Shock from earth bar on battery fencer

minerleague

Is it normal to get a shock from the earth bar of a battery fencer ( recently repaired ) Cant remember it happening before but wouldn't normally touch it either. Anyone volunteer to test their fencer and report back?

sandman30

Shock of the earth bar means the earth is not big enough, so it will be limiting the power in the fence, either need to add another earth bar and join them, install a larger earth, or use a less powerful fencer.

Lime Tree Farm

the fence line is reading 7.6, the earth bar fluctuating between 0.2 and 0.3

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119205581#Comment_119205581

Thanks, but its only a battery fencer and the earth bar that came with it, will try a bar from mains fencer and see after.

Easten

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119205598#Comment_119205598

I know the ones,

I threw the earth bar that came with it away and use an old bale spike instead. Your issue could also be that the ground has become too dry. You could wet up the ground with a few buckets of water to take you out of a hold

patsy_mccabe

Take the battery fencer and dip the earth rod in a stream or pool of water. It should be well earthed then. See if it still shocks.

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119205735#Comment_119205735

Thanks for that, had just thought of wetting the ground alright, be easier than driving longer bar and moving again.

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119205592#Comment_119205592

didn't have a meter with me, touched it with hand ( fair belt off it ) So some shock would be normal I guess

patsy_mccabe

When you say you get a shock, is the earth bar in the ground at the time?

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119205770#Comment_119205770

After that I threw a bucket of water around it - reading went to 0.6 on earth bar

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119205778#Comment_119205778

Yes but I was kneeling down near fencer at the time ( just after moving it - attaching wire to fence etc ) This evening added second earth and threw bucket of water around earth bars, standing up in boots can still feel a trickle off earth but nothing like shock from earlier. What setting on voltmeter would you use to get reading AC or DC volts?

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119205808#Comment_119205808

Did fence stay at same as before? Is that voltmeter or fence tester?

148multi

Is the wire fence earthing somewhere

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119208957#Comment_119208957

No earthing of fence itself, just after putting up to divide field as grass gone too strong, good shock off fence ( 4/5 lights on tester )

ruwithme

If you have a drain/ shoke in the field where you are using the fencer, drive your earth bar into the wettest part of it & use a bit of long wire to get you back up the bank to the fence wire.

Will be a big help, if struggling in drier ground for a earth.

On the earth, mains anyway, if you touch the earth rod with one hand & place your other hand on the flat of the ground, if your getting a shock from this, your earth is not good enough.

I've five 1 metre galvanise earth bars for mains here, all connected with galvanised wire, 3 metres apart, with insulated galvanised wire back into the unit, in damp ground, usually wet, & still get a tingling shock.

I think getting a goodearth in the last month has been more difficult as ground is dried out, despite more rain recently. Only wetting the top a bit, thankfully.

emaherx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119208690#Comment_119208690

Don't use a multimeter unless you have a suitable voltage divider, as they are usually only rated to <1000V and your fence probably 8000V to 11000V. Also it's usually a DC pulse which won't read right on most meters unless they can plot voltage over time or able to capture peak voltage.

As others have said the shock at the earth is down to inadequate earthing this could also be poor connection between the wire and the earth rods, have you good tight wire connection with no corrosion?

Honestly though if you have good voltage reading on every part of your fence I'd not worry too much about a little tickle from it in very dry soil.

Easten

You can test the earth bar with the Multimeter if you want to!

To do so you have to first earth the electric fence wire (the wire to fence the cattle). Do this a good bit away from the fencer and make sure the it's earthing the fence so use a bar to earth it.

Then go back to your earth bar for the fencer, set the multimeter to read Voltage the highest DC voltage (on the cheap ones it probably only goes to 500V) then measure the Voltage between the earthbar and ground. You should be reading very little <100 Volts, if you are reading a couple of Hundred volts then it's down to the earth bar (as pointed out before) OR it could be the wire you are using. There is the off chance that some of that corded electric fence wire just isn't up to the job. the cheap stuff with 4 strands or less over a short distance is just not capable of transmitting all the power from the fencer so you end up with feedback on the earthbar. The solution for which would be better quality wire or just use a big earthbar and sink it well into the ground. Those pokey little bars that come with the fencers are just not up to the job especially if you have sandy dry soil types, you need a heavy bar going at least 20inches into the ground to get a true earth. that's why it's back to my original recommendation of a bale spike for a mobile fencer

Sugarbowl

I’m having electric wire issues as well. Tester is reading low and struggling to find the issue. I did get a shock off one of my earth bars before… it’s a mains fencer… would that indicate anything?

patsy_mccabe

I have a bit of high tensile wire going down into a deep trench of water. I connect the earth of the battery fencer to this.

Sacrolyte

And if you don’t have any water handy you can just do a wee on it.

Lime Tree Farm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119218928#Comment_119218928

That might ressurect the dead

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119218928#Comment_119218928

Ha, just make sure to turn it off first!! Did what easten suggested and got a longer galvanized bar ( also put heavier wire from earth to fencer ), ground is dry and fencer next to hedge which is dryer with tree roots also. A small voltage off the earth bar seems normal enough from internet research. Thanks for all replies. As an aside anyone ever think of building their own battery fencer?