diagnosing elec fence faults

[premnayloon]

have a job now that im struggling to work out the problem with,

Gallacher mains fence, no output to fence line so i have found the earth i replaced the bolt holding the earth cable to the pin,  and still no current,

 

so i then think it must be the power output cable is broken under the ground, as there is still no power to fence line.  so i bared a bit of the cable outside the shed where the energiser is situated, and put the tester on it lights up all the lights on the tester, so there has to be power to there, 

i then get an lead out reel and connect one end to the fence line, and one end to the bit of cable i just bared, then go and test the fence line again nothing.

 

So i test the  bit of cable i just put on where i bared it and its full power again, so why is it not going to the fence line,

 

im now thinking it could be the energiser, the energiser light doesnt flash at all, and the fence line light flashes interimitently at different rates,

 

Any ideas, is it a case of buying an energiser, connecting it up and seeing that way if it the fencer itself, or is there a cheaper way than buying a new energiser.

 

all advice would be greatly appreciated, 

[Frontrowfencing]

I am not sure, but we had something similar, (not identical) it was 3000 metres around and when we installed the fence there were a few branches / undergrowth on the line and the energiser was sending out about 7000v but a week later it was reading nothing. We walked around and tested all the way around same results, we started to think it must be a dodgy energiser/ cut in the underground lead out. But after mcuh more investigation and cutting a long story short there was pretty much a total / dead short on the line. I don't know how we missed it first time, but we did. Anyhow all the power from the energiser was going straight to earth. So my first port of call would be check fence fully first and make sure it isn't shorting on something. We were using aluminium wire and it was near a rabbit fence, the shock,was jumping from the line wire to the rabbit wire over about 2 inches, and if it was a wet/ foggy day you could see it. And it just soaked all the energy straight out the energiser By passing everything on the way. It even managed to burn. Through the aluminium wire where it shorted.

 

Good luck, hope you get it sorted.

[SAWYERFENCING]

Sounds like a dodgy energiser,have you got another energiser you could try before you lash out and buy a new one.I had a problem like this a couple of years ago.

[premnayloon]

No I don't but thinking I may have to buy an energiser so I can test systems myself, and just use it to test systems pity you couldn't get a device that could save you buying a new energised.

[Frontrowfencing]

To test the energiser you could either set up a very small fence and try it on that if that is possible, or alternatively take,the energiser to someone else's place and test it on another fence that you know is working! Surely you must know someone with a fence you can borrow. I would doubt it is the energiser on the basis that it is giving out full voltage when you tested it earlier. This would suggest energiser works and should be fine.

[premnayloon]

Yeah fair enough but I have a customer who wants me to put up a fence ready for sketches are going to put live at a later date, so I think it would be handy to have a unit, that you can use to show the fence works fine , saves any comeback from customer if, when they put fence live .it fails to work.

[Frontrowfencing]

Sorry I misunderstood, I thought you was looking for a cheaper way than buying a new energiser.

[premnayloon]

Yeah frontrow was going to but will have to bite the bullet and buy one for myself to test systems, it's probably handy to have certainly customers will find you far more professional if you turn up with a unit and can show then and there that as the problem or not,

[premnayloon]

But I wish you could get a small unit you could use to test.

[stevew]

Hotline sell a tester that will show you the direction the fault is coming from

[Charliehub]

Sounds like a short somewhere can you disconnect some of the fence line and work around it with the tester to narrow it down? Or try a different earth point just in case it's at that end ?

[premnayloon]

found the fault, they had decided to tip some horse manure on a section for the fence, the one bit i didnt walk round yesterday always the way,  got all my wire tightened and for the first time in months apparently there is full power to the whole fence line,

 

one thing i will say for these livery yards, some very nice views to be had. !!!!!!!

[premnayloon]

I've a customer who I installed a mains fence for and they are having a problem of the house fuse tripping when it rains,

 

This is the first time I have heard of this, and am u sure what the cause could be,

 

There is one gateway where instead of lead out cable i ran just a normal plain line in alkathene, as Iran out of lead out, though I wouldn't have thought this would cause the house fuse to trip, the only other thing I can think of is the unit, u less of course you know different , any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and how to diagnose.

[Frontrowfencing]

Very odd, I would imagine the unit is not at fault, but could be wrong. If it was a short in the fence, I would imagine the unit should cover this and wouldn't cause the unit to trip.

Where in the house is the unit plugged in? Is it in an outside socket, or is it plugged in, in the house?

[premnayloon]

Plugged in outside in the stable block.

Into an extension reel that has a trip switch on it, I can't understand why it's not tripping that or fusing the plug, before tripping the house,

 

I'm going to replace the line under the gate I'm thinking if water is sitting in pipe that could be enough to cause the earth, and was thinking of chapping in an additional earth stake.

 

I have never heard of this happening before.

 

I think it's plugged in I n an annex next to the house, can I ask why?

[Frontrowfencing]

To me it sounds like it is a fault before the electric fence unit. But it's always hard to say. Me and electric do not go well together. It's surprising what a dodgy earth can do. The reason it may trip the house before the plug or fuse in plug is possibly that the rcd's installed in houses these days are very sensitive. Not like the old days of a fuse box in the house, where the plug fuse was more critical.

Have they got a hosepipe near by, if so you could eliminate the possibility of the gate issue by soaking the area with garden hose and a sprinkler. If it trips you have your answer, if not then you are looking for something else.

 

Have you tried changing the extension reel. Also is the extension reel fully wound out, or is there a lot of coil left on it wound up, ( if that makes sense) you should always run an extension fully unwound. Not that rain would affect that.

It could be energiser trying to,draw to much energy on a bad earth, but I would guess there is something else.,the joys of electric. Would be much easier if you could see it.

[premnayloon]

I know I will replace the section under gate, first, thanks for you imput, I must say there is a real problem with a lack of diagnostic tools for electric fencing, a big market untapped.