[Stablechooks]

Hi All
Having lost our white silkie cock to the vixen a couple of weeks back we have splashed out for the black netting electric fence. I have noticed that the whack/zap has really dropped off. It was great after the recent rain, but now we have dried out again it has fallen off again. The battery is brand new, 70aH and fully charged 3 days ago (supposed to last 3-5 weeks).

OH is checking for earthing, later today.

Any ideas?
Gareth

[Casey76]

I would first check to see if the fence is earthing anywhere first (long stems of grass are usually the main culprit)

[Wild Pony]

Do you have an earth spike for the energizer?? If you do turn it all off and run the hose pipe on the bottom of the earth spike for about 15 min to half hour to saturate the ground, sounds like loss of conductivity to me and this works if everything else is working well and the battery is up to par. Leisure batteries cope with being run down and charged far better than car ones.

[Stablechooks]

Yes, we have earth spike, will try the hosepipe trick. It is a  leisure battery. I will also double check for grass.
Thanks
Gareth

[ehs284]

You might need a second spike (well away from the first) if the ground is very rocky and dry. Don't worry about expensive copper but get it as deep as possible and check that the connections are as good as possible.

[hillfooter]

Its also quite common to have the bottom electrified strand wrap round the metal spike of an insulator post.  Check the bottom of the net at each post and tape it up with insulating tape so it doesn't ag and touch the metal spike.  Go out on a dark night and check for sparking caused by it being earthed.  Watering the earth spike is a good idea too.

If you have trouble with long grass mow/ strim or spray weed killer or use polythene under the net.

[Stablechooks]

Thanks for all your advice, having crawled the boundary on my hands and knees, I have found a couple of sagging parts in the nets. Will get some more posts and eventually rollout some damp proof course and spike the posts and pegs through that... with my skills strimming would end up in lots of pieces of net! Net will only need moving to fresh ground every month.
Thanks
Gareth

[daisy1990]

I have found that the stakes supplied with the fencing are useless on land that is uneven (as our meadow is) have bought ten posts which are sold as corner posts (two metal prongs at the base) and our fence is perfect now.

Also invested in a power supply down to the meadow as cant be bothered with the battery recharging!

[hillfooter]

I have found that the stakes supplied with the fencing are useless on land that is uneven (as our meadow is) have bought ten posts which are sold as corner posts (two metal prongs at the base) and our fence is perfect now.

Also invested in a power supply down to the meadow as cant be bothered with the battery recharging!

It's a good idea to have a few extra posts for uneven ground as daisy says.  Note that better quality nets have stronger insulator posts and are welded double pronged.  These are much more stable than the single pronged posts supplied with cheaper nets.  Single prongs tend to work lose in wind.  Some suppliers have very strong double pronged posts with welded double prongs intended for corners though they are quite expensive they can be useful.  If you buy extra posts be sure they are matched for the height of the net which can vary typically from 1.05m to 1.22m.

The net needs to be as taut as possible to prevent sagging.  Using insulation tape to tape the net up to the insulated posts helps reduce sagging too.

HF