Dusty Britches
Well-known member
7 years ago I put up a "temporary" hot wire that is about 1300' long, 2 strands, and I'm using a Patriot P10 (15 mile) charger. It has 3 ground rods, 10' apart. The charger has a 12V marine battery hooked up. It has worked amazingly well until recently.
Until now, the shock was quite powerful and if I may say so, painful to get careless with. Now the shock is more like a weird uncomfortable buzz. I have accidently touched it several times and the buzzer you get from restaurants is stronger. My puppy actually sits and moths it and when the pulse shock hits, he holds his head back, shakes it and grabs the wire again. My 7 year old dog won't go anywhere near it and it was quite effective at teaching him to not go under fences.
I've checked for shorts in the line and the grass and weeds are all off the fence. An electronic volt meter indicates 12.3 volts from the battery and the charger is reading NEGATIVE 3-5. I've never seen that and was wondering what that meant. Also, when I put the volt meter on the other chargers, they are pulsating at plus 3-5. I traded the chargers out and the one reading negative and barely pushing anything works fine on the other fence. The new one does the same thing - barely a charge or reads negative.
It is plausible that the ground rods are corroded? They are galvanized rods, 8' long and driven 6 feet down. It has been dry for about a month, but like I said the other fences are properly charged. When we start getting rain again, I'm going to build a permanent 4 strand barb wire fence.
Any ideas?
Until now, the shock was quite powerful and if I may say so, painful to get careless with. Now the shock is more like a weird uncomfortable buzz. I have accidently touched it several times and the buzzer you get from restaurants is stronger. My puppy actually sits and moths it and when the pulse shock hits, he holds his head back, shakes it and grabs the wire again. My 7 year old dog won't go anywhere near it and it was quite effective at teaching him to not go under fences.
I've checked for shorts in the line and the grass and weeds are all off the fence. An electronic volt meter indicates 12.3 volts from the battery and the charger is reading NEGATIVE 3-5. I've never seen that and was wondering what that meant. Also, when I put the volt meter on the other chargers, they are pulsating at plus 3-5. I traded the chargers out and the one reading negative and barely pushing anything works fine on the other fence. The new one does the same thing - barely a charge or reads negative.
It is plausible that the ground rods are corroded? They are galvanized rods, 8' long and driven 6 feet down. It has been dry for about a month, but like I said the other fences are properly charged. When we start getting rain again, I'm going to build a permanent 4 strand barb wire fence.
Any ideas?