Hottest fence charger

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Busterz

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I need a list of hot fence chargers.

I'm running electric fence along a river (there's no water in it actually) and then I have the pasture divided into paddocks and run the division fences off of the one that runs along the river. Its probably 6-7 miles of fence total. I'm using one that is supposed to be a 50 mile charger and it gets pretty weak on the end. I'm powering it with an electrical outlet so it should be getting plenty of power.

Anybody use those chargers they make in Cherokee, Oklahoma?
 
This is the first one I've used with a plug-in. Does that not help with grounding?

Do you do all the grounding by the charger or can you spread it out along the fence?
 
Busterz":38m7df1y said:
This is the first one I've used with a plug-in. Does that not help with grounding?

You still need the ground rods.

Do you do all the grounding by the charger or can you spread it out along the fence?

If the other wires are hooked in circuit with your ground terminal then putting ground rods along the fence should help.

For what it's worth, if you're putting 6' ground rods in a line, they should be at least 12' apart, 16' for 8's, etc. I've got a Gallagher M800 on one place with 4 or 5 rods like that, it'll knock your socks off with a tree on the fence. Left a pretty nice mark on my wife's forehead.
 
Busterz":4q4wayna said:
This is the first one I've used with a plug-in. Does that not help with grounding?

Do you do all the grounding by the charger or can you spread it out along the fence?

The electrical ground (via the plug) doesn;t have anything to do with grounding for the charging part. It;s kind of like a fan. The electrical connection through the plug allows it to do the work which is blowing air. The same applys to the charger, except instead of blowing air it's creating a charge on the fence.
 
cfpinz":22drf5nu said:
If the other wires are hooked in circuit with your ground terminal then putting ground rods along the fence should help.

For what it's worth, if you're putting 6' ground rods in a line, they should be at least 12' apart, 16' for 8's, etc. I've got a Gallagher M800 on one place with 4 or 5 rods like that, it'll knock your socks off

4 of the chargers, where I work, are set like that and they too are Gallaghers and they run 8.9 kv on one fence, 9.2 on another, 9.1 on the third and 8.2 on the 4th. The one with the 9.2.....my poor dog got within 5 inches of the bottom wire, I saw the arc directly to his nose. He ran 1/4 mile bfore stopping.....poor guy. He won't get within 2 feet of that fence now.

Ground rods, ground rods....they really make a big difference, especially after a good rain.

Katherine
 
grannysoo":dm860e7m said:
cfpinz":dm860e7m said:
Left a pretty nice mark on my wife's forehead.

Bet you were in the doghouse that day. :mrgreen:

I've never seen an electric fence leave a mark before. But I saw this with my own eyes, it was hilarious. To me, anyways.
 
Workinonit Farm":9lezb0aw said:
4 of the chargers, where I work, are set like that and they too are Gallaghers and they run 8.9 kv on one fence, 9.2 on another, 9.1 on the third and 8.2 on the 4th. The one with the 9.2.....my poor dog got within 5 inches of the bottom wire, I saw the arc directly to his nose. He ran 1/4 mile bfore stopping.....poor guy. He won't get within 2 feet of that fence now.


Katherine

Do you know what models they are? I've been eyeballing a M1000 for here at the house but keep suffering from sticker shock.
 
cfpinz":1pshba9j said:
Workinonit Farm":1pshba9j said:
4 of the chargers, where I work, are set like that and they too are Gallaghers and they run 8.9 kv on one fence, 9.2 on another, 9.1 on the third and 8.2 on the 4th. The one with the 9.2.....my poor dog got within 5 inches of the bottom wire, I saw the arc directly to his nose. He ran 1/4 mile bfore stopping.....poor guy. He won't get within 2 feet of that fence now.


Katherine

Do you know what models they are? I've been eyeballing a M1000 for here at the house but keep suffering from sticker shock.

I just bought the M1000 a couple months ago. Got it off Ebay, brand new, for $200 US. Note: I have been looking for that charger at that price on Ebay for 2 years. It runs on 160 acres of old poorly conductive wire (some new fences) and does a great job with a lot of bad shorts. If it grounds out a few hundred feet from the house, you'll hear it with the windows open. A calf really yelps when they touch the wire nowadays. :cowboy:
 
Workinonit Farm":27gscqmr said:
cfpinz":27gscqmr said:
If the other wires are hooked in circuit with your ground terminal then putting ground rods along the fence should help.

For what it's worth, if you're putting 6' ground rods in a line, they should be at least 12' apart, 16' for 8's, etc. I've got a Gallagher M800 on one place with 4 or 5 rods like that, it'll knock your socks off

4 of the chargers, where I work, are set like that and they too are Gallaghers and they run 8.9 kv on one fence, 9.2 on another, 9.1 on the third and 8.2 on the 4th. The one with the 9.2.....my poor dog got within 5 inches of the bottom wire, I saw the arc directly to his nose. He ran 1/4 mile bfore stopping.....poor guy. He won't get within 2 feet of that fence now.

Ground rods, ground rods....they really make a big difference, especially after a good rain.

Katherine

I put in 4 more ground rods last night. It didn't seem to make that much difference.

Any other suggestions?

I'm thinking it might be the charger, it doesn't seem to put out a consistent spark.
 
Call the manufacturer and talk to them about it. It may be defective if the voltage varies from cycle to cycle.
 
Busterz":32a3lmyw said:
Workinonit Farm":32a3lmyw said:
cfpinz":32a3lmyw said:
If the other wires are hooked in circuit with your ground terminal then putting ground rods along the fence should help.

For what it's worth, if you're putting 6' ground rods in a line, they should be at least 12' apart, 16' for 8's, etc. I've got a Gallagher M800 on one place with 4 or 5 rods like that, it'll knock your socks off

4 of the chargers, where I work, are set like that and they too are Gallaghers and they run 8.9 kv on one fence, 9.2 on another, 9.1 on the third and 8.2 on the 4th. The one with the 9.2.....my poor dog got within 5 inches of the bottom wire, I saw the arc directly to his nose. He ran 1/4 mile bfore stopping.....poor guy. He won't get within 2 feet of that fence now.

Ground rods, ground rods....they really make a big difference, especially after a good rain.

Katherine

I put in 4 more ground rods last night. It didn't seem to make that much difference.

Any other suggestions?

I'm thinking it might be the charger, it doesn't seem to put out a consistent spark.

Make sure you use a decent clamp to attach the ground wire to the ground rods - make sure they are far apart. Make sure the ground wire is well attached to the fencer unit.

Walk the line and make sure you are not shorting out on metal

Finally - you may actually have a faulty fencing unit.

There are a myriad of good fencers out there - Gallagher is decent - but in my opinion over priced for what you get, Red Snapper, Bayguard and one other that skips my mind (sorry they are a long way from me) - we run four different types - all are excellent. We have big mileage in electric fencing - probably not many here have an amount even close.

Just keep the fence lines as clean as possible, use a decent insulator (black widow is our choice) keep as much trash off the wire as possible, use lightening protection on all fences and most important - keep one additional fencer on hand at all times.

I like the spare to be a battery operated model - that way it can go anywhere at any time.

Check your fencer output

Cheers

Bez+
 
Go to any good electrical supply house and you can get good ground rods and clamps, like the ones used when they wire a house and ground it. They are relatively inexpensive.

You also might want to get the Stayfix tester with the directional fault finder. (There is a thread on here about it). I got mine in last week and have been tracking down little faults all over the place.
 
How much voltage are you getting at the end of the line? One thing to be cautious of is the manufacturer's mileage rating. Do they specify "50miles multi-wire" or just 50 miles? You could possibly have too much load for your energizer. With that charger in a perfect setting, voltage may be detectible at 50miles, but when you put a load on it (grass, bad insulator or a cow nose) it may fall flat on it's bottom. If this is the case, it probably will not matter how many ground rods you install.
 
I have a generic Agway 50 mile charger, it's nice for a 10 acre pasture with a couple of subdivisions, but I can't imagine it charging 50 miles of fence very well.

My main charger is a Speedrite 15000 (90 mile), I love it. I think Speedrite has larger chargers 20000 (125 mile) and 36000 (220 mile). Off topic, but my favorite part is the remote control. I wouldn't be without it on a large pasture with multiple divisions.

If you have very dry soil, connect one wire to the ground and attach multiple ground rods to that wire at different points around the pasture.
 
grannysoo":34z1qyjj said:
You also might want to get the Stayfix tester with the directional fault finder.

VERY handy little item! That's the one that I use at work. I love it, works very well. Lets you know the amps, and kv, and I especially like the arrow, for direction.

Katherine
 
I have had good luck with a Zabera fence charger. Neighbors say it is a really hot box. :lol2:
 

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