Electric Fence Testers

After finishing the repair work on the boundary fence it was a matter of waiting a couple of days for the concrete supporting the stay to set. Today it was time to finish the job. The wire ratchets were tightened. Not too tight but just enough to take the wrinkles out of the wire and make it look presentable.

We brought some old feed bags with us and spent an hour or so in the Autumn warmth picking up all the old barbed wire which I had left in discreet piles along the fence line. As I've said before I hate barb and so does Jean. What a pain it is to work. On one occasion we made an attempt to put it in the recycling bin. The next day it was sitting on the side of the road having caught up in the garbage trucks chute after the driver flicked it out onto the verge. We tried smaller bundles with no success. It just catches on everything. Finally it was enclosed in small bundles within old feed bags and success was achieved. Today as we collected all this barb we folded it into small bundles and carefully inserted it into feed bags ready for a trip in the recycling bin.

The final task for the fence was to test the voltage. We don't own a digital fence tester but there is one on the work farm across the river which we borrowed. The voltage at the furthest end came in at 7000 volts. An excellent level. 3000 volts is like the kick of a strong cup of coffee. 7000 volts is being shot out of a cannon.

Two tests are required. We disconnected the new run and tested the voltage on the lead in run to see how much leakage the new run contributed. 200 volts difference i.e. without the new run the voltage was 7200 volts. We later found a small frog shorting out the bottom wire.

We do own two fence testers. But both are rubbish. The graduations are too broad to provide meaningful data and you have to stand there with your hand cupped over the lights to see if they are flashing as they are not bright enough in normal daylight.  I've used a blade of grass with better results.

With a  digital tester it is possible to see exactly where you stand and they even provide some information as to the direction of the fault and its significance.
 

Not worth mucking about with this type. Inexpensive but next to useless.

  

A digital display model works really well. They are not cheap but reduce frustration levels to zero

 If you have a lot electric fencing there is no substitute for a good fence tester to quickly find faults.