What size energizer for HT Fence

[lukem86]

I am having 3100 feet of hi-tensile fence installed at my farm in a few weeks... 5 strand, 2 grounds, all fiberglass 12 1/2 ga steel wire.

I havent had luck with cheap energizers in the past so I went out and got a Gallagher m400 a couple of months ago. The specs on it read "Energizes up to 75 acres. Medium power for all livestock. 3.3 joules" I bought it thinking it would be enough if i increased my pasture size in the next couple years from 6 acres to about 20 acres.

The fence builder told me that the M400, only having 3 joules would not be enough to push a strong enough pulse out through the 3000 feet of 12 1/2 ga wire. He recommended going with nothing less than a 7 joule energizer....

I did some more reading and found a university article online that stated you only need 1 joule for every 6 miles of fence....

Who does a guy go with....

I know everyone has different opinions on what really counts to make an electric fence effective, and it can depend on the type of fence... But im not sure which advice to follow...And I would really rather not spend another 600 dollars for a bigger energizer on top of the 200 I already spent on one that wont get used....

Thanks for the opinions...

 

[Bez]

Well, I do not know much about your specific fencer - I do not use Gallagher - too expensive. But I will say this:

We have almost 20 miles of wire on this place and all of it is energized from one fencer hanging in the shop.

Your short piece of fence is - believe me no offense intended - a tiny drop in the bucket fence.

Think of electricity as a hose. A small hose has a difficult time pushing water - put 5 together and you get a good flow.

I have never heard of a fencer stating "Energizes up to 75 acres" - usually they state good for such and such a distance.

Be that as it may, his comment about pushing power down 5 strands makes me suspicious of his motives.

The guy who is doing the work - does he sell fencers?

Build the danged fence. Then go to the furthest part of the fence from the fencer - and take your boots off. Stand on the ground in your bare feet and grab the wire. If it lifts you - it is fine - if it bites only a bit - I would be backchecking this guys work - insulators, grounds, connections - the whole 9 yards. He might not have done the job and be waiting for you to buy a bigger fencer.

If you do not want to grab on then buy a 10 buck fence tester.

They seldom lie.

I am suspicious, because I think your fence should work just fine - keep the trash off of the wire and relax.

Finally - why you spending so much money on fencers? My 100 mile fencer that runs the entire back of the farm only cost 295 Canuck bucks - about 220 U.S bucks.

There are lots of good ones out there that are cheaper than the Gallagher. Our Red Snap'R has been ticking every day now for the past three years and believe me - you would not want to grab on to it.

If you want some "country fun" while you train your animals to stay away from the fence, use some light wire and hang a couple of aluminum pie plates from the fence. They WILL sniff them. :lol:

Bez

 

[frenchie]

I am having 3100 feet of hi-tensile fence installed at my farm in a few weeks... 5 strand, 2 grounds, all fiberglass 12 1/2 ga steel wire.

I havent had luck with cheap energizers in the past so I went out and got a Gallagher m400 a couple of months ago. The specs on it read "Energizes up to 75 acres. Medium power for all livestock. 3.3 joules" I bought it thinking it would be enough if i increased my pasture size in the next couple years from 6 acres to about 20 acres.

The fence builder told me that the M400, only having 3 joules would not be enough to push a strong enough pulse out through the 3000 feet of 12 1/2 ga wire. He recommended going with nothing less than a 7 joule energizer....

I did some more reading and found a university article online that stated you only need 1 joule for every 6 miles of fence....

Who does a guy go with....

I know everyone has different opinions on what really counts to make an electric fence effective, and it can depend on the type of fence... But im not sure which advice to follow...And I would really rather not spend another 600 dollars for a bigger energizer on top of the 200 I already spent on one that wont get used....

Thanks for the opinions...

Why fiberglass posts?They don,t last long , maybe 10 yrs.

That fencer should be fine, as long as it is grounded properly and the fence is built correctly. Unless you are fencing in sheep then you need at least 5000 volts on the fence.., Make sure to install a lightening diverter.

 

[dun]

How many ground rods? I wouldn;t use any less then 5-6. Even in dry conditions like we're having now we have more then adequate shock at the farthest point from the charger.
The thing about chargers is that each company comes up with a different way to make theirs sound powerful but they each have a different method of stating what they will do. Some use joules, some acres some miles, but there still isn;t a direct method of comparing them other then how strong the pulse is at the farthest point from the charger. Get a good low impedence charger with pluggable components to make it easier and les expensive to repair, set up a good ground system and it will zap cattle about as far as you would need to do it. We use Gallagher because their the only ones that I can go to athe store and buy the components that migth need to be used to repair it. Did it once 5 years ago and haven;t done anyting since..

dun

 

[jgn]

Go to Parmaks website, they have a lot of good info on how the chargers work. Look with the one for the highest voltage rating and make sure it's low impedance so if weeds get in touch withe the wire it will go ahead and still shock. Don't pay any attention to the joule ratings, they don't mean squat.

 

[Tod Dague]

I have a small two joule charger on twenty acres that keeps the fence at 9000 volts. My brother has an eight joule charger on 160 acres. We don't know what the volts are, but it feels like someone hit you as hard as they can with a hot fire brand.

 

[polledbull]

we use the Zareba 100 mile fencer . I think it is 6 joules . It is hot as a 2$ pistol. locally it is only 169.00$. We also us the stafix from new zeland ,they are very good ,but very expensive. about $400.00 for the same 6 joule ,100 mile fencer. go to ebay , there is some good buys on there sometimes on fence supplies

 

[SF]

Shouldn't take much of a fencer. You've got about 9300 feet of wire to get hot. Less than 2 miles. Ignore joules. Don't mean much. Look for low impedence so it will shock through weeds. Make sure it is grounded properly. Dun's method sure sounds like a good one. I don't use that many, but I could probably use more. If at the furthest point you have 9000 volts plus, it should do the trick.
Oh by the way, I use the solar powered fencers from Tractor Supply. I think they are made by Zareba. Certainly not the best, but they are less than $200. I don't usually have power available where my electric fences are and I don't like having to change out batteries.

 

[Bez]

Lukem86 - you're getting a bit of good advice here.

You still out there, or have you taken a powder?

Bez

 

[msscamp]

Lukem86 - your getting a bit of good advice here.

You still out there, or have you taken a powder?

Bez

Maybe he took your advice about grabbing that hot wire and is laying in his pasture out cold!

PS We have a Red Snapp'r, and while I don't know how many joules it has, you won't get against it but once! That sucker kicks worse than a government mule!

 

[lukem86]

Thanks you all for the replies, very helpful...

These may have been rhetorical questions to get me thinking (and it did) but I feel obligated to justify some of my thinking....

BEZ--

I totally understand that my 6 acres of fence is a "drop in the bucket" compared to what many of the people on this site put up.... I wanted to make sure that there was no reason for me to go out and spend more money on an energizer... And figured that several of you would offer some good advice... you have.

Your next question... "Finally - why you spending so much money on fencers?" It has been my personal experience with products in the Ag sector.... you get what you pay for. I would much rather pay 200 dollars once, than pay $100 dollars twice. Thats just me. The less screwing around I have to do the better...

I do realize that there are exceptions to my thinking....

Energizers may be one... seeing as most of you have had good luck with energizers that cost less money. I did some reading and checking a few months ago, and Gallagher was a name that came up several times so thats what i went with.

FRENCHIE-
I had decided to go with fiberglass for now because it was easier for one(geotek corners auger into the ground)...

And there is a good possibility that I will be moving from this farm to somewhere else within the next three or four years. And I wanted to be able to crank the corners out when the time comes and take them with me to the new place.

DUN-
I will take your advice and make sure to get five or six ground rods in. Is 10 ft apart sufficient? Do you put them along the fence line?


Thank you all again for taking time to respond.... and if you have more advice, please let me know...

Oh-- I do have a fence tester, and I'll probably stick with that for now in place of latching onto the fence with my hand.. lol Im green in the cattle business but not that green...

thanks again

[/quote]

 

[Bez]

One other thing you might consider - this because you are in Wisconsin.

In the winter, the snow, ice and cold make for poor contact / ground. Therefore the animal will often not get a bite through the heavy winter coat. Then you have problems as they learn to push the fence.

We overcame that by running a couple of additional lines between the powered lines. We make sure all of these additional lines are well grounded.

That way when the animal pushes the fence, or sticks its head between the wires it completes the circuit. No winter fence pushing is the result.

It has paid dividends for us.

Something for you to consider.

Bez

 

[dun]

DUN-
I will take your advice and make sure to get five or six ground rods in. Is 10 ft apart sufficient? Do you put them along the fence line?

20 feet apart is better but ours range from about 5 -10 and seems to work great.

http://gallagherusa.com/

Gallagher has a fencing manual online. You'll have to hunt around through some of their products but it will give you some good information on grounding and checking to see if you have an adequate ground. Our ground rods run under the eaves and alongside the root cellar. On the other farm we ran them below the dam for a spring fed pond, but that was a solar charger so we could put it where we wanted. Here we're married to 110 for the primary backbone of the fencing system.

dun

 

[rosemary4444]

I reverted the change from "maneuver" to "manoeuvre" because the former was not incorrect; it's standard American spelling. Looking over the article, there appears to be an unsystematic hodge-podge of American and British spelling conventions.