Solar fencer

Grueller

Ok lads,
I want to paddock the outfarm and have no way to plug in a mains fencer and don't want the hassle of charging batteries etc.
Anybody have a solar fencer?
How do they perform?
Do they need to be periodically charged or is the panel enough to keep them alive?
What brand?
Most importantly, how much?

Thanks in advance.

amacca

Grueller wrote: »

Ok lads,
I want to paddock the outfarm and have no way to plug in a mains fencer and don't want the hassle of charging batteries etc.
Anybody have a solar fencer?
How do they perform?
Do they need to be periodically charged or is the panel enough to keep them alive?
What brand?
Most importantly, how much?

Thanks in advance.

I do.

Mine has performed well. So much so I bought another one.

The panel was enough to keep mine alive from april to mid november for the last 5 years...I take-home and trickle charge over the winter.....It could go longer but Ive never tested to see when it will run out.....and the one I bought first is still working fine.

Mine are Lacme Secur 100's ...there are fencers within the same brand with much higher joule ratings for larger acreages but mine does quite well splitting up an 20ac out farm into 6 separate paddocks.

I bought one from a website, think its irish sales.ie or something like that....it came without the battery and with the a 6w panel.....I know the fencer itself is good but I can't speak for the life of the battery I bought to go with it ....which was a halfords leisure battery (as recommended by them) ...fencer 250 euros....think the battery was about 70 euros.....its been performing well on similar to the first one I bought for about 4 weeks now but thats not much to go on I suppose

The original one I got from connaught agri and I've forgotten what they charged (think around 400 euros) that was with a battery included (specifically for the fencer ...branded solar or something) and a higher wattage panel which was more of a pain in the hole set up(than the nice neat 6w panel that should go with the 100) as it was separate to the fencer and had to be mounted...but thats the one that hasn't let me down for five years now, wish I could say that about some of the other supposedly good products I've bought in that time......

All in all I'm fairly happy with the product.

Muckit

I can vouch for Lacme but there are plenty of other good makes. A solar fencer is basically a battery fencer with a solar panel to keep a deep cycle battery topped up.

The solar panel on mine faces South and l get the entire grazing season without having to change or otherwise charge the battery.

Like any battery, they dont like severe cold, so they need to be brought in in the winter. Stick the battery in a press in back kitchen or bottom of hot press. I stick mine on the charger at xmas or just before l put it out in spring.

They are a great investment. Best also to invest in some form of secure box to put it in when in use so it doesn't grow legs and/or keep it out of sight and away from the public road.

larthehar

Muckit wrote: »

I can vouch for Lacme but there are plenty of other good makes. A solar fencer is basically a battery fencer with a solar panel to keep a deep cycle battery topped up.

The solar panel on mine faces South and l get the entire grazing season without having to change or otherwise charge the battery.

Like any battery, they dont like severe cold, so they need to be brought in in the winter. Stick the battery in a press in back kitchen or bottom of hot press. I stick mine on the charger at xmas or just before l put it out in spring.

They are a great investment. Best also to invest in some form of secure box to put it in when in use so it doesn't grow legs and/or keep it out of sight and away from the public road.

What are they like with earths? Flatten the battery faster?

wrangler

larthehar wrote: »

What are they like with earths? Flatten the battery faster?

I have a Pel fencer, can be used with either electricity or battery, I bought it in 2006, I put an old tractor battery in it and it still has the same battery.
I used to strip graze sheep through the winter, despite the short days the battery would only have to be brought home once during the winter to top up the charge, usually around the real short days of christmas.
I was using it with up to ten rolls of electrified sheep wire so there'd be fair drag on it there and still kept charged, there'd be 400 mtrs wire in each of those rolls.
At the time the fencer was €180 and the solar panel was €220, don't know what it costs now.It worked every winter till 2014 so it was only dear the first day

Jbyrne01

I've a lacme . They are a serious solar fencer. It comes with a deep cycle dry cell battery and a solar panel big enough to trickle feed it. You need to get a model to suit the length of fence you want to drive.

They only need a light charge before you stick it out in the spring. This will do you until you are bringing it back in for the winter.

They are every bit as strong reliable as a mains unit. You are buying peace of mind. They light all lights on fence tester. A good earthing is the key and have it secured well against theft and you're laughing.

Limestone Cowboy

amacca wrote: »

I do.

Mine has performed well. So much so I bought another one.

The panel was enough to keep mine alive from april to mid november for the last 5 years...I take-home and trickle charge over the winter.....It could go longer but Ive never tested to see when it will run out.....and the one I bought first is still working fine.

Mine are Lacme Secur 100's ...there are fencers within the same brand with much higher joule ratings for larger acreages but mine does quite well splitting up an 20ac out farm into 6 separate paddocks.

I bought one from a website, think its irish sales.ie or something like that....it came without the battery and with the a 6w panel.....I know the fencer itself is good but I can't speak for the life of the battery I bought to go with it ....which was a halfords leisure battery (as recommended by them) ...fencer 250 euros....think the battery was about 70 euros.....its been performing well on similar to the first one I bought for about 4 weeks now but thats not much to go on I suppose

The original one I got from connaught agri and I've forgotten what they charged (think around 400 euros) that was with a battery included (specifically for the fencer ...branded solar or something) and a higher wattage panel which was more of a pain in the hole set up(than the nice neat 6w panel that should go with the 100) as it was separate to the fencer and had to be mounted...but thats the one that hasn't let me down for five years now, wish I could say that about some of the other supposedly good products I've bought in that time......

All in all I'm fairly happy with the product.

Have a secur 100 here aswell and I'll give it another +1. Have it 5 or 6 years now and never missed a beat. Fair shock off it too.

gerryirl

as with all the other posts I also have a secur 100 and find it great . Dont have it long but it packs a fair punch ,it saved me having to run mains fence to piece of ground and to be honest its better than my mains fence. Might even get another one

tanko

gerryirl wrote: »

as with all the other posts I also have a secur 100 and find it great . Dont have it long but it packs a fair punch ,it saved me having to run mains fence to piece of ground and to be honest its better than my mains fence. Might even get another one

Where did you buy it?

gerryirl

bought it off irishsales.ie

http://irishsales.ie/?product=lacme-secur-100-solar-fencer

add €20 for postage



you dont get a battery and he recommended one in Halfords. Its for a caravan. Its a leisure battery,You can get them with the battery else where but they work out dearer. Up full mine puts out 15k volts. I reckon youd kill an animal with it up that high..lol.. mine set at 2 and 5k volts is plenty

connacht agri do them with a battery if your not near a halfords

https://www.connachtagri.ie/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=vmj_naru.tpl&product_id=86&category_id=29&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=6

finbarrk

We bought a Forcefield one. Not that happy with it. I think it was about €260 in our local agri store. Although maybe it has too much ground to cover. Back using the mains fencer again. Twice as powerful.

quietsailor

A long time ago there was a post on here about someone who put their fencer into a stainless steel box which was insulated from the fence post. The box itself was wired to the fencer so any light fingered people got electric shocks if they tried to steal the unit.

It had the fencer unit plus the battery contained within the box, I cant remember how they secured the box opening but I think the fencer on/off switch was locked within

gerryirl

I bought a couple of these . one for the mains fence and one for the solar fence, Not cheap for what they do but you know straight away there is a problem with your fence rather than finding out when the cattle are gone. You can see them from far far away. great job

https://www.stafix.com/en/product/fence-alert

hopeso

Does anyone know if irishsales.ie has a physical shop? Or do they only sell online?

Gman1987

Did any of ye put in a large solar fencer? I have an outfarm that I'm thinking of putting one into as I'm grazing both bulls and heifers there. Thinking of this one:

http://https://www.frscahir.ie/proddetail.php?prod=Fp412&FP412i---120KM/70ml/180-acre-12.0J-output-PEL-FENCER

I know you can get a six joule version also but I was thinking if I'm putting it in I might as well go for maximum power. I have a 100 watt solar panel and charge controller that I could use, I would just need to put in one or two tractor battery's. Would it work?

Alternatively I was thinking of getting an unmetered electricity in on site but I have to see what the costs of that would be yet. Have any of ye experience of this?

Farmer

This is for NZ but it would seem to suggest a larger panel

http://stradballyfarmservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/PEL-SOLAR-SYSTEMS-SELECTION-GUIDE-NZ.pdf

You'll cover a fair bit with 6 joules though. On the other hand, a 200w panel shouldn't cost that much more. Charge contoller would be busy these days though but it's the dark winter days you have to allow for.

It all adds up to a fair bit of money lying around, you'd best not tell us where it is;)

Gman1987

This is for NZ but it would seem to suggest a larger panel

http://stradballyfarmservices.com/wp...N-GUIDE-NZ.pdf

You'll cover a fair bit with 6 joules though. On the other hand, a 200w panel shouldn't cost that much more. Charge contoller would be busy these days though but it's the dark winter days you have to allow for.

It all adds up to a fair bit of money lying around, you'd best not tell us where it is

I presume I would be able to run the fencer on half power therefore 6 joules until I get a second solar panel up and running? The only reason I'm thinking the bigger fencer is to ensure maximum power to keep bulls and heifers apart.

I have a crush on site with concrete walls so I was thinking of making a cabinet to house the battery's and the fencer and bolt it to the wall, then put the solar panel up on a pole. I might give Stradbally farm services a call in the morning to run it past them.

hopeso

I copied this from link above......

- Solar panel mounting assembly is designed to be easily mounted onto a wooden fence post. With easy
adjustments for pointing north (compass included) and adjustable panel tilt to maximise solar gain

My question is, Why should the solar panel be pointing north? Surely south would be better?

Zimmerframe

hopeso wrote: »

My question is, Why should the solar panel be pointing north? Surely south would be better?

Because that article is from NZ (New Zealand).
So southern hemisphere point North, Northern hemisphere point South.