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Post by reed on Jan 5, 2017 8:43:58 GMT -5
The kit is just the collector and battery. I have some fence but it is the plain wire kind and I like the yellow tape kind, hope to find some scrap of it somewhere as it is expensive and does not come in small quantities. I think I can make the insulators from little pieces of PVC also need to get or make the ground rods. The book says it will power twenty miles of fence, I need less than 1/2 a mile. Not sure which critter(s) I will deploy the electric against, probably squirrels so guess I'll need parallel ground wires since it will be at the top rather than on the ground. Important also to keep the dog safe, I know she would quickly learn but I don't really want her to have too.
I never was much interested in electricity so need to learn about volts and watts and all that stuff. The battery is a rechargeable six volt, same I think as motorcycle battery. I'm wondering right now about running it to a small oil filled electric heater and seeing what happens, I suspect it would not be powerful enough for it but who knows. Anyway, I got a winter project to tinker with and that's always good.
I just shoot deer, works well.
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Post by philagardener on Jan 5, 2017 18:57:39 GMT -5
I run a solar powered unit to a wire strung on insulators at the top of a wire fence and attach the ground the the fence itself - simpler than a two wire system.
Resistive heating takes a lot of juice, so unfortunately you won't get much of anything from a battery that size.
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Post by steev on Jan 5, 2017 23:36:27 GMT -5
Yes, but these chargers act on "charge", not current; basically, it just sits there in the wire until something gives it a path to ground (getting a shock); the battery is only storage to keep things charged at night. My charger is rated at five miles of conductor; at twenty miles potential, reed may get to harvest "pre-cooked" critters on morning walks of the perimeter. Of course, obviously the deal is to run the conductor back-and-forth enough to fence the pests out. ATC, sounds like overkill to me; maybe run it between trees and harvest some geese; might not even need to pluck 'em.
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Post by reed on Jan 6, 2017 7:50:13 GMT -5
Yes, but these chargers act on "charge", not current; basically, it just sits there in the wire until something gives it a path to ground (getting a shock); the battery is only storage to keep things charged at night. My charger is rated at five miles of conductor; at twenty miles potential, reed may get to harvest "pre-cooked" critters on morning walks of the perimeter. Of course, obviously the deal is to run the conductor back-and-forth enough to fence the pests out. ATC, sounds like overkill to me; maybe run it between trees and harvest some geese; might not even need to pluck 'em. Does that mean it will actually deliver a stronger shock with it being much shorter than it is rated for? If so another reason to make sure the dog never touches it. It has occurred to me to run multiple hot wires, at twenty mile capacity I could put up an electric net around my gardens. Still thinking on whether to run a wire over the drive and fence all gardens simultaneously or just move the charger from one to the other.
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Post by philagardener on Jan 6, 2017 19:54:04 GMT -5
The dog will only touch it once. I, on the other hand, always seem to forget how close I get to the wire when weeding.
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Post by reed on Jan 7, 2017 5:32:41 GMT -5
Yea, she is a smart little dog and would learn quick but I don't want to put her through it.
One day she found an ear of corn in the debris pile but it wouldn't come off the stalk. Whenever I glanced that way she would sit down and pretend to be looking at something else, as soon as she thought I wasn't looking she went back to tugging but it still wouldn't come off the stalk. Finally the whole stalk came out and she headed toward the gate with it, going a little faster the closer she got. She knew I was on to her and calculated she could make it to the gate before I made it to her. I was already laughing but she had the stalk sideways instead of dragging it and it was apparently a tough stalk so when she got to the gate it didn't break and she fell over. Poor thing didn't know what to do so I went and lined it up for her. She grabbed it up, holding it sideways again and took off across the yard bumping into trees and bushes and tripping over it repeatedly till she finally made it to her secret stash spot where she keeps her deer bones, petrified squirrels and assorted stolen items, she thinks I don't know about that.
One of those you had to be there moments that I'd sure hate to lose out on if she was afraid of the garden.
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Post by steev on Jan 9, 2017 23:37:21 GMT -5
While one of my good neighbors was putting electric-fence wire up for the horses she keeps on my land, my loony neighbor came over to complain that it wouldn't keep her horses from trespassing on his land, endangering his property (there is nothing whatsoever available on his land that horses would damage), this despite there being fencing that would keep horses on my land if they got past the electric; I regret that it wasn't primed when he took hold of it to test its sturdiness; might have broke him from sucking eggs. Might also have given him pause about trespassing on my land to complain about people, real or imagined, trespassing on his, which he has done more than once, with threats and dire warnings. Good neighbors are a blessing; bad neighbors, not so much. I think I've pissed off nobody in the community and have pleased some; he can't say the same; it's unfortunate; we're out in the middle of nowhere and our community is our support.
reed: I would think you have ample fence potential for your varied patches, so long as you think out the connectivity/insulation; despite my joke about knocking the feathers off a goose, you'll only get a 6-volt jolt: unpleasant, but very non-lethal.
I envy your having your dog; I've been pet-less several years now; it is a great deprivation; our distant cousins are often a pleasure and a comfort.
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Post by prairiegardens on Jan 10, 2017 9:39:22 GMT -5
I don't think the shock level goes up if a shorter fence, I've always used 12 volt batteries, well grounded, the shock is not pleasant but it is certainly not anywhere near lethal, I've never seen or heard of anyone even collecting so much as a ground hog done in by an electric fence. In my experience dogs learn the fence is to be avoided but not the area, (if that's clear), I.e., they will happily go through gates but quickly learn not to slide under the bottom wire if it's low enough to touch them doing so.
As far as deer and electric fence, something said to be useful, haven't tried it so don't know for sure, is hanging tins smeared with peanut butter on them. Supposedly the deer will touch them with a lovely wet nose and voila instant learning leading to future avoidance. So it's said. Electric fences won't keep out moose. I've no idea what might, once saw one jump a 10 foot game fence from a trot, no effort at all.
The most elegant deer proofing I've ever seen was someone's garden on these forums, he fills the fence with (pole beans?) so the deer can't see what's on the other side. Looked beautiful, was productive AND kept out the deer; he said deer won't jump over something if they can't see what's on the other side. That wouldn't work with an electric fence tho, obviously.
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Post by Earl on Jan 10, 2017 22:05:47 GMT -5
somehow I drove to Phoenix...5 states out and finally NO snow...
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Post by steev on Jan 14, 2017 1:10:16 GMT -5
I was looking at Google Earth and they had photos of my farm, last Spring, I think; showed all the splats of mono-ammonium phosphate I'd thrown out on the back ten; weird. Now I'm thinking I should do some "Nasca Lines" stuff.
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Post by steev on Jan 15, 2017 21:40:02 GMT -5
Repaired blown-down fence, planted two trees for blocking light-pollution, put the tiller on Sukie and took her out for a spin.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jan 15, 2017 22:07:08 GMT -5
put the tiller on Sukie and took her out for a spin. Very nice!!! I'm still waiting for 3 feet of snow to melt.
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Post by richardw on Jan 16, 2017 12:37:45 GMT -5
I was looking at Google Earth and they had photos of my farm, last Spring, I think; showed all the splats of mono-ammonium phosphate I'd thrown out on the back ten; weird. Now I'm thinking I should do some "Nasca Lines" stuff. Youre lucky to have an update, Google Earth have not updated images of this area for 10 years
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Post by steev on Jan 18, 2017 4:09:19 GMT -5
That's what you get for living where marijuana farming isn't an issue, apparently. Here in NorCal, near the "Emerald Triangle", we're of interest to the surveillance-prone.
Besides which, my county is strapped for funds, so they keep a close eye on possible construction, it being potentially taxable.
The prevailing degree of surveillance inclines me to "digitus impudicus" Nasca lines, but I may just have a bad attitude.
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Post by farmermike on Jan 18, 2017 20:50:03 GMT -5
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