Electric fencing! please answer this

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WJT

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Does tape, touching a wooden fence post, effect the current of electricity going through the tape?

Recently got new tape, set it all up with new battery and an enegiser, you can hear clicking where it is set up, but have tested it with a blade of grass and felt nothing, touched it for a couple of seconds and felt nothing, a bit confused really. Clicking as if it is working, but not feeling anything.

The reason for my question is because the fencing is touching a wooden post, the tape touches the one wooden post 3 times, as the tape has gone round the paddock 3 times. Have been told this effects the current but wanted more opinions? :)
 
Wood is a insulator. Hard to tell with seeing.

How thick is your tape... If 40 mm like fieldguard a small energiser will not be powerful enough.....

Is your energiser earthed?

Is your battery ok.... I kill leisure batteries well....

Just got mains box... So much easier!
 
If the tape is touching anything (eg fence post) its more than likely shorting the circuit, so get some of those plastic screw in things to thread the tape through, that should solve your problem.

Also, the electric 'pulses' so it may be that when you're touching it for a second there's no leccy pulsing at that point, hold onto it for a good 5 seconds to see if its on lol!
 
You'd get quite a bit of leakage to earth if the wood is damp. Anyone who relies on electric fencing should invest in a GOOD fence tester (not the cheapo ones that just give a light.) I use this one - http://www.electricfence-online.co....lectric-fence-tester-with-digital-477731.html

You can test the voltage at the unit - and then work your way around and see whether you hae a decent 'jolt' (I find 1.2v uncomfortable - but my ruddy yearlings need at LEAST 3v to stop them playing push through the fence!) Testing with grass gives you no real idea - particularly if you're wearing rubber soled boots!

And you DO need to test regularly! An insect can fly into the tape and fry - that can burn out a couple of conductors in the tape! If tape is notted, that can burn out the tape completely if the knot is wet!
 
Yes, very much so. Wood itself is an inusulator but (and esp this year!) wet wooden fence posts will drain the current significantly. Wrapping tape round a wooden fence post will flatten the battery within a day.

If you get a clicking noise when you touch the grass to the tape it's working. You don't get a shock down the grass as the power won't be enough to overcome the grass' natural insulation. You can't tell how powerful the zap is unless you touch it directly (rather you than me!) or use a proper tester.
 
WJT said:
Does tape, touching a wooden fence post, effect the current of electricity going through the tape?

Recently got new tape, set it all up with new battery and an enegiser, you can hear clicking where it is set up, but have tested it with a blade of grass and felt nothing, touched it for a couple of seconds and felt nothing, a bit confused really. Clicking as if it is working, but not feeling anything.

The reason for my question is because the fencing is touching a wooden post, the tape touches the one wooden post 3 times, as the tape has gone round the paddock 3 times. Have been told this effects the current but wanted more opinions? :)
Click to expand...

When electric tape touches a wooden post it will affect the current. Wood can be an insulator however when it is wet or damp you will lose power. Buy yourself a few tape insulators, they are cheap, attach them to the fence post & run the tape through them & hopefully that will sort out your problem. Also see that no undergrowth fouls the tape as this will effect the efficiency of the fence. Additionally ensure you have a decent size earthing rod, about 3' long is the ideal length. Also check your energiser & ensure it is powerful enough to power a fence of the length you are asking it to do. Finally check your battery, that it is holding a full charge & doesn't have any damaged cells which will cause it to fail.

Finally, forget testing the fence with a blade of grass, it's not very good, get yourself a fence tester, they are cheap & will let you know how well your set up is working. Good Luck.
 
I have always been told that electric fencing should be silent in use. The clicking happens when the electricity is shorting out or jumping to earth. My husband makes me walk all the way round checking for the noise to find the leakage, usually vegitation touching the tape.
 
The touching wood is sorted now, fence is still clicking, it clicks where the enegiser is and around the outside of the old tape, where the old tape has been tied from being snapped (the new tape has been used to half the paddock to allow grass to grow but is transferring electricity to the old tape as it is touching the old tape in a few places which could be reducing the strength of the new tape current)

Also tested it with a tester that shows so many red lights, and it is working (on the second light up)

Hopefully will give the ****** a good enough shock!
 
The clicking at the energiser is perfectly normal, it's the sound of it sending out a pulse down the tape. The clicking where you have tied tape together is also normal but not right. It's the sound of arking at the locaton of a poor connection. You will get a lot of arking at that point as you have a poor connection because some of the stainless steel strands in the tape will connect & others will not. It's far better to use proper connectors rather than tieing knots as the connection will be 100%.

Regarding the tester, from what you describe you haven't got a great deal of power going through the fence. With the tester you describe I would normally expect about 4 lights to be lit or possibly all five.
 
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I bought a mains energiser and couldn't understand why animals were not respecting it. I was getting quite irate about it. Checked it with fence tester - nothing. Decided fence tester was duff. Got neighbour who is a sparky to test it. Duff energiser :mad: it was clicking and lit up correctly yet putting out nothing :mad::mad:
 
I don't worry about normal clicks but if I hear a loud click it means a run of the fence to find whatever is currently frying in it.
Agree that a good fence tester is worth investing in... Though we have a dozy gelding and a wind up merchant gelding who test it regularly infront of us...
 
Yes! And if you can hear it clicking that's where it is shorting out.....you might be able to see sparks when it is dark!! See what the tape is touching and separate....a fence tester is a great tool - especially if it will show you the direction of the short out!
 
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