# help me troubleshoot my electric fence please!



## carolinagirl (Jul 3, 2011)

I am so glad this fence is only to protect my trees from my sheep because this fence is making me crazy.  the charger is an older model Parmak low impedance 110 v AC charger.  I have 3 ground rods, each 10' from the next.  The charger works great some times, and then stops working later on.  We have had no rain in weeks, so nothing as far as ground moisture has changed.  The box is charging well....when it works.  It seems to quit working more during the day when it's hot.  If I plug it in, it charges up all the way (it has a meter) and will deliver a nice zap to anything that touches it.  It might be charging well in the morning too.  But by mid afternoon, it's hardly charging at all.  If I unplug it and plug it right back in, the meter charges up to nearly max, then slowly drops off to not charging.  But if I give it some time, it will charge up and stay that way until the next afternoon, when it usually quits charging up again.  Could temperature be causing it a problem?  It's not weather proof so I have it in a rubbermaid tote to protect it.  I have checked the fence over and over....nothing at all is touching it anywhere.  I am going nuts trying to make this charger work!  Any ideas?  thanks!


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## carolinagirl (Jul 3, 2011)

anyone out there familiar with electronics?  I wonder if one of the capacitors inside the charger may be bad?  Maybe it works fine until it heats up well, then it can't store the charge?  I don't know....just thinking out loud here.


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## goodhors (Jul 3, 2011)

Well, like in the other recent thread on electric chargers, I always ask if you have watered the ground rods?  Without dampish dirt, the ground rods can have poor contact so they don't work.  Not sure if you get morning dew, but that might moisturize dirt a bit each day, then dries out in heat so grounding quits working.  In dry heat periods, the ground rods may need water daily.  

Connections between two kinds of metal, ground rod galvanized, copper wire, ground rod clamp, can cause corrosion of the metal.  So again the ground rod is not working because of poor contact with the fencer.  You may need a new wire, or to polish off the ground rod for a good metal contact, to get things working correctly.

Do you have a voltage tester?  You can have a short in the oddest places, but until you test all the fence wires, you won't find it.  The better voltage testers will read the amount of electricity going thru the wires.  When voltage drops, something is draining power off the wire.  Some insulators can look fine, but power drops beyond them because of a crack in plastic or ceramic or splinter of wood, piece of weed that is touching wire and grounding them out.

This gives you a couple places to start checking.


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## carolinagirl (Jul 4, 2011)

yep...that's one of the first things we did.  We installed a 3rd ground rod and soaked the ground with a slowly running hose.  that made no difference.  I am pretty sure it's grounded good enough because if a sheep hits the wire when it's charging good, they get a nice spark on their nose.


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## helmstead (Jul 4, 2011)

I would just invest in a new charger...

My horses are in electric and they KNOW when it's not plugged in.  Safer to get a new one and not have to worry.


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## aggieterpkatie (Jul 4, 2011)

We've also had no rain since about May, and I had to put a slow sprinkler on the ground rod area last night. I left it on for several hours...we've got incredibly sandy soil.  I used a blade of grass to touch the wire (my high tech testing device ) and didn't feel much of anything.  I looked down at my feet at my "Croc" type shoes....took a shoe off and put my foot directly on the damp ground and tried it again. I felt more that time!  So I went ahead and charged the fence and then a goat touched it and got a shock.  Hopefully that does the trick for now, because having no fence (well, no hot fence) is a huge PITA!


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## carolinagirl (Jul 4, 2011)

I'd rather not buy a new one without figuring out what the problem is with this one.  If I spend the $$ on a new one and it turns out it was a problem with the fence or ground, I have spent money for no reason and sill don't have a solution.  The theory I am testing today is that it's too hot inside the enclosure the charger is in.  The fence is plugged back in and charging really well.  I left the door off of the enclosure and put some shade over it.  If the charger continues to work well, then the problem was it was just overheating.  The next thing I'll try is to run it for a day with the hot wire disconnected.  Luckily this charger is only used to separate one pasture from another and to protect my pine trees, so the sheep are still fenced in.


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## carolinagirl (Jul 5, 2011)

OK...I am 99% sure it's heat realted.  It shut down yesterday late afternoon again.  I think a capacitor is heating up and not allowing it to charge.  I am taking it to a local TV and radio repair shop and let them open it up and see if they can fix it.  Parmak wants $40 to repair it, which I don't think is worth it for a fairly old charger.


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## DonnaBelle (Jul 5, 2011)

That's the trouble with our "throw away" society now days.  Nothing is worth paying the fix it shops to fix it.  

I think that's why so many people buy those warranties, because on big ticket items, if it breaks after one year, you are SOL.

DonnaBelle


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## carolinagirl (Jul 5, 2011)

DonnaBelle said:
			
		

> That's the trouble with our "throw away" society now days.  Nothing is worth paying the fix it shops to fix it.
> 
> I think that's why so many people buy those warranties, because on big ticket items, if it breaks after one year, you are SOL.
> 
> DonnaBelle


yep...you are right.  What makes me mad is I asked the service guy at Parmak if it could be a capacitor going bad and he said nope..it's a "safety feature" that's gone bad.  I am willing to bet if I opened this box up, there is no mysterious "safety feature" in there.  I can't find a schematic for this charger anywhere on the web.  Oh well.....guess I need to go get something new.  And after Parmak's less-than-upfront response, I may get a different brand this time.


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## carolinagirl (Jul 6, 2011)

well, the charger is getting shipped out today for repairs.  I found a company that's been repairing chargers for 50 years.  I told him it was one of the old parmaks that has a gauge on it and he got all excited and said those are the GOOD ones.  the new ones with the digital gauge gets damaged too easily by lightining.  He said that he will give me a free estimate and if I don't want to repair it, he will ship it back postage paid.  So all I have invested in this repair estimate is $12 for shipping it to him.  That's worth it!  I'd much rather fix this old one for less money than buy a newer disposable type fence charger.  

Now cross your fingers that the sheep don't decide to go sample the pine trees on the other side of the wire or they will have to spend the next week or two in the paddock waiting on the charger to be returned.


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## carolinagirl (Jul 8, 2011)

well, I heard from the charger repair guy today.  Turns out the box was hit by lightning. He said it was black inside. He is replacing the damaged parts, letting it run outside in the heat all weekend and will return it on Monday for around $50 in repairs. I highly recommend that fence charger repair place!!

http://fencechargerrepair.com/home.html


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## aggieterpkatie (Jul 8, 2011)

carolinagirl said:
			
		

> well, I heard from the charger repair guy today.  Turns out the box was hit by lightning. He said it was black inside. He is replacing the damaged parts, letting it run outside in the heat all weekend and will return it on Monday for around $50 in repairs. I highly recommend that fence charger repair place!!
> 
> http://fencechargerrepair.com/home.html


That's great!


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## carolinagirl (Jul 8, 2011)

yep!  I am really pleased.  He said this charger is so much better than the ones they are making now and it's well worth repairing.  A guy on a homesteading forum told me how to make a lightning arrestor to keep the charger from being damaged again too.  Going to have to work on that!


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## helmstead (Jul 8, 2011)




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