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TROUBLESHOOTING FENCES 117
Troubleshooting Electric Fences
How to find the fault(s)
First, re-attach the fence and ground
wires to the energizer and turn it on.
Then, you must walk or ride along the
fence looking for situations that are
reducing the voltage.
If the fence is at fault…
b. HT wire, twine or rope fences—
look for:
• Damaged or broken insulators
(see examples on p. 114)
.
• Any point where an energized
wire touches the soil, a steel or
wood post or a nonenergized
wire. Separate them.
• Branches lying on the fence,
forcing wires together
(at right)
.
Remove them.
1. If you have a Fault Finder (p. 99), use it. The arrow will tell you which direction the energy is flowing (leaking). Follow the fence from the energizer outward. Move in the direction of the arrow, testing as you go until you arrive at the problem. Note: Fault Finders can tell which section of net is at fault if you touch it to the clips where 2 nets join. But they are not able to locate the exact location within a net because energy flows in multiple directions within a net.2. If you don’t have a Fault Finder (and
do have a voltmeter or fence tester):
Walk or drive along the fence.
a. Netting—
look for:
• The lowest live strand
against a post’s metal spike
near the soil
.
• Damaged or broken strands
touching the soil.
• Netting touching a wire
fence or steel post.
Fence testing mistakes
• Standard multimeters are not able
to test fences (fence voltage is too
high). Use a fence voltmeter.
• If receiving an inconsistent fence
reading, check voltmeter’s battery.
“Insulated” animals
Animals/predators standing on
dry soil or snow may not receive an
adequate shock even when the fence
is properly energized.
Why? Dry soil and dry snow act as
insulators…to reduce the ability of
the energizer’s electric pulse to pass
through an animal.
If this is the case—Pos/Neg
fence connection systems or wide-
impedance energizers are better
adapted for such situations.
c. Listen for snapping sounds
as
you walk along a fence. These
occur when a conductor is close
to a grounded wire, stake, tree or
large green weed.
d. Separate the fence into parts by turning off switches— if it’s an HT permanent wire fence, or by disconnecting portions of electric netting. Then progressively reconnect it, checking voltage as you do so. When the voltage suddenly drops, you’ve found the area with the problem.before
after