# Electric Fencing



## Rascaholic (Oct 4, 2010)

We finally got moved and Rascal is now in his own 1 1/2 acre pasture YAY!!! The down side is my electric fence isn't working. I have 2 lovely neighbors who have saved me TONS of money by allowing us to tie into their fences. The only concession I had to make was run a hot wire around the top to keep him off the fences. 
Sounds easy doesn't it? NOT! We have regrounded it, Snipped, clipped, pulled, trimmed and otherwise diposed of every weed so NOTHING is touching it. BF can walk up and grab the wire and nothing happens! It's like it isn't even on. The light is blinking like it's working. I don't have cash until week after next to buy another tester (Rascal stepped on mine when he got a shock when we first set it up OOPS)
Any ideas what could be wrong?
Since we have moved I have no clue where my receipt is, so I can't just take it back *sigh*


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## Tianimalz (Jan 6, 2009)

Battery could just be dead? My old one still blinked and everything, but it didn't put out a charge.
Stinks, those things aren't cheap either.


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## MySerenity (Jul 18, 2011)

I have almost the same problem. The fencer is blinking and the fence isn't grounded out by weeds or whatever but there is no charge running thru it. I'd like to just swap out the fencer to see if that's the problem but I don't want to buy a new one and have some huge hassle with returns if that's not the problem.

Honestly I've just been ignoring the fact that it doesn't work because my horses don't ever even think about messing with it. Bad horse owner...


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## Cruiser (Aug 28, 2011)

Usually it is because the grounding isn't good, put in more and longer grounding rods and make sure the connection to the electric fencer is tight. I had the same problem turned out I just needed a heavier wire from my fencer to the grounding rods.

If it hasn't rained dump water on the grounding rods too.


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## Tianimalz (Jan 6, 2009)

MySerenity said:


> Honestly I've just been ignoring the fact that it doesn't work because my horses don't ever even think about messing with it. Bad horse owner...


LOL I did the same thing last year until Spring grass came back around, and Indie forced me to dish out the $$ for a new battery by breaking out *every* night. lol:


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

Do you hear the fence popping or ticking from the box? If so, it would have to be grounded out from being in contact with something. 

If not, then it sounds like your battery would be dead.


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## Rascaholic (Oct 4, 2010)

Sorry to wait so long to reply, gotta work to feed all the munchkins LOL. Ok it is hardwired not battery or solar powered. The outlet/breaker has been replaced and tested that the unit is powered from. We redid the grounding system per instructions from my electrician friend ( his diagram almost copied the one that came with the fence unit.)
The fence itself is touching nothing but insulators from start to finish. It is possible it might have touched the permanent horse fencing in the high winds last week. I changed the fuse and readjusted a couple places to make sure we have 4 inch clearance off everything. That's not it either.
It's never ever left on if there is a storm coming. If I am out our fantastic neighbor would check it and turn it off. It has a surge protector tied into the power supply as well.
The only thing left now is that the unit itself has gone bad. I contacted the manufacturer and am waiting for a solution from them. Supposedly they are shipping me a new unit. It's supposed to be here by Wednesday. I have to say they have FANTASTIC customer service reps
So now we await Wednesday and see what happens then. I am taking the old unit apart to see if I can find the actual COD with the help of the electrician friend since I don't have to send it back. If we get it working again I'll see if they want it back and if not then the local rescue gets a donation in Rascals name.

P.S. Thanks for the replies and suggestions AlexS ( my sons name is Alex  ) Tianimalz, Cruiser, and My Serenity. I will update this if we find out what exactly went wrong and if the new unit fixes the problem. It might help someone in the future with the same problem.


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

take your shoes off and grab the wire. If you are wearing shoes with a decent amount of insulation in the soles you wont feel anything.


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## MySerenity (Jul 18, 2011)

> take your shoes off and grab the wire. If you are wearing shoes with a decent amount of insulation in the soles you wont feel anything.


That sounds very similar to the "have your younger sibling grab the fence" testing technique...


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