Insects Shorting Electric Fence

[BK9954]

Anyone Have an issue with insects shorting an electric fence. Twice this week found a scorpion and spider touching the wire while also touching a tree and t post, popping loud. Not sure how much this affected the voltage on 7,000 volts. Didnt test it while they were frying.

 

[dun]

I've had it happen but not often. Usually by the time they fry they don;t cause another problem until it rains and they get wet and conductive again

 

[fasttommy]

I see it occasionally with slugs. They crawl up tposts and get zapped when they get between the insulator and the fence. A good reason to go with composite or wood posts instead of steel. They'll snap really loud though so they are easy to find.

 

[BK9954]

I see it occasionally with slugs. They crawl up tposts and get zapped when they get between the insulator and the fence. A good reason to go with composite or wood posts instead of steel. They'll snap really loud though so they are easy to find.

Yea I just didnt want to put anymore money into it then I had to. I had old T post laying everywhere. The other materials cost me $500 to fence 40 acres. Yanking it off in the next year or 2 when the property gets sold. I only let the cattle out there every other week or so. I ride the fence before I do. Its rough terrain. Dead trees and ravines are an issue. I have one of those LED lights on the wire by the road. It still flashed for voltage when the bugs were shorting the wire to the post. On the way home at night I drive by to make sure that light is still flashing.

 

[M-5]

One stretch of fence gets very damp in wet years. I assume the insects get on the hot wire but when this happens I get 4 or 5 cattle egrets that have the hot wire in their mouth . I also get a few frogs lizards and occasional bird

 

[Caustic Burno]

Only thing shorts mine out is deer and hogs that haven't been educated yet.
I have miles of electric fence and have never had an insect problem
I am running 18k volts as well.

 

[HDRider]

Only thing shorts mine out is deer and hogs that haven't been educated yet.
I have miles of electric fence and have never had an insect problem
I am running 18k volts as well.

What charger you using CB?

 

[Caustic Burno]

Only thing shorts mine out is deer and hogs that haven't been educated yet.
I have miles of electric fence and have never had an insect problem
I am running 18k volts as well.

What charger you using CB?

Parmak Range master literature says 16k three different meters show 17.5 to 18k

 

[BK9954]

I have the parmak super "5" 50 mile. The literature says 1450 volts open but my tester only goes to 7000. Havent looked at the digital reader in a while. Its hidden under a trash can strapped to a tree.

 

[M-5]

How close are your hot wires and ground wires?

 

[Caustic Burno]

You sure have had a lot of trouble out of your electric fence. Mine are virtually problem free.
Good insulators and proper grounding goes a long way.

 

[backhoeboogie]

a snake got in to mine once. Not sure how he did it but he was zapped. I found him before the buzzards did. I don't know of any insect problems. Maybe I have had them and didn't know.

 

[BK9954]

You sure have had a lot of trouble out of your electric fence. Mine are virtually problem free.
Good insulators and proper grounding goes a long way.

It has always held a charge, like I said the LED fence light tester that stays on there and flashes has always flashed saying it had current. My ground rods are 8 ft deep, 10 feet apart, about 20 foot from the charger and fence. I cant say I have had a lot of trouble, for running my first electric and the only advice is books and you guys its gone fairly well. Nothing has tore it down, it has kept the cattle in, just wanting to know if there was something someone did when insects get fried and stuck or to prevent it. This scorpion was stretched abkout 2 inches from the tree, over the insulator onto the wire. Thanks for your input.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

Only thing shorts mine out is deer and hogs that haven't been educated yet.
I have miles of electric fence and have never had an insect problem
I am running 18k volts as well.

What charger you using CB?

Parmak Range master literature says 16k three different meters show 17.5 to 18k

If there was a like button, I'd have clicked it. That charger will burn a wire in two if it shorts on a T post.

 

[dun]

You sure have had a lot of trouble out of your electric fence. Mine are virtually problem free.
Good insulators and proper grounding goes a long way.

It's never caused any problems for us, just that zapping sound as they fry gets disconcerting.

 

[M-5]

before all these all new type chargers we ran nothing but those old international chargers , we had miles and miles of fence. that had to be checked every day and biggest issue was from hogs rooting dirt up on them . The weeds and occasional snake or lizard or frogs would be burnt and it always performed flawlessly

 

[SteppedInIt]

I got popped today opening gate. Voltmeter read 2000 volts on gate. Took a while to find slug goo'ed up on insulator connecting hot wire and post wire. Traveled through the wood post into the gate. The rain storm that had just passed through helped I'm sure.

 

[Stocker Steve]

What charger you using CB?

Parmak Range master literature says 16k three different meters show 17.5 to 18k[/quote]

That's a lot of power. What do you see as a benefits?

My electrical system is not continuous and grew over time, so I ended up with multiple energizers at about 7000 to 8000 volts.

 

[True Grit Farms]

What charger you using CB?

Parmak Range master literature says 16k three different meters show 17.5 to 18k

That's a lot of power. What do you see as a benefits?

My electrical system is not continuous and grew over time, so I ended up with multiple energizers at about 7000 to 8000 volts.[/quote]

I like hearing the wire to pop when I open a gap up. The cows will not cross a hot wire that's popping. And as an extra bonus if our fence is shorted we can hear it in the phone line ticking.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Stops hogs in my hay field
Along with keeping my neighbors 5 bulls out.