Cost of esb too run amains fencer?

No real answer to this as it really depends on the fence size and how many places it's earthed, more earths consume more power and more so on wet days.

Still, I'd guess ~€50 would run it for a year.

Maybe someone with a stand alone wan connection can say what the wan charge. But that will include a low usage fee.

tractorporn wrote: »

AFAIK once the fence isn't earthing the fencer unit should be cycling the same pulse around the circuit each time it clicks. Now that's dependant on it being fenced in a full loop.

We have an outfarm done in this way and last year the fence only used 4 units of electricity. The vital thing is to keep it from earthing, once it starts earthing it will eat power cos every time the pulse enters the ground.

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

If your fence is earthing through vegetation etc, it will reduce the effectiveness of the fence, but I can't see how it would cause it to use more power. After all doesn't the high voltage of the fence go to ground anyway as part of the normal cycle.

Guys, there is no pulse circulating and if well maintained a straight run of appropriate wire is as good as a loop. Now, there is a benefit of creating a loop similar to the ring main created by electricians on sockets in your house, it allows more paths for power to travel along the ring essentially traveling in both directions to any point. In theory you could use smaller gauge wire if running a loop than a single straight run and if one path breaks down the other will keep bringing power.

What a fencer does is generate a huge potential to deliver a short burst high voltage low current between the positive and ground, known as potential difference, measured in volts, typically a good mains fence might have a potential of 30,000volts, a battery fence about 7,000volts. If these are not connected together the potential to deliver this switches off and then back on with each cycle of the fencer but the potential is never delivered and so no power consumed..
Shorts, be they vegetation or an animal (or you) provide a path and the high voltage low current energy passes from the positive to ground via the short, each time the fence is shorted a very small amount of energy is used.
So a fence with zero shorts only uses the energy required to drive the internal circuitry which is very little. But the more shorts a fence has then the greater the load and so more and more energy is consumed with each cycle.

The other problems with shorts is that more and more paths for power to flow between the positive and ground stop the fence building up the huge potential difference between positive and ground and so the fence delivered less and less shock as more shorts are on the line.

Understanding this is very important for battery fencers, the battery will last way, way longer if the fence isnt delivering energy through loads of shorts, they will just eat up the battery.

I could never get any good answer why fencers use the "joule" measurement rather than "watts" which most people are used to seeing. A joule is essentially a measurement of work where a watt is an actual measurement of energy. A joule is basically watts per second, the amount of work done by an amount of watts per second.

And so ends useless information bulletin 164.

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

You could be right about power lost through vegetation Brian, I don't know. I always thought it was just a capacitor discharging.
So what happens the 5000v between shocks ( or cycles). Where does that go? It can only go down the earth bar of the fencer.

I'm not sure best description.
Think of power at end of extension lead with nothing plugged into it potential there but not being used. If you plug out the other end, the potential difference between positive/negative is just lost rather than being discharged anywhere.

Same in the fencer if no shorts exists, the circuitry just cuts off the potential and back on again each cycle.

Here's a tip for checking the earth bar.

Use your fence tester. Between the top of the earth bar to the ground it shouldn't show any lights/power. If it does then the earth bar isn't earthing properly and so will be affecting the power delivered by the fence.

You should be able to put your hand on the earth bar and feel nothing. But often it's a problem area.