Electric Fence issue - Alarm light flashing constantly

Steamy Tom said:
going to try this test on my energiser this weekend. The unit sometimes starts up fine and runs for a short bit but then starts to alarm again. I have walked the entire fence and sorted out areas that were ticking (since it ticks I suspect the fence is actually working as i can see sparks when i bridge the ground to a live.

What is normal for a 5 line fence? i suspected (from the bottom) that 2 and 4 would be ground but it seems like i have 1 ground and 4 live?
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The only way I can see 5 wires have a closed, serial loop (and thus will trigger if live wire cut) is 4 live and 1 ground or 2 live and 3 ground. 6 wires is better, and 8 even more so.
 
supersunbird said:
The only way I can see 5 wires have a closed, serial loop (and thus will trigger if live wire cut) is 4 live and 1 ground or 2 live and 3 ground. 6 wires is better, and 8 even more so.
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Ok so then 4 live makes sense. The fence is a bit weird, it is 5 all round and then it is double on the front with the outer being 8 lines.

How is the gate section meant to Bea earthed? I see 2 joins which are presumably the live in and out flow but nothing to the earth? The joints are kind of sliding loops
 
Be sure to check your battery too... And the bobins. Quite often they dont look broken but they are.

I found it help to test the fence by taking a long piece of grass, put it on the wire and slide your hand closer to the fence. You should feel a slight jolt on the live wires as your hand gets closer.

Anyway, thats me rambling on... I HATE these things.
 
I find two kinds of fence alarm trigger (sometimes difficult to distinguish). The first is a short to ground (as noted above), the second is a broken connection on one of the wires (open line). You need to check for both...
 
Steamy Tom said:
Ok so then 4 live makes sense. The fence is a bit weird, it is 5 all round and then it is double on the front with the outer being 8 lines.

How is the gate section meant to Bea earthed? I see 2 joins which are presumably the live in and out flow but nothing to the earth? The joints are kind of sliding loops
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Normally the metal gate acts as the earth.
 
Gordon_R said:
I find two kinds of fence alarm trigger (sometimes difficult to distinguish). The first is a short to ground (as noted above), the second is a broken connection on one of the wires (open line). You need to check for both...
Click to expand...

how to check for the latter? the short to ground you usually hear the ticking. can you use a multimeter somehow? or can you bridge ground and live near the return and if you have a spark there presumably there is no broken connection?
 
Steamy Tom said:
how to check for the latter? the short to ground you usually hear the ticking. can you use a multimeter somehow? or can you bridge ground and live near the return and if you have a spark there presumably there is no broken connection?
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Locating a broken connection can be tricky. Visual inspection is the first start. Sometimes its easy, other times not.

P.S. Our complex has a perimeter of 300m which I have to check...
 
Gordon_R said:
Locating a broken connection can be tricky. Visual inspection is the first start. Sometimes its easy, other times not.

P.S. Our complex has a perimeter of 300m which I have to check...
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visually it looks "ok"
 
I am at the point of just about giving up. The fence ran briefly very well for about 2 minutes then back to constant alarm.

walked the fence, sanded some rusty joints, checked continuity where i could, triple checked for obstructions etc.

I think there must be just too much resistance or bad joints on some rusty spots, consider scraping the fence and making it quite a fair bit smaller, currently it goes all the way around the property even over the high spots on the roof where the other house meets the boundary wall, thinking to make it just cover the front and visible sides.
 
Steamy Tom said:
I am at the point of just about giving up. The fence ran briefly very well for about 2 minutes then back to constant alarm.

walked the fence, sanded some rusty joints, checked continuity where i could, triple checked for obstructions etc.

I think there must be just too much resistance or bad joints on some rusty spots, consider scraping the fence and making it quite a fair bit smaller, currently it goes all the way around the property even over the high spots on the roof where the other house meets the boundary wall, thinking to make it just cover the front and visible sides.
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Kinda sums it up! If you have wires running in places that you can't physically inspect, then you are guaranteed to have problems. Its something they 'forget' to tell you when the installation is done...
 
Gordon_R said:
Kinda sums it up! If you have wires running in places that you can't physically inspect, then you are guaranteed to have problems. Its something they 'forget' to tell you when the installation is done...
Click to expand...

I can get everywhere but even so some are just a little difficult, but even if you are close up if there is corrosion etc you can't always tell or a slightly cracked bobbin etc

I think the fence will be much easier to manage the way I want to do it
 
Steamy Tom said:
I am at the point of just about giving up. The fence ran briefly very well for about 2 minutes then back to constant alarm.

walked the fence, sanded some rusty joints, checked continuity where i could, triple checked for obstructions etc.

I think there must be just too much resistance or bad joints on some rusty spots, consider scraping the fence and making it quite a fair bit smaller, currently it goes all the way around the property even over the high spots on the roof where the other house meets the boundary wall, thinking to make it just cover the front and visible sides.
Click to expand...

Rewire with new wire, should solve your issues.

Maybe even upgrade it to 8 strand which is just more effective in preventing intrusion.
 
supersunbird said:
Rewire with new wire, should solve your issues.

Maybe even upgrade it to 8 strand which is just more effective in preventing intrusion.
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yeah but I am not sure i want to go all the way around again. there are points it has to go over (like over the roof of the neighbors adjoining wall which seems a bit impractical and at the back there is a constant battle with keeping the fence clear from the creepers and plants.
 
Steamy Tom said:
can you use a multimeter somehow?
Click to expand...
Gordon_R said:
Locating a broken connection can be tricky. Visual inspection is the first start.
Click to expand...

Electric fences are a real pain! Yes you can use a multimeter but not in the way you describe.

The way I do it and it is about the easiest way if a visual and listening test comes up dry is to disconnect the fence wires from the energizer and test for continuity between the out and in and the earth.

If the fence wires are not connected to earth in any way test for continuity between the in and out wires, a good fence will have a reading of less than about 80 Ohms( different types of wire will affect this). Should there be no continuity or a very high reading make a jumper wire with crocodile clip ends, long enough to reach the top and bottom wires.

Starting closest to the energizer start shorting out circuits checking the continuity at each stage. By elimination you will find the circuit responsible, on that circuit check all your joints with your meter( with the wires at the energizer end not connected and open circuit) on either side and you will find the naughty one. Rinse and repeat.

The lower you can get the resistance at the energizer end the more efficient your fence will be.

Edit- If you are bored fussy pedantic particular you can work out the length of the fence, find out the resistance for your wire per metre, add a bit for the joints, and work out a target measurement. For the most part if I get a reading of 40 -50 Ohms on aluminium wire the fence works fairly well.
 
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Düber said:
Electric fences are a real pain! Yes you can use a multimeter but not in the way you describe.

The way I do it and it is about the easiest way if a visual and listening test comes up dry is to disconnect the fence wires from the energizer and test for continuity between the out and in and the earth.

If the fence wires are not connected to earth in any way test for continuity between the in and out wires, a good fence will have a reading of less than about 80 Ohms( different types of wire will affect this). Should there be no continuity or a very high reading make a jumper wire with crocodile clip ends, long enough to reach the top and bottom wires.

Starting closest to the energizer start shorting out circuits checking the continuity at each stage. By elimination you will find the circuit responsible, on that circuit check all your joints with your meter( with the wires at the energizer end not connected and open circuit) on either side and you will find the naughty one. Rinse and repeat.

The lower you can get the resistance at the energizer end the more efficient your fence will be.

Edit- If you are bored fussy pedantic particular you can work out the length of the fence, find out the resistance for your wire per metre, add a bit for the joints, and work out a target measurement. For the most part if I get a reading of 40 -50 Ohms on aluminium wire the fence works fairly well.
Click to expand...

And that is the correct answer! I am not a professional, and only do the visual part (mostly fallen branches). I lack the technical jargon to describe the process, but when our Body Corporate hired someone to do maintenance and repairs on the fence, those are exactly the steps they took to do the job properly. Anything less, and you will be repeating the same job again in 6 months time, which is something the manufacturers forget to tell you.
 
Düber said:
Electric fences are a real pain! Yes you can use a multimeter but not in the way you describe.

The way I do it and it is about the easiest way if a visual and listening test comes up dry is to disconnect the fence wires from the energizer and test for continuity between the out and in and the earth.

If the fence wires are not connected to earth in any way test for continuity between the in and out wires, a good fence will have a reading of less than about 80 Ohms( different types of wire will affect this). Should there be no continuity or a very high reading make a jumper wire with crocodile clip ends, long enough to reach the top and bottom wires.

Starting closest to the energizer start shorting out circuits checking the continuity at each stage. By elimination you will find the circuit responsible, on that circuit check all your joints with your meter( with the wires at the energizer end not connected and open circuit) on either side and you will find the naughty one. Rinse and repeat.

The lower you can get the resistance at the energizer end the more efficient your fence will be.

Edit- If you are bored fussy pedantic particular you can work out the length of the fence, find out the resistance for your wire per metre, add a bit for the joints, and work out a target measurement. For the most part if I get a reading of 40 -50 Ohms on aluminium wire the fence works fairly well.
Click to expand...

no continuity between the in and out wires (i.e top and bottom)? wouldn't all live wires have continuity?
 
Steamy Tom said:
no continuity between the in and out wires
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At the energizer?
Steamy Tom said:
wouldn't all live wires have continuity?
Click to expand...
That is the end goal, but if you leave the energizer connected you have essentially two loops, one through the fence "circuit" and the other through the energizer leading to a confusing situation.

Just as an aside, I reread the thread. Get rid of the "slidey" things over the gate, they never work properly. Replace it with something like this,
SlidingGateContact.gif


then at least you can wire both ends.
Most fences I have seen have the gate as a "T" rather than part of the circuit, whether that's right or wrong you need to decide.
 
Düber said:
At the energizer?

That is the end goal, but if you leave the energizer connected you have essentially two loops, one through the fence "circuit" and the other through the energizer leading to a confusing situation.

Just as an aside, I reread the thread. Get rid of the "slidey" things over the gate, they never work properly. Replace it with something like this,
SlidingGateContact.gif


then at least you can wire both ends.
Most fences I have seen have the gate as a "T" rather than part of the circuit, whether that's right or wrong you need to decide.
Click to expand...

Yeah no continuity on in and out?

But I meant more on the lines, each live should have continuity to each other at any point?

The gate sliding prices actually seen to have great contact, and the feed comes in from the wrong end to use that unfortunately
 
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