ground rod system

[MightyG]

Don’t have a lot of experience with electric fencing here, and trying to get the Parmak 12v solar charger up and running. We pushed 3 - 6’ ground rods into the ground about 10 feet away from the charger and in a line with 10’ between them. The kit came with some clamps and wire. I am expecting that the clamps have the wire fed continuously through them from the end back to the charger? Do I just cut the extra wire off? How far above ground do the ends need to be sticking out? All the instructions show is a very generic picture lol.

Thanks, and happy mothers day to all you moms of 2 and 4 legged babies!

[poltroon]

You basically just need a solid connection from the ground rods back to the charger. It doesn’t really matter if you that with three individual runs or by chaining the rods together, as long as the connections are all made. Ground is ground and can be touching just about anything save your live wire.

My suggestion is to have them sticking up a bit so that you can find them and pull them out again if need be. Also be cognizant of things like your mower and the likelihood that you’ll accidentally try to mow where they are.

[MightyG]

Thanks! I figured it was easier than i was making it out to me, but i wanted to be sure before I accidentally blew up a $200 charger or gave myself a good shock unintentionally!

[gumtree]

Dito what Poltroon said. Make sure to use the proper size ground wire. I also think it is a good idea to put a piece of PVC pipe or something of the like over the exposed ends. Keeps a loose horse from stepping on it and or hitting with a mower. I can never get them all the way into the ground anyway. Pretty much impossible to pull out without digging out most of it IME.

[goodhors]

You might want to get a digital fence tester to read what the charger is putting out. Just because the fencer is clicking, doesn’t mean much or any power is reaching the wires. Digital tester tells you how much or little electric is running thru the wires.

Just across the Lake from you, but we have terrible luck here with Solar chargers because we have so many cloudy days, making the light intensity (lumens) not as effective in charging solar things. Many folks found their solar charger having NO POWER at all to charge the fence!!

So do some checking on the fence regularly (at least weekly) to make sure the system is working for you. Have a backup battery to kick in if you don’t have sunny days for a while. ESPECIALLY come winter.

This light intensity factor is also a problem in growing certain crops, grass seeds, because those plants need more light to even grow, let alone survive and flourish! I found out about the problem when I purchased Buffalo Grass, supposed to be tough, not need much mowing. My Ag guy said the lumens in our area from the sun, are way too low for this grass to do well. Yet the much more INTENSE sunlight of the States in the Great Plains let the grass do great. Even further south in Indiana, I see solar chargers on Amish farms with horses sticking heads over the wire or thru it, so obviously not working there either!!

TSC and other places sell a light that hangs on the fence wire, blinks when there is no electric going thru. A warning device for you. Would be worth purchasing to help you notice if fence is not working.

[MightyG]

Thanks! We have a Parmak 12v solar, it has a readout on it which seems to be working well. That and playing guinea pig with my husband…lol! I definitely want to have a back up battery option. We only had one wire clamp so we only hooked it up to one line, of 4, touching it we got a tiny zap. If we touched that strand and another ( not attached to the energizer, we got a pretty heavy zap!

Is it best to only run a hot strand every other-ish. Or am I gonna get a heart attack if we charge them all and I touch more than 1?

[poltroon]

http://www.premier1supplies.com has some great tutorials about electric fence and solar fence - their catalog is great especially. They talk about the right chargers for different kinds of animals and different kinds of fencing situations.

The Parmak 12 is a good charger and should do well for you. The main thing is to make sure it is facing south, with no shade, protected from animals, and then keep all the weeds off the fence. If you can do that, the charger will do well.

In very dry areas, you can have problems with the soil not being conductive back to the ground. That can be an issue for me, but should not be a problem for you in WI.

The money for a small dedicated digital fence reader is well spent. It seems like you barely use it, but honestly, when you need it, it can save a lot of time and frustration knowing that yes the fence is on, and it’s got plenty of zap, or here is where the zap gets weak.

There is nothing wrong with solar chargers as an idea per se, but the cheaper chargers skimp on many aspects that affect longevity and zap.

If it’s possible/likely to touch two wires at the same time, it can be advantageous to ground every other one. That is the maximum zap path. If your wires are further apart, you would make them all hot.

[OTTBs]

[QUOTE=poltroon;8146301]
If it’s possible/likely to touch two wires at the same time, it can be advantageous to ground every other one. That is the maximum zap path. If your wires are further apart, you would make them all hot.[/QUOTE]I’m starting to buy electric fence supplies and read that in dry areas you should have two strands close together–one hot and one grounded. If you do that, do you need to put in ground posts? I wanted to have electric for temporary use only and would rather not do ground rods if I can avoid it, as I’d have to do two sets for the different areas I want to fence. If you connect a strand to the ground terminal of the charger, is it an independant strand (not connected to any other strand) or should it be connected to a hot strand at some point? Yeah, I should probably go to the website above…

[hosspuller]

I dug a small hole for each of three ground rods. Drove the rods slightly below ground level. Then cut a slit in the grass between each rod and the building housing the charger. Ran a single #8 bare copper wire in the slit from the charger to each rod. No splices. Used UL listed direct burial rod clamps. Covered everything up, there is nothing above ground to catch a foot, hoof or mower.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=OTTBs;8146485]
I’m starting to buy electric fence supplies and read that in dry areas you should have two strands close together–one hot and one grounded. If you do that, do you need to put in ground posts? I wanted to have electric for temporary use only and would rather not do ground rods if I can avoid it, as I’d have to do two sets for the different areas I want to fence. If you connect a strand to the ground terminal of the charger, is it an independant strand (not connected to any other strand) or should it be connected to a hot strand at some point? Yeah, I should probably go to the website above…[/QUOTE]

You definitely never connect the hot to the not-hot ‘grounded’ wires in this scenario. If you make this type of fence, you don’t need a ground rod, though there may be benefits to tying it to a ground.

Certainly ground rods are a PITA, especially for a portable fence.

[OTTBs]

So, am I picturing this right? I’d put a hot strand on top, connected to the hot terminal at one end and likely knotted on an insulator at the other end. Then a few inches below, another strand connected to the ground terminal of the charger and knotted to an insulatOr.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=OTTBs;8148153]
So, am I picturing this right? I’d put a hot strand on top, connected to the hot terminal at one end and likely knotted on an insulator at the other end. Then a few inches below, another strand connected to the ground terminal of the charger and knotted to an insulatOr.[/QUOTE]

Yes, though of course you’ll need more strands than just two for an effective fence.

[Hermein]

If you’re in a dry area, remember to water the ground poles once in a while as they don’t work well if the ground is too dry.