# Do electric fences pulse?



## lb27312 (Aug 25, 2018)

I'm sure someone more technical can explain it better than me but yes electric fences pulse it's not a constant current that's what the tick tick is.... there may be something underneath the gate to keep the connection all the way through at least that's what I use. Run the wire down the post that holds the gate have an insulated wire buried under the gate and then run it up the other post that has the latch. Sometimes if I push my gate open too far it will hit something and I can feel it.

Not your fence.... that's what they do...


----------



## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Yes. It pulses. Anytime the wire contacts or if the ground and any wood post is wet enough it may travel through.


----------



## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

Yes they do and as far as I'm aware the pulsing helps save battery and there can be different intervals depending on the energiser. Would be great if someone comes along and sciences my butt


----------



## Caledonian (Nov 27, 2016)

From my very basic knowledge - I think the fence energiser acts as a transformer, converting energy into a higher (?) voltage and releasing it at intervals, usually at one second pulses, so that you don't get a massive shock. The circuit won't close until the horse ( or you and me) touch the tape, allowing it to go into the ground and back to the earth spike. That's when you get the shock.


----------



## MeditativeRider (Feb 5, 2019)

Yes as everyone has said, they pulse, and that is what the tick, tick, tick noise is.

Some stories from me related to the pulse:
1. I have stupidly (not thinking) grabbed a fence before that is on and managed to avoid a shock because I got it between pulses and let go fast enough.
2. I grew up on a farm and distinctly remember when I was about 6–7 and my little brother would have been a toddler and he tried to climb through an electric fence and got stuck between the electric wire and another. So he was lying there (conscious) giving a little shock of his body and crying each time he got hit by a pulse.


----------



## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

What you're feeling is "induction". When the charge builds up in the wire, a charge can be "induced" in a nearby conductor (wire). My electronic fence tester will get a 1KV reading sometimes when it nears, but does not touch a wire, and I can sometimes feel a "twitch" when I'm touching something like a metal gate near a wire. Explanation thanks to hubby, who spent his life working for power utilities.


----------



## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

as stated yes. They pulse. If your wire runs tie at the end of the gate, you could get a shock at the gate. They need a ground rod. I had one d battery system that would turn off after 3 shocks. The horses would listen to the wire and if the battery died and the pulse was low or gone, under the fence they went, or if they were large enough they would just push it down. I still have one mare that does that.


----------



## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

If it didn't pulse you wouldn't be able to let go. Back in the day they had constant current chargers but I don't think they make them anymore.


----------



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Was I getting zapped because I was making a circuit by connecting two different fences? This has never happened when I touch just one gate.


----------



## trailscout (Nov 23, 2020)

Yes, if they didn't pulse you couldn't let go and eventually would die. I got hung up on a saw when I was 19 and they knocked my hand loose with a 2x6. Don't know why they didn't just unplug it.

An electric fence will pulse about every one second but only last a nano second. Most will have a light that flashes on when the current is going and off when it's not.

If someone died from a fence being hooked up solid, they would be liable for negligent homicide.


----------



## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

When one of our gates gets electrified it's usually because there is short in the electric fence and the current is jumping over onto the gate. Usually you can hear it but if not go out at night and you'll see a spark.


----------



## secuono (Jul 6, 2011)

They're supposed to tick/pulse. Staying on all the time is dangerous and deadly. It will kill anyone or anything that grabs the wire. They're also illegal, at least in most places. 

What they need to do is give us options on how often they pulse!! A whole second is far too long! I've seen so many of my animals touch the fence or rub it and nothing, because they did it in that 1sec time. So they get false sense of it being off and try to go under. I'd prefer a half second at least.


----------



## COWCHICK77 (Jun 21, 2010)

Just repeating, yes, they pulse.

At one point I looked at a faster pulse charger because Hooey learned to go through the fence between pulses despite the amount of juice going through it.


----------

