electric fence shorting

[BryanM]

As I checked my electric fence paddock today, I am hearing some snaping thru insulators. I have black tsc insulators that screw into wood post but I also hear it in one corner where a blck donut insulator, and I also hear a snaping thru a couple pocelin insulators.

How do you stop this? what are the best insulators? thanks

 

[dun]

Since we've atarted using Gallagher (about 10 years ago) we havine;t had a problem with one breaking down.

 

[Aaron]

Are you running the wire straight through these insulators or are you wrapping it around them (big no-no)?

The cheapest solution is just replace the defective insulators. And you do get what you pay for. Get yourself a Gallagher smart tester and you'll find the problem insulators more quickly.

 

[hillsdown]

Are you using high tensile or the plastic wire ? Also you can see tell tale signs of burnage where it is shorting out. You also can wrap around anything as long as it does not touch anything that can ground it and stop the conducting flow. How many ground rods are you using as well as they makes a HUGE difference in the strength of your current .

 

[Stocker Steve]

Congrates - - sounds like you have high voltage.

I start at the energizer in the spring and walk the fence, disconnecting the next section to check with a degital meter for significant voltage drop and tighten the high tensile. I was over 10K volts with the 120V energizer after this.

It takes a little time but enjoy the spring and git r done.

 

[wbvs58]

Are you checking it early in the morning with a lot of dew about. Could be ok if dries out.

 

[BryanM]

I have a field fence on the outside of the wood posts and a 14ga wire going thru insulators( not wrapping)
These insulators are less than 6months old. I am going to re do my ends where the wire stops at end posts. The insulators that insulate the wrap around(end posts) are breaking down.

What kind of corner posts insulators do you use. I thought porcelin ones would be ideal.? Do you also use a wire insulator to go around your corner posts when using a donut style insulator?

I am currently installing a high tension fence for another small pasture and am going to light up 3 of 5wires. I dont want to repeat any mistakes.

I have followed the wire manufacturers installation video instructions! And on the high tension wires, I took threir advice and am using the 4 inch 3 fin insulators lightly stapled to the line posts. The insulators seem like the wood eventually burn thru. so far I am using all wood posts but will have to use a few metal ones for the high tensile fence.

too answer ?'s from previous posts- when hearing the snapping it had just rained- grounds 2 8 footgalvanized rods less than 10 foot from the controller. Locally al we have is a tsc thats where my supplies have come from.

 

[Angus Cowman]

www.powerflexfence.com
they will ship it right to your door and alot better quality than you will get at TSC

 

[dun]

I have a field fence on the outside of the wood posts and a 14ga wire going thru insulators( not wrapping)
These insulators are less than 6months old. I am going to re do my ends where the wire stops at end posts. The insulators that insulate the wrap around(end posts) are breaking down.

What kind of corner posts insulators do you use. I thought porcelin ones would be ideal.? Do you also use a wire insulator to go around your corner posts when using a donut style insulator?

I am currently installing a high tension fence for another small pasture and am going to light up 3 of 5wires. I dont want to repeat any mistakes.

I have followed the wire manufacturers installation video instructions! And on the high tension wires, I took threir advice and am using the 4 inch 3 fin insulators lightly stapled to the line posts. The insulators seem like the wood eventually burn thru. so far I am using all wood posts but will have to use a few metal ones for the high tensile fence.

too answer ?'s from previous posts- when hearing the snapping it had just rained- grounds 2 8 footgalvanized rods less than 10 foot from the controller. Locally al we have is a tsc thats where my supplies have come from.

I use both bullnose and donut types of insultors of porcelin. The wire around the post isn;t insulated. Doesn;t need to be if the hot wire isn;t touching the wire holding the insulator to the post. The plastic insulators are what we use on T-Posts and occasioanlly as a stand off where the hot wire passes very close to the floating brace.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have tried them all.
Farm store stuff works initially but is not the best investment.
Porcelain is not ideal for high tensile. It can crack.
There are usually 2 plastic types in the catalog for doughnut ends - - a cheap one and a glass filled one. Buy the more expensive one.
You can also use the plastic tubes that wrap around a wood corner post with the high tensile inside. Works best for a no spring end.

 

[JustSimmental]

Kencove fence --- get the metal clad corner insulator
http://www.kencove.com/fence/Wood+Post+Insulators_detail_I46.php

 

[greene_hjm]

In my opinion, from bad experiences, STAY AWAY from the wrap around insulators and the fin tube insulators. I have had to go back and replace countless numbers of these for myself and others on custom jobs. The best bet is a BULLNOSE type insulator as mentioned earlier. You will notice that many of the power companies now use this design to insulate guy wires on poles (a much larger version-but the same concept). On line posts, I like to use a pinlock insulator that is fairly robust. The ones that we have been using for the past several years were the Gallaghers. I have only had a problem one time with a few that were brittle after 6 years. They had a 10 year warranty and the farm store replaced them with no questions. They had the local rep take a look at them and he even gave me a few extras!

Another thing to keep in mind: It is HIGH-TENSILE NOT HIGH-TENSION. I say this so you will keep in mind not to overtighten the wire. There is no need to get this banjo string tight -- especially if you have power on it. In the old days when hightensile first became popular, the idea was to install 8-12 strands banjostring tight with springs and the animals would just bounce off of it. This did not work. We found that it needed to be electrified. If the animals are rubbing on it, there is a problem.

You might also consider making all of the wires hot. The neutral wires really dont serve a purpose unless they are hooked to a true hot/ground system where all of the nuetral/dead wires are tied back to the original ground system that the energizer is hooked to. Otherwise, make them ALL hot and if two wires get mashed together--no big deal.

A few years ago, we went to a university grazing school where the Gallgher rep was teaching and we thought he was crazy with some of these ideas. Have since learned that they know what they are talking about... and have the people in the field to back it up. I have always been willing to pay more for warranties and service. You can always find places to buy on the internet, but it is always better to buy from an actual store where the folks that work there can assist you with questions and demonstrate how some of these products work. Doing business with real live people, in person, makes sense.

 

[Suzie Q]

I also use the gallagher insulators and have the gallagher smart tester.

If it was snapping right after rain, don't worry too much. Water conducts electricity, once it dries off there should be no snapping.

 

[hayray]

More likely that you have a bad ground rather then all those insulators going bad at once, even the cheap TSC insulators should not have a problem for a long time. I have had it happen when the current can't find ground with a powerful insulator and you start hearing snaps all over the place, even at places where the fence is not in contact with anything. Check that you have the proper lead out wire to ground, preferable insulated rated for high voltage 20,000 black lead out and then use crimps or split bolts and clamps when connecting to rods and lead out wire.