Where to install electric fence?

EamonKilkenny

Just wondering would any of you be concerned about having a mains electric fence in a cubicle shed? Is it just the parlour where it affects cows?

49801

Will they ever be in there when it is switched on?

Steer clear IMO

Gillespy

Installed our one here in the garage near the house. Always useful to be able to ring and ask someone to turn it on or off if you need to while out in the field. Initially it was put there to have it away from the parlour and yard.

moy83

Any tips on setting one up ? I got one this morning and was going to put one in the cubicle shed but reading this I dont know now

Deepsouthwest

I probably wouldn't put it in the cubicle shed either, but if u earth it properly(at least 3 earth bars, well spread out) it should be ok

onyerbikepat

I plan to buy one aswell and had planned to put it in the cubicle shed. Don't know where to put it now. Suckler cows and there maybe the odd one in there calving or whatever when it's on.

satstheway

Ours In the machine room for the parlour =-O
Never had any problems.
I know of 3 or 4 that the earth is a esb of the shed.
It probably causes bigger problems in areas with very dry soil.

farmersfriend

onyerbikepat wrote: »

I plan to buy one aswell and had planned to put it in the cubicle shed. Don't know where to put it now. Suckler cows and there maybe the odd one in there calving or whatever when it's on.

Ours is in the cubicle shed for 30years and have no trouble with it.

moy83

farmersfriend wrote: »

Ours is in the cubicle shed for 30years and have no trouble with it.

Do you need to bring it through the yard to get it out to the garden ? If so what kind of cable do you use for that , I won't be burying it so it will have to clipped along the wall or sheds along the way to the field

49801

moy83 wrote: »

Do you need to bring it through the yard to get it out to the garden ? If so what kind of cable do you use for that , I won't be burying it so it will have to clipped along the wall or sheds along the way to the field

Use 2.5mm double insulated wire to connect to earth system and lead out to your fence. It's expensive stuff but worth the extra IMO. So site fencer as close to fence and earth as possible.
http://www.pel.co.nz/product/pi36-premium-underground-cable

Use plenty earth rods.... Your fencer will only be as good as your earth system

Zr105

Gillespy wrote: »

Installed our one here in the garage near the house. Always useful to be able to ring and ask someone to turn it on or off if you need to while out in the field. Initially it was put there to have it away from the parlour and yard.

Get yourself a couple of switches so that you can knock off sections while down the field! So much handier cause its always when ya have no one at home that ya need the dam thing turned off

moy83

I looked at one there and he had it in the slatted shed and earthed onto one of the girders . He reckoned it was fine and had no trouble with it . It would definitely be the easier way to go for me if it would work .
I have 3 full rolls of 1.5 earth wire left over from a job , think would that be heavy enough going from the fencer to the girder ? Could I use two of them or is that any benefit ?

Muckit

Is the wire copper moy? Copper anything not good with electric fences. Any other is fine

moy83

Muckit wrote: »

Is the wire copper moy? Copper anything not good with electric fences. Any other is fine

Im guessing it is . Its the green and yellow one you would see them using in houses . Why is the copper no good ?

Muckit

Ah ya that's more than likely copper alright Moy. No good. It just doesn't like electric fence current and you would think it'd be perfect. I had a job to convince oul lad to stop using it! It will eventually react with the ordinary fence wire where they are joined and then your fence is compromised. Google it and you'll see a lot of talk about copper and electric fences as a no no.

Get the proper lead out wire. Get the good stuff that's hard to bend. It's dear but it's only a job you are doing the once.

moy83

Muckit wrote: »

Ah ya that's more than likely copper alright Moy. No good. It just doesn't like electric fence current and you would think it'd be perfect. I had a job to convince oul lad to stop using it! It will eventually react with the ordinary fence wire where they are joined and then your fence is compromised. Google it and you'll see a lot of talk about copper and electric fences as a no no.

Get the proper lead out wire. Get the good stuff that's hard to bend. It's dear but it's only a job you are doing the once.

Ill get a bit Monday

micky mouse

bhhhiho.ho

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

I probably wouldn't put it in the cubicle shed either, but if u earth it properly(at least 3 earth bars, well spread out) it should be ok

how deep need to go with the earth rods

onyerbikepat

Muckit wrote: »

Is the wire copper moy? Copper anything not good with electric fences. Any other is fine

It causes corrosion from electrolysis, doesnt it? Someone on here before said it was ok to use, if the joint was sealed right, to keep out moisture. Hardly worth the hassle though.

Zr105

moy83 wrote: »

Im guessing it is . Its the green and yellow one you would see them using in houses . Why is the copper no good ?

copper will oxidise with rain water and even more so with the current passing through it, especially as with an electric fence theres nearly always a small arc, once the coppper oxidises your loosing stupid amounts of power

micky mouse wrote: »

bhhhiho.ho
how deep need to go with the earth rods

think its genereally meter deep meter apart if i remember rightly!

nhg

We have our fence set up in the pump house, 3 earth rods, but must check the earth wire - think it's the yellow & green.......

49801

I used lighting rods which are 6ft compared to 4ft standard earth rod. Total pain to drive in but worth it IMO.
Rods should be a minimum of 3m apart.
Soil that tends to be continuously damp is better
Think I saw a recommendation before that you should have a rod for every 25joules of stored energy.

_Brian

onyerbikepat wrote: »

It causes corrosion from electrolysis, doesnt it? Someone on here before said it was ok to use, if the joint was sealed right, to keep out moisture. Hardly worth the hassle though.

There is also the problem that the copper wire isn't really fit for the high voltages... Its unsuitable to use.

frazzledhome

moy83 wrote: »

I looked at one there and he had it in the slatted shed and earthed onto one of the girders . He reckoned it was fine and had no trouble with it . It would definitely be the easier way to go for me if it would work .
I have 3 full rolls of 1.5 earth wire left over from a job , think would that be heavy enough going from the fencer to the girder ? Could I use two of them or is that any benefit ?

Problem is if you have an earth/short on the fence the earth (shed) becomes live as in fence pulse. Would you catch an earth pole if your fence had a short?

moy83

frazzledhome wrote: »

Problem is if you have an earth/short on the fence the earth (shed) becomes live as in fence pulse. Would you catch an earth pole if your fence had a short?

Nope ! This electrical stuff has my head fried , yer man was saying the shed itself should be earthed which I think it is . There is one of them green earth boxes outside anyhow .

I think I'll give the electrician a shout on Monday and let him rig it up and ill just worry about stringing the wire around the place . That brings me onto my next question , whats the job for bringing it across gateways or roads ?

_Brian

moy83 wrote: »

Nope ! This electrical stuff has my head fried , yer man was saying the shed itself should be earthed which I think it is . There is one of them green earth boxes outside anyhow .

I think I'll give the electrician a shout on Monday and let him rig it up and ill just worry about stringing the wire around the place . That brings me onto my next question , whats the job for bringing it across gateways or roads ?

SO yes your shed steelwork should be earthed..
But, this earthing system isn't designed to take maybe 20-30,000volts that a fencer throws out.. So your introducing a "choke" on the flow of power and so will never get the best from your fencer.. The girders themselves are set into concrete which funny enough gives very poor earthing.

The best and only proper solution is to run out the proper twin insulated steel wire. Run it out to a spot that isn't under a hedge nor too close to a shed foundation, a damp spot if possible.
Then the recommended earthing is three one meter long stakes each one meter appart all connected to the earth wire. We used the sticky tape stuff for earth rods to keep water off the connections on the earth rods.. A good tip is to sink each one in a depression in the ground so water collects at the earth rod and keeps it moist deep down.

Once done right.. you should be able to put one hand on the damp ground and one on the earth rod and feel no shock at all. If you feel a shock when touching the earth rod then its not working properly. You can test this with a regular fence tester too.

Many moons ago I spent a day training on installing fencers and their correct set-up. After that we only sold a handful in three years :rolleyes:

Someone mentioned the dairy or parlour for a fencer.. Its a risk, if there is any leakage of power then your cows may well suffer. And when your shoving 30,000 volts down a cable with maybe a poor earth or a dodgy connection along the line, then getting maybe 200volts stray isn't such a stretch of the imagination. Those with suckler cows probably have no real worry about siteing a fencer, I've never heard any problems with sucklers and fencers and stray voltage.

knockmulliner

Put a GSM switch on the supply to the fencer, then you can turn it off and on from your mobile phone

_Brian

knockmulliner wrote: »

Put a GSM switch on the supply to the fencer, then you can turn it off and on from your mobile phone

This sounds great.
Does it cost each time you switch and how much.

Floody Boreland

I would pay for a device that sends an alarm to my phone when my fence has failed.

Muckit

knockmulliner wrote: »

Put a GSM switch on the supply to the fencer, then you can turn it off and on from your mobile phone

I'm going looking into this. There are ones being sold specifically for electric fencers for over €200. Mad money. There are others on eBay for a fraction of that. They are not suitable for outdoor use, , but easy buy an IP65 box to fit all into. I'd say a good sealed lunchbox would even do.

49801

Muckit wrote: »

I'm going looking into this. There are ones being sold specifically for electric fencers for over €200. Mad money. There are others on eBay for a fraction of that. They are not suitable for outdoor use, , but easy buy an IP65 box to fit all into. I'd say a good sealed lunchbox would even do.

Often thought a gsm switch would be handy for the fence but have opted for a 5 cut out switches instead. Bit of a walk to get to them if there is a fault but at least not knocking out entire network.

Gsm switch would be very handy for water pump though