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Why is my fence zapping me?

What the heck??? LOL . I have horse guard four strands for the main paddock, with a plug in fence charger and a golf ball style shutoff switch. No problem on that fence. Then I have step in posts with two strands of horseguard so that I can expand the grazing area, I move this fence around. This is on a separate solar charger with a toggle switch. Three times now in the last week, the fence has zapped me even thought I switched it off. Is there a residual static charge? Am I somehow completing the circuit even though the switch is off? Is is related to it being the bi-polar tape? Do I have a faulty toggle switch on the charger? I’m now more terrified of the fence than my horses :laughing:

LOL. I used to stand back from the fences at Mum’s even though they were not electrified!

Reading through that is there anywhere that the wire from the step in posts is near the strands for the main paddock. If it is a bit wet the zap will be passed from one wire to the other without the wires touching.

Other than that yes there is a problem with your on/off switch.

Yes, the wire for the temp posts is near the wire for the permanent posts, but I know today the switch was off for the main fence, and I think off for the last two times also, so it shouldn’t pass between wires? I know the last two times it was very humid, but not so much today. Is there a way to test the on off switch? It does stop the audible pulse ticking when I turn it off, but obviously I cant trust that!!

We have 2 types of testers.

The cheap one you put one lead in the ground and you touch the other part to where you want to test. The stronger it is the more lights light up to about 5.

The expensive tester is a Gallagher tester and has a battery. You put it under the wire and press up. It will give you a number for voltage which is multipled by 1000. It needs to show 3 to keep bulls apart. You want this number to be as high as possible.

You press a button and it changes to amps that are being lost and an arrow of the direction. You start at the device as you know the direction of travel. You want this figure to be 0. So you go along the fence testing it and it will say 12 with an arrow. When this changes to 0 or 12 and the arrow the other way you know you have missed it.

Or if it goes blank, you go back more carefully to find some idiot has fixed the fence by putting the wire THROUGH the metal post WITH the insulator sitting on top of it. So when you looked previously you saw the wire going to an insulator and dismissed it as being a problem.

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if this Switch is metallic it could have an internal short (especially if it Not covered)

get a multi meter set to volts, stick one lead into the ground the other touch the switch… there should not be any voltage present

A guess at the real problem the switch used is not rated for exterior use or if had a rubber boot covering it the rubber was not of high UV resistance and has gone away exposing the metal to the elements

If the switch is nonmetallic it could still allow stray voltage to escape since you said the conditions are high humidity. The switch would have to be rated for the conditions.

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This could be the title of my autobiography.

Why is my fence zapping me? A memoir of stray voltage on the humid Eastern Shore

I wish I could help. I’m too busy being shocked by things that shouldn’t conduct electricity.

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Got shocked again this morning. It’s like it’s holding a residual charge. After the shock, the fence was fine. I moved it around and no more shocks. That’s the way it’s been each time. Once the initial shock, then the fence is dead. Is there something I can use to dissipate that before I touch it?

Edited to add that the humidity was very high this morning. Everything was wet.

If you have really thick rubber gloves or you can get fence pliers with rubber handles. Or you can open the gate without touching it by using baling twine or plastic, etc,etc.

Over the weekend, I was moving the fence again, and it was fine, no zapping, then out of nowhere it shocked me. I went over to the charger, and even though the toggle switch was off, the stupid thing was pulsing. So I went to tractor supply and got an external fence disconnect switch, I will add that this week, that should put an end to me being zapped. I’m so over it.

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