely important.

Notes: Make sure you test your electric fence with a digital voltmeter on a routine basis. This is especially important when vegetation is high and touches the fence or when the ground is very dry or very damp.

Following are some common grounding issues:

There is a bad wire connection to the ground wire. Check to make sure the wire is securely fastened and isn’t frayed.
The dry soil condition of the farm requires additional grounding rods.
The wrong type of rod was used for the grounding, i.e. pipe or rebar. It needs to be galvanized steel at least 4 to 6 feet long.
The rods weren’t long enough. In the case of dry soil, it may require 6 to 8 feet of galvanized steel to reach a moist area of ground.
The ground conditions changed and due to extreme draught or heavy vegetation, additional rods need to be added.
The wrong type of wire was used. Using household or industrial cables made for only 400V are not enough to support the system. Make sure you use 10 to 14 gauge insulated lead-out wire rated at 20,000V.
 
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