Electric Fence Question

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dps

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I have a problem with my electric fence. I had it hooked up and if it is just hooked to the short section (100 yards) it reads 11 on the meter, when I hooked it up to the entire fence (about a mile of fence) it dropped to 5.2, so I added 3 more 6ft copper grounding rods (now makes 5 total) the sort section still reads 11 and the other jumped to 7.4 which I was pleased with that. As I was going thru my gate I checked the fence and it said 7.2, for some reason I do not recall why I put the tester on the underground wire I purchased from Kencove and thru the plastic it read 2.8, so I unhooked it and the and hooked fences together with a piece of wire and entire fence read 10.6. So why is my underground wire bleeding thru? I tried a 3 wire 110 (like you use wiring a house) and just hooked up 1 wire and it bleeds thru it (3.2) and tried an outdoor extension cord and it bleeds thru (4.4). Am I doing something wrong?

I have a Stafix x6 plug in charger running on high tensile fence. I use ceramic insulators on the ends and the 4 inch black plastic insulators the silde the wire thru (they bleed thru also).

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
Total length of the fence?
Sounds like either a break in the underground wire's insulation, or a bad connection where the sheilded underground wire connects to the HT wire. Loose connections=high resistance=voltage drop.
Try temporarily bypassing the underground section with a piece of HT in air and see if that isolates the problem to within the underground part. I know they say that insulated wire can be direct burial, but I usually run my gate's insulated underground wire in pvc conduit..just 'because'.
 
Total length of the fence? About a mile of total fence.

Try temporarily bypassing the underground section with a piece of HT in air - yes when ran in the air the fence it reads 10.6

so this morning when I attached the underground wire, the extension cord in the air not under ground the fence reads 10.5, if I test the underground wire (touching tester to the plasic coating) it reads 3.2, if I test the extension cord (touching tester to the orange outer wrapping only) it reads 4.6
 
If you are saying you used standard house wiring for the underground part that is the answer. That stuff isn;t made to handle those kinds of voltages. That's why they make double insulated underground electric fence wire.
 
dun":p9no45za said:
If you are saying you used standard house wiring for the underground part that is the answer. That stuff isn;t made to handle those kinds of voltages. That's why they make double insulated underground electric fence wire.
I understood he used KenCove insulated electric fence wire under his gate and just used some house wire to bypass that underground section for testing/troubleshooting purposes.
 
greybeard":2osyucqq said:
dun":2osyucqq said:
If you are saying you used standard house wiring for the underground part that is the answer. That stuff isn;t made to handle those kinds of voltages. That's why they make double insulated underground electric fence wire.
I understood he used KenCove insulated electric fence wire under his gate and just used some house wire to bypass that underground section for testing/troubleshooting purposes.
If that's the case, the insulation is cracked underground. But trying to use standard wire for high voltage is still an exercise in futility.
Rocks are the reason I started running the double insulated stuff through a garden hose or polypipe if I was burying it.
 
ok this afternoon I took a brand new 12 foot piece of kencove under ground wire hooked it to the high tensile wire on each side of my gate hole (in the air not touching the ground) then no matter where I touch the plastic coating (the entire 12 feet) my tester reads 4.4 kv. is this normal. I got brave and touched it and it bit pretty good.

I just tried the extension cord and the coated house wire that same way the other day just to see if the juice would bleed thru the coating on them and it did

this may be normal I don't know that is why I was asking
 
dps":3mvc3wl5 said:
ok this afternoon I took a brand new 12 foot piece of kencove under ground wire hooked it to the high tensile wire on each side of my gate hole (in the air not touching the ground) then no matter where I touch the plastic coating (the entire 12 feet) my tester reads 4.4 kv. is this normal. I got brave and touched it and it bit pretty good.

I just tried the extension cord and the coated house wire that same way the other day just to see if the juice would bleed thru the coating on them and it did

this may be normal I don't know that is why I was asking
Sure doesn;t sound like the kencove wire is right. I would contact them and see what answers they have.
 
I use the insulated wire and have no trouble with it. I have some from kencove and tractor supply. I have never put my tester to it but have never been bit by it. Sounds like you got a bad roll. Something isn't right for sure.
 
wbvs58":2pyomk6d said:
If you got a hit when you touched the insulation then the wire is faulty, can be no other reason other than maybe moisture.

Ken

Bingo

You got a batch with bad insulation. Depending on how long you have had it my bet is Kencove will make it right. If you have rocky ground like dun said put it in conduit. If you weed eat your fences a lot run it up to your bottom wire to protect it from the string.
 
So taking everyone's recommendation I went to tractor supply last night and bought a roll of Zareba underground wire, hooked it up across the gate (in air not on ground) touched the tester to the outside plastic in multiple places and it reads 4.8 kV . More than Kencove was showing.

I am curious if that charger has something wrong with it. It will give a reading on the HT wire when approximately 3 inches away from the wire of 2.8, 2inches from wire 4.5, 1 inch from wire 6.3 and touching wire 10.4 (with underground wire unhooked).

I hooked my 12 v solar charger to a short section and used the underground wire across the gate and the HT wire reads 5.2 and when I touch to the outside of the underground wire I get 0.
 
Sounds like your charger is haywire. If the voltage is leaking through the insulated underground wire it's putting out a helluva lot more then it should be.
I'm running between 11 and 15 k volts and it doesn;t bleed through the double insulated wire.
 
i had kencove underground wire go bad. I even had it in conduit. I took it all out and i could see nothing to make it ground out.
 
Stocker Steve":niho4soy said:
dun":niho4soy said:
I'm running between 11 and 15 k volts and it doesn;t bleed through the double insulated wire.

What kind of energizer puts this much out? I have 3 different makes and never see over 10K volts.
I'm currently using a Gallagher M1000
 

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