Thinking of buying an electric fence tester tomorrow for black Friday.
Looking at the Forcefield Fault Finder tester on Gibsons for 69 euro.
Anyone know if these are any good.
Tia
😁 Not quite a phD yet anyway.......... but hold a few qualifications in Electronics, IT and currently doing a diploma in Software Development.
Basically Jack of all trades, master of none in the tech industry.
Thanks Emaherx. Though it's all Greek to me! You probably have a PhD in electronics?
Absolutely. My bastards know the difference between a poly wire with 11 th volts and a high tensile wire with 4 th volts. Have a solar fencer on the strip wire with 11 th and a mains fence with the 4.
Bastards still jumping the mains fence, but none going near the strip fence, can be hard to get them through a gap in it to move them to a fresh block of grass.
Mine were based on ESP32 microcontrollers that sent a signal back to a base station (Raspberry Pi Zero with 4G modem) and alerts sent to my phone so no physical indicators.
I built 3 versions:
I was a lot more interested in getting it working when I was working full time, but I'm on farm more now so not as big a priority, now they sit on a shelf with other half finished projects.
Does yours have a dial (swinging arm) to match/measure the current? Like the old Waikato tester?
I wonder if cattle can get a slight sensation from the fence when they get near it, without actually touching it? I got a Gallagher fault finder, which I use for checking the fence daily. I noticed that it turns itself on and registers a low reading as I'm approaching the fence.
Yes, there are a few some universal and some that just work with a particular fence unit all seem very expensive for what they are.
I've experimented with building my own DIY version and have a few working prototypes but haven't deployed to a field yet to really test.
Cattle are very smart, my fkrz always know when fence is off or cracked they be straight through it... But won't go near when it's on.
Is there any device out there that could alert you if power in an electric fence is gone so it could be repaired before cattle know there is no power
Yes one is a euro plug and one is an Irish one. The 48 network will send you out a sim free of charge, most others have a cost. You can buy those gsm switches on aliexpress cheaper but postage will be slower possibly.
An alternative to these switches is to set up your fencing so that if you unhook a gatebreaker it will knock off power to one section of the farm, and have a few of them located around the place.
The above pictured gsm switch, am I right in thinking you can get it on a 2 pin plug or a 3 pin plug?pictures just throwing me a bit.
Buy your own sim then after that?
Not really. A sim might last a year or too from new but will eventually stop working if not topped. Strangely mine wouldn't accept a top up after about a year but kept on working for alot longer.
So I would check fence to make sure it was on. Then text Sn0000off to plug and check with tester before touching.
Repair fence then text Sn0000on and check again.
Saves alot of walking on a paddock system.
For that GSM plug (sim) do you need credit in the sim for the plug to work ?
As in can I turn it on and off by texting/ringing it even if there is no credit in the sim ?
🤣 my WiFi is savage unreliable at the shed (nanostations and high trees). Be some lottery handling the fence.
or a sonoff wifi plug if you have WiFi in shed
Young lad in the bt science competition has incorporated a fence tester into the back of a mobile phone case. Thought it was a good idea. Think he did it with a 3d printer.
Would anyone be able to recommend give me a link for one of these GSM Plugs or let me know where they can be got please
Gallagher fault finder all the way.
And a gsm plug or WiFi plug and any faults can be fixed immediately. I even found some pigtails shorting with it. They would be hard to spot otherwise.
Bought the cheetah fault finder recently, build quality is good, handy size for the pocket too. I think I’d get away with just the voltage reading only, if it’s low then there’s a fault to be found, check the voltage at the fencer and work your way along the line
@Dunedin That's the one. Will last and serious build quality
That's it
Is this the one?
How much is the Gallagher one?
Have both, got the forcefield a few years ago and only lasted approx 1 year. Just a cheap build and not able to last any roughing. Screen cover fell out, bit of super glue repair. Then the whole unit spilt. Also was very bulky in a pocket. Worked great in testing a fence and pointing direction of faults, but ergonomics and build quality is poor.
Got a Gallagher 3 years, build quality is super, fits perfect in a pocket. Nearly always in the pocket of the body warmer. The Gallagher is just light years ahead in quality and will last a lifetime.
A small thing is colour makes it easier to find if put down. The orange and black is great, compared to the single grey on the force field. Just my 2 cents
Exactly, they have two prongs that you place on the wire and an arrow points in the direction of the fault and the number indicates how big the fault is. It's also a regular fence tester aswell. I got my force field fault finer free with a new mains fencer, find it very good.
Excuse my ignorance on these things. Say I rock up to the mid point of my fence and it’s not working. Do these point me in the direction of the fault or how do they work
Buy the gallagher fault finder. I have one this 3 years and it is brilliant. Not cheap but is the best of them imo.
I have the forcefield fault finder.
I use it as a tester moreso than fault finding.
Would recommend it alright.
I think I paid the same price NOT on Black Friday.
See there's a fence tester available now that has a knife in it too.
