OMG Im so confused! Electric fencing help please!

lialls

lialls

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 February 2008
Messages
1,431
Location
The Hills
Visit site
Had to fence off some of our field as too much grass. My one horse will stay behind the one strand of electric fence (which isn't electrified - YET) but the other has decided that the grass on the other side is much nicer so now i need to put a 2nd lower strand of tape along the bottom and i also want to electrifie it, but i dont really know what im doing when it come to that...

I have the tape and posts anf a gate handle, a ground steak and a car battery (if thats exceptable to use?) Wat else do i need to make it go? Dos my fence need to make a circit to make it work? And how do i conect it all together?

Links to helpful websites/products i might need/ and pics of your electric fences (showing battery and how its wired up or just the fence :) lol) will be greatfuly recieved.
 
do you have electric energiser ?? what i do is get the electric posts and put a line of those down then get the electric fence and put on one end of the fence running along top of posts go down the end post and hook onto the second to bottom eye then runn back up again and attach another handle this gives two lines top and bottom .
if you dont have enough fenceing then buy somemore but you can get attachments to join more fenceing .
then when you fixed your fenceing put box into ground ,either by earth stake then attach the end to the fence put connectors onto car battery so brown for positive and blue for negivive turn it on and get a tester to see if its correctly working . hope it makes sence
 
horsekit.jpg


The energiser will have several leads with crocodle clips. The green one connects to the 'earth'. There should be two that are together, these connect to the battery (red to + and black to -). The final crocodle clip connects to the fence.
 
You forgot the most important (and sadly expensive) part - the energizer.

You need to get the elecrticty out of the battery and into the tape, which is what the energizers for ;) Doesn't work without it!

If you're using a car battery (the best thing) you need an energizer that can run off a 12v battery. Always buy the biggest energizer size you can afford.

I use Fenceman energizers and they've never failed yet - one is years old and still works brilliantly.

There are three Fenceman types that can run off car batteries:

DP350 is the smaller and also runs (temporaily) of D batteries

next size up is the CP250 which runs off either 6v internal batteries, or 12v car battery

Biggest size is the CP500, which is properly heav duty and gives hell of a kick. It runs of either 6v batteries or the car battery.

They are dead easy to use

a) Stab boxes stake into the ground - the unit is already earthed to the stake. If you want a better earth you can change the wire over to your own stake (obvious when you see it)

b)connect the fence clip to the fence (making sure it touches the wire filaments inside)

c) clip the two leads to the correct battery termials (black to the -ve, red to the +ve)

d) switch on and wach your horse zap itself ;)

As for the fencings itself: depending on the horses size, only electrify one strand - the less length you electrify, the stronger the shock. I electrify the bottom strand, which is at about knee height. The top strand is just to stop them climbing over.

The fence does not need to be a loop - it's not a 'circuit' that needs completed. A single line(can be as curved or wiggly as you like) with the energized hooked on anywhere along it is fine. If you're making a square paddock, the line does not need to (nor should it) join at the ends.

Make sure the electrified part is not touch anything other than plastic. That includes long grass, wood, wooden fence posts, trees etc. It's so important! If it's touch anything other than plastic the charge basically drains down throught that point, quickly flattening the battery and giving the horses very little shock.

The fence should be fastened at either end using plastic fixtures and be supported by plastic fixtures along it's length (plastic electric fence posts, or screwed into wooden fence posts).

It doesn't matter where the energizer is connect on - it can be at either end or in the middle. Just make sure the fence lead clip has good contact with the wire filaments within the tape/rope - if need be you can tease them out so they have a good contact.

If you're using tape/rope made of tied-together peices, you need to make sure there is very good contact between the ends otherwise the charge won't pass. Some cheaper tapes have only a couple of strands of wire running through them and they don't cross connect at any point : the wire filaments break over time and in this case you end up with a 'dead' wire further along.

Fencing isn't difficult and should last for ages if correctly set up and it's not difficult, just takes a bit of time. I've used electric fencing for years as the main source of keeping my horses where they should be, so I've made all the mistakes going.:o
 
Faracat said:
horsekit.jpg


The energiser will have several leads with crocodle clips. The green one connects to the 'earth'. There should be two that are together, these connect to the battery (red to + and black to -). The final crocodle clip connects to the fence.
Click to expand...


That picture is a bit misleading for the earthing wire (I hope, else I've been doing it wrong for years!).

Most energisier units have a pre-made build in earth wire that just clips directly from the box onto the earth stake (some like the Fenceman have a build in earth stake). There is no need for wires to run from the fence line to the earth, or directly from the battery.
 
Kallibear said:
The fence does not need to be a loop - it's not a 'circuit' that needs completed. A single line(can be as curved or wiggly as you like) with the energized hooked on anywhere along it is fine. If you're making a square paddock, the line does not need to (nor should it) join at the ends.
Click to expand...

Sorry OP a quick hi-jack - I never knew that it didn't have to be a loop! I've always been under the impression it has to be a continuous join. This will definately make my life easier in the future. Thank you for posting.
 
Just a warning. Energisers are often stolen. Permanently mark it with your postcode if you can. I wouldnt buy the best and biggest unit if there is the possibilty of it being stolen. To be effective the fence must be well insulated from the ground (earth). The way they work is the energiser sends a high voltage pulse of charge into the fence. When the horse touches the wire,he completes the circuit and the charge runs through him to earth.Ouch he thinks, wont touch that again . If leaves or branches etc touch the fence, charge leaks away and the horse doesnt get the full belt or sometimes none at all.Even the smaller ceaper units are quite adequate for most fences if properly maintained.
 
You don't need to buy an actual earth stake, any long piece of metal you can bang in the ground will be ok - for example, I pinched my husbands crow bar and that works fine. Make sure that you keep the ground that the 'stake' is banged into nice and damp as this helps to keep the current strong.
Also, car batteries are not ideal for electric fencing - you need a leisure battery.
 
Dont bother with leisure batterys,they are about 30% more expensive andjust as stealable. Get a good secondhand car battery from a breakers .It doesnt have to be perfect,and remember that car batterys are valuable as scrap these days so you wont have any problem getting rid of them when they can nolonger run a fence energiser. Idealy get batterys that can be topped up easily with distilled water. You will need two batterys. One on trickle charge and one in use.
 
Mike007 said:
Dont bother with leisure batterys,they are about 30% more expensive andjust as stealable. Get a good secondhand car battery from a breakers .It doesnt have to be perfect,and remember that car batterys are valuable as scrap these days so you wont have any problem getting rid of them when they can nolonger run a fence energiser. Idealy get batterys that can be topped up easily with distilled water. You will need two batterys. One on trickle charge and one in use.
Click to expand...


What he says. I get as many free car batteries as I need from a mechanic friend :D and they're perfect.

Obviously not everyone has an unlimited supply of betteries though, so it's well worth buying a charger. Halfords do a good one for £40 that works well. I got my friend to give me two decent BIG batteries (the type you get in big 4x4's ) and I recharge them - so far they've had 4-5 charges each and are still working well.
 
Always charge batteries slowly if you can as they last longer. Never NEVER disconect the charger leads with the charger turned on. Batteries give off corrosive and highly explosive gasses when charging so this is best done outside ,not in your home.
 
Mike007 said:
remember that car batterys are valuable as scrap these days so you wont have any problem getting rid of them when they can nolonger run a fence energiser
Click to expand...

Off topic a little, but if car batteries are valuable as scrap, where do you take them for a cash return? I have quite a few that I need to get rid of and if I could get a few quid, that would be great!
 
Find your nearest scrap metal recycler,phone them up and ask if they take batterys (Non ferrous scrap ,some dont). Ask how much they are paying per kilo).
 
anyone reccommend a solar engeriser, always forget to keep charging battery, so thought give one a go.
 
Hi guys - can I hijack this thread quickly please??

Also confused - I have the Fenceman DP350B that was running on internal batteries, but now have a car battery...

SO I took out the internal batteries and hooked the croc clips onto the car battery - I think that should be all I need to do, but when I turn it on, it's not working!

Now is that a fault with the car battery, or am I missing something here with the energiser?! I chucked the internal batteries back in and it's working fine....

Any help gratefully appreciated!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top