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Testing a fence charger?
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Josh in Pa
Posted 10/25/2016 07:26 (#5598920)
Subject: Testing a fence charger?


s.e. Pa		I have a solar fence charger on about 13 acres of pasture with high tensile fence. 2nd and 4th hot on a 5 wire fence. With a tester I am getting 1000 volts on the fence. If I unhook the fence from charger, I get 10k volts on charger. I have walked fence and cannot find a single missing insulator, or blade of grass grounding the fence. Two ground rods a few posts apart. Is there a way to load test my charger? Is it likely the charger is bad or I missed something on the fence? This charger is not too impressive. When I was a kid it seemed like those chargers kept the fence hot even when there were some shorts.
Josh
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nw_bearcat
Posted 10/25/2016 08:42 (#5599063 - in reply to #5598920)
Subject: RE: Testing a fence charger?


Top middle of MO. land of green hills and grass		I'd bet missing something. I've gone to putting in disconnects at corners, so I can isolate where the issue is. Found this week where a corner insulator burnt through and was shorting out.
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Nebraska Sandhiller
Posted 10/25/2016 08:43 (#5599065 - in reply to #5598920)
Subject: RE: Testing a fence charger?


NNW Nebraska		Most off the shelf solar chargers are wimpy. Anyhow 1000 volts isn't much, and may make cows learn to crawl the fence.

If you are using much electric fence. You need to buy a fence analyzer.

Volt meter is useless for finding electric fence problems .

Yes, fence analyzers cost about $100 bucks, but well worth it.
They work as a amps meter, high amp flow, you have a short out further from the fencer than where you are standing. You can set on atv & test without getting off.

Otherwise you need to disconnect every section of fence, then if good, add one more section until you find the section that is shorted. Have it hooked up and listen as well as look.. Possibly walk it after dark, get some one else to walk it and take a hard look at every post.


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ezrydr
Posted 10/25/2016 20:59 (#5600047 - in reply to #5599065)
Subject: RE: Testing a fence charger?


South East South Dakota/winters Tucson, AZ		Best money I spent was for a fence tester. I have one on the atv and one in the ranger.
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tbeck
Posted 10/25/2016 08:52 (#5599076 - in reply to #5598920)
Subject: good advice From Sandhill



Culbertson, MT		Also, tune AM radio to a weak, distant station. Drive along fence slowly, you will hear the short pop through the radio when you get close.
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rkieffer
Posted 10/25/2016 11:46 (#5599287 - in reply to #5598920)
Subject: Money well spent


If you consider your time worth anything, a fence tester is priceless.
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70'JDplowboy
Posted 10/26/2016 07:08 (#5600576 - in reply to #5598920)
Subject: RE: Testing a fence charger?


Richardson county Nebraska		What brand is nat approved, I have one with little lights that light up, it's ok better than grabbing wire and it was cheap
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Nebraska Sandhiller
Posted 10/26/2016 09:24 (#5600849 - in reply to #5600576)
Subject: RE: Testing a fence charger?


NNW Nebraska		That sounds like a voltmeter. worthless for testing fence. You can piss on the wire and tell if its hot, but it don't help you find the problem if it's not hot.

Below is a link to some like I have, a Speedrite fault finder. There are other companies that have a very similar product that would work. Sorry, I should have said "electric fence fault finder", in my post. hope some of the links work.


https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e07f7e-7b6a-11d5-a...

and
http://www.horse.com/item/speedrite-digital-fault-finder/E011342/?s...

also a different brand, and there are others

http://cdnimages.opentip.com/thumbs/BCW/BCW-083164_280_280.jpg
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Nebraska Sandhiller
Posted 10/26/2016 10:54 (#5600994 - in reply to #5600849)
Subject: RE: Testing a fence charger?


NNW Nebraska		If you use one of these, don't get confused by the stupid arrows. I don't know why they even put them on there.
The point is that if there is a short further away from the fencer than what you are testing, then there will be lots of amps flowing.

if the voltage is bad, but low amps at your location, you head closer to the fencer and check.

I had a hard time explaining to a guy how it worked, cuz he read the instructions and got confused over the stupid arrows.
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cyclone0104
Posted 10/26/2016 22:55 (#5602280 - in reply to #5600849)
Subject: RE: Testing a fence charger?


Central Iowa		I have a Stafix which looks identical to the Speedrite. Good features are that it's easy to read in low light since it's backlit, and it also shows volts and amps at the same time. My Kencove is not backlit, and you have to push a button to switch between volts and amps.
Yes I know they are expensive. But I wish I could have back all the hours I spent chasing down shorts with a screwdriver.
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