poly wire

[JW IN VA]

I've read where a light duty poly wire starts losing power after around 200 yards. Seems longer stretches would take six to nine wire strands in the poly. Might be similar to using a heavier gauge in longer runs of household wire.

 

[kenny thomas]

I've read where a light duty poly wire starts losing power after around 200 yards. Seems longer stretches would take six to nine wire strands in the poly. Might be similar to using a heavier gauge in longer runs of household wire.

Mine is 9 wire. Use the poly with copper wires.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I've read where a light duty poly wire starts losing power after around 200 yards. Seems longer stretches would take six to nine wire strands in the poly. Might be similar to using a heavier gauge in longer runs of household wire.

You start losing power the first inch away from the energizer and keep losing it the further down the line you go. This is true of any electrical system; voltage/power is greatest at the source and progressively decreases as you get more distant from the source. Larger conductors, more strands of conductor, and more conductive material decrease the rate of loss and help preserve voltage. Some manufacturers publish the electrical resistance (usually measured in Ohms per mile) of their polywire. That number doesn't directly tell you exactly how far you can/should run a particular wire, but it does let you directly compare one polywire against another (lower resistance number = better conductivity and slower rate of voltage loss). Below is a comparison I found of Gallagher's electric fence products.

 

[regolith]

I use light steel wire anywhere that is carrying electricity onto another fenceline, but isn't a permanent high-tensile connection.
Polywire can be used that way successfully right up until the day it fails on you and the cattle get through. More likely to be a burned out section than voltage drop though, but neither is an issue with steel wire.

 

[Brute 23]

I have almost a mile of poly going right now with no noticeable drop. Its only a couple mo ths old but it is working so far.

 

[RDFF]

The Gallagher numbers don't lie. Quality equipment pays. Stay away from the cheap stuff. Do it once and do it right!

 

[Stickney94]

Polywire is ok. The turbo products are better and in my experience they are more durable. I'd agree that quality is worth the extra initial cost.

 

[Brute 23]

Ya Im probably not using the right terminology. I have one of the mega reels with like the 2600'ish of turbo wire. There are two or three more reels with this Intellie Braid Twine. The Gallagher feels tougher.

 

[Silver]

I like the 1/4” Power Braid by Range Ward. No stretch or sag like poly rope, and a breaking strength of about 1300 lbs.

 

[chaded]

I have some taragate reels with powerflex 9 mixed metal polybraid. Never any issues with the wire at all. The reels are okay but I am looking at switching to the speedrite extreme reels.

 

[RDFF]

I have some taragate reels with powerflex 9 mixed metal polybraid. Never any issues with the wire at all. The reels are okay but I am looking at switching to the speedrite extreme reels.

Take a look at the Gallaghers... haven't yet heard one person say they'd prefer any other reel, other than for price. I've got like 20 of them now. Have looked at all the others, but have stuck with Gallaghers.

 

[Silver]

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[RDFF]

I have some taragate reels with powerflex 9 mixed metal polybraid. Never any issues with the wire at all. The reels are okay but I am looking at switching to the speedrite extreme reels.

OHHH... I hadn't seen that Speedrite Extreme yet! I LIKE it! Has what I like about the Gallagher's... but it also has a "drag adjustment". I have always been wishing the Gallagher's had a hand brake on them of some sort... I generally will let my gloved hand rub on the drum slightly when rolling out to provide a modest amount of drag... but that can wear out your glove pretty easily over long distances... Looks like Speedrite hit a good one with this one! Priced about the same as a Gallagher. I'm going to be looking for sure!

 

[RDFF]

https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi.../channel/UCoBfC5OUg6EOIhXQbVoMdTg&FORM=VAMGZC

 

[chaded]

OHHH... I hadn't seen that Speedrite Extreme yet! I LIKE it! Has what I like about the Gallagher's... but it also has a "drag adjustment". I have always been wishing the Gallagher's had a hand brake on them of some sort... I generally will let my gloved hand rub on the drum slightly when rolling out to provide a modest amount of drag... but that can wear out your glove pretty easily over long distances... Looks like Speedrite hit a good one with this one! Priced about the same as a Gallagher. I'm going to be looking for sure!

View attachment 67964

The drag feature is primarily what I was looking for. The wire tracking is probably nice as well.

 

[RDFF]

One thing I notice about it... it doesn't actually "lock" onto a wire, for example... it only "hooks" the wire... meaning, the trigger they show OPENS the hook more widely, like to hook it onto the rack on the quad, but it doesn't leave it with a fully closed loop when "shut", so as to not be able to "come off" of a wire you've hooked it onto. This screenshot taken from one of their videos is showing the hook in the fully closed position... See that yellow in the far right? That's the "trigger" that is used to OPEN the hook more widely... that yellow trigger is in the fully closed position, so the hook doesn't close that gap any more than that, from what I can tell. If someone is using one of these already, please confirm that if you would. Looks like the intention here was mostly to be able to lock it onto a quad rack like I do with the Gallagher's all the time (usually have 4 or more hanging on it). The wire guide looks to be much more rigid than the Gallagher's (that's good, I think????...) but it has more "mechanical apparatus" to it with a "wire tracking system" on that guide (maybe something more to go wrong???... I've never felt that was a need... I just watch how it's spooling up and tilt the reel accordingly as you roll up the poly to ensure even loading all across the spool. That drag feature might be the biggest thing that would get me to move to these. But I'd be less comfortable with that hook design I think.

 

[RDFF]

The drag feature is primarily what I was looking for. The wire tracking is probably nice as well.

I guess I would have approached it a little differently if I was building them... I'd make that "trigger" be the means to apply the "brake"... or drag, so I can control it... and then have a mechanism to be able to lock the trigger at whatever level of drag you wanted as well. I like the "hook lock" that Gallagher has on theirs probably a little better than this (or at least I THINK I do, without ever having actually worked with one of these). That hook is pretty "sharp"... I like the breadth of the design of Gallagher's hook, and the metal frame around the reel. Speedrite did put a hand guard on the handle... one of the negatives most of the others left out... and a strong positive for the Gallagher's in the past. This is a pretty good design though, from what I'm seeing, and I too would like to try a few, just to see which of them I prefer. That drag feature could maybe win me over!

 

[Chuckie]

I use a poly tape wire, which I do not care for, but found using it, deer jump over the fence instead of running through wire and dragging it across the pasture. The poly tape is visible while they are running. Now I am not constantly putting the fence back up.
I have had to keep an electric fence and a single wire around the creek where water continues to run. Also there is over 1000 acres up above that drains into the creek when a hard rain comes, and then some spring water as well, that flows very quickly and flows over the creek bed into the pasture. Often it looks like white water coming over the sides. First year I put up a woven wire fence, it totally destroyed it on two sides. The wire was like a net and caught all corn stalks and cotton that was cut down. I was sick. That was 40 years ago.

Now when the water goes up, It seldom messes the fence up.

The poly wire tape fence does drop the voltage. But maintains enough that they don't want to touch it.