# Which fence charger would you recommend to power one 82" PoultryNet?



## theawesomefowl (Mar 29, 2011)

AC or DC? We are kind of confused!  How did you like the TSC one?
It has to keep in 2 hair sheep lambs, 1 goat, and a bunch of chickens.
Any advice would be appreciated! I have people to ask about it but I thought I'd see what the BYHers use.
Diana


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## patandchickens (Mar 29, 2011)

Battery vs plug in depends on your facilities and priorities. If you CAN use plug-in, certainly it is cheaper (both up-front purchase and operating costs). Some people have dependable-enough electric; other peoples' service goes out too many times (storms etc) to make it safe to run a livestock fence off. Also bear in mind that a plug-in charger can explode if there is a lightning strike on the fence -- this is super unlikely if you are running *only* an 82' fence, but if you will also be running miles of other livestock fencing off the charger, it becomes a consideration. Install the plug-in OUTSIDE a building but UNDER COVER and DIRECTLY PLUGGED IN to an outlet, do not use an extension cord. (You can use some insulated fencewire as a lead-out to wherever the actual fence will be, if required)

If there is no outlet available anywhere near the desired fence location, or if it's fairly far away and there is nowhere to safely run a leadout wire where it won't get tripped over or the lawn mower catching it up, or if your electric service just isn't reliable, then you would have to go with battery. You will pay more upfront and yearly, but it isn't necessarily that bad, especially if you are ONLY running that small fence. If you are tempted by solar, remember that solar chargers have batteries that need replacing *too* (every few years, or whenever you accidentally let the thing get completely drained), same as battery operated chargers, and the up-front cost of solar is a lot higher.

What size charger. Well, first ignore any of this malarky about "charges X miles of fence". That applies only to imaginary ideal conditions that have nothing to do with your situation. If you want a number to compare chargers by, released joules is a more useful measure of how much fence they can run -- but even that ignores a number of factors.

Basically for a half-section of electronet like you're proposing, if nothing else will be hooked to the fence charger, you need something with AT LEAST 0.5 released joules. (Note that is one-half of a joule, NOT 0.15 or 0.05 which there *are* chargers like that and they are insufficient for electronet - read labels carefully!). That will work ok as long as you are very serious about keeping the grass down and the fence tight (vs saggy). The less consistently-diligent you are about that, the more benefit there may be to getting a larger charger e.g. one with 1.0 released joules. And of course if you will run other fencing off this charger, you need to allow for that too (considering not just the length of the fence but how many strands and what resistance they have).

(e.t.a. -- and you need a GOOD fence tester, preferably a digital one as the five-neon-lights thingies [or the touch-the-fence-with-your-knuckle test] are just way too inaccurate. The thing is you not only need to contain your animals, you need to keep OUT predators, which takes like 3500-4000v. Check the fence frequently, ideally daily, so you know when/if it's dropped too low [which can happen for a whole variety of reasons] and can FIX it before a predator fixes things FOR you)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat


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## theawesomefowl (Mar 29, 2011)

Wow...thanks!


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## theawesomefowl (Mar 30, 2011)

This one http://www.timcohorseandfarmsupply.com/PatriotP5110vand12vPlugInCharger.aspx
http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=12602&criteria=patriot
Is nice. Premier suggested it to me when I emailed them. What do you think?


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## patandchickens (Mar 30, 2011)

That'll be fine if that's all you're going to run off the charger. I don't have one but by reputation it is a good unit.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat


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## theawesomefowl (Mar 30, 2011)

I probably won't run over two nets or so, and that only in a few years, as the lambs I'm getting will be small, and I'm only planning on getting them bred in the winter.


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## theawesomefowl (Mar 30, 2011)

Well, I talked to the expert, and ordered a 1.00 joule charger!!!!


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