electric fencer monitor

[High4Volts]

Is there a way to monitor a fence line that has about 10K volts pulsed into it to check for a grounded line? Something maybe that can monitor the line near the controller? Or would this be something that would have to be added to the controller itself? It would be nice to have something tell us if, for say, a deer were to break the fence or a tree branch were to fall on it so we could repair the fence before cattle got out. Any ideas?

[dacflyer]

how about using a Ma. meter...if the line is shorted the current will read max..if its ok, then the current will read nothing or close to nothing..
i have a high voltage Ma. meter..reads up to 100Ma. its huge..looks like it came from a power plant.. i use this for measuring neon loads..for when i install neon , i make sure not to underload the transformer..
right now i beenhaving it on my electric fence as well..its home made..neon transformer on a variac tuned down to about 30% power..out put is about 7,000v @ 15Ma but when the line is clear its draw is zero,,<p>good luck,

[josmith]

neon! yea that's it. use a neon light with a high resistance to ground. Possibly you can leave one leg open. Use a little trial and error to get to to glow when the fence is working and stop when it's shorted.
Put it at the far end from the transformer to detect breaks as well.

[Edd]

Being from farming/ranching interests, I used to incorporate a series NE-2 lamp for providing an indication of the loading down of the HV output by an errant weed/branch/tumbleweed coming on the scene across the fence wire.
The neon lamp needs in the order of 60 volts to fire, so one just has to experiment in the selection of a value of series 1 Watt resistor shunting the NE-2, such that a healthy level of voltage is still passed thru to the fence line while simultaneously, not too low of a value as to not develop the required firing voltage of the NE-2. Typically the fence charger is going to be in a sheltered area from the elements, but I always had to have the lamp internally and within a blackened insulative tube to shade out ambient daylight for best viewing. In good weather conditions the lamp blinks at a certain brightness for the pulsing , but if there is leakage/short on the line, it will flash much more brilliantly, thus differentiating the change in fence condition.
The one fallacy of this, or any other means, is the advent of rain, snow, or even morning dew in presenting leakage across your lines dampening the high voltage.
The second indication that you mentioned, the breaking of a fence line, would be a little more uncertain, in the respect of where the break occurred, if the break left the high tension end of the run long enough to fall to the ground, it would indicate as a short. If the break was near the post and the long end of the wire was not on the high tension side , you would not be aware of it.
As per the milliameter in series idea, I would not expect the pulsed power to be of such duration as to enact a definitive “kick” to the response characteristics of a d’arsonaval type of meter.
At any rate I certainly wouldn’t want livestock “freezing” into a fence on their subjection of up to milliampere levels, as it can potentially be bad enough with “ newbie” stock at microampere levels.
Addenda: I see that josmith has come online in the composing interim, but the indication at the end of a fence line run is such that you would be running out the fence to get to its end and would have found the problem enroute. <p>73's de Edd
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<p>[ April 19, 2005: Message edited by: Edd Whatley ]</p>

[High4Volts]

Unfortunatly I don't have a meter that will read that low current. <p>Every time we find the wire broken it is on the ground. I have tested the voltage just before a ground and after. Before the ground condition the line reads between 8Kv - 10Kv on a hand held fence tester. Just after the ground 0v, as we would expect. <p>A bulb at the end of the fence is not an option as the end of the fence is on the other side of our 160 acres, and as Edd stated if we were to walk to the end then we would have found the break by than anyway. lol For some reason the cattle figure out when the fence is not "hot" anymore. I'm guessing the draw straws to see who gets the task of touching it. haha :p <p> Would it be possible to put a sort of coil in the line going from the fencer to where it ties in to the fence? Maybe some sort of pickup coil that senses a steady rise in current

[dacflyer]

if you used a coil to pick up current..Phuuu i think you would have to use a super sensitive coil...like one out of a old battery clock? you know , the kind that use a AA battery and the clock has a ticking second hand..????
thats about as fine / sensitive a coil i can think of..especially for picking up such low current..you will be lucky if it even will lite up a led...good luck

[Mike6158]

Ahh electric fences... This discussion takes me back to my days as a young lad, 8 or 9, when I hunted wild animals with my trusty Daisy BB gun. About the same time I was introduced to Boolean logic via an electric fence 0=no shock; 1=shock. Thru trial and error I eventually came up with a method for crossing electric fences without sensing the "1" part of the boolean equation. The first iteration of this methodology involved using something to hold the top wire down while my buddy and I stepped over the fence. The problem with the first plan was that I used the barrel of my BB gun to hold the wire down The charger was known as a "Weedburner" and from that day forward it was endowed with almost mythical powers <p>[ December 30, 2004: Message edited by: NE5U ]</p>

[philba]

my only experience with an electric fence was when, as young kid, I managed to pee on one. kind of wakes you up.

[JdOwNj]

Nothing like a weedburner to wake you up... I did manage to grow up on a farm without ever being dared to pee on one... somebody did wire it to the outhouse seat once though....

[philba]

I didn't know it was an electric fence but I sure found out fast!