Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[pinkfox]

im definatly in agreence that this HAS to be a grounding issue.

I took the "hot" line off the fence and touched the tester to the "hot" line and NOTHING...so its not the fence itself but the power going To/From the system is oviously not "reaching".

so im going to have to go pick up another grounding rod tomorrow, i think i know a spot i can put it that would be about 18ft from the charger, and easy location for watering.
I figure 1 rod closer to the charger, hooked up to the other 2 rods already in...the other 2 are a little further away than would be normally reccomended but i think if i keep it watered...

 

[the funny farm6]

i guess i dont understand. people here only use 1 grounding rod no matter how long the fence. you hook the hot wire (fence wire) to the hot and the groung wire to the ground. i have never heard of using more than 1 ground rod. and i have never seen a ground rod more than 5 ft away from the charger. wouldnt an extra rod ground out the fence? just asking...

 

[Denim Deb]

Is there anyway you can just move the charger closer to the grounding rod?

 

[pinkfox]

@ funny, the more grounding rods you have the better the grounding system. in moist minreal rich dirt, 1 grounding rod is usually enough for al but the longest fences. but the harder/dryer/sandier your ground the harder the current has to work to send the electricity back through the ground so having more grounding rods help.
as long as you dont hook the fence directly to the gorunding rods, no having more rods wont "ground out" the fence.

the only way i could have the gournding rod 5ft fomr the unit would be to sink it through 24" of concrete as my ONLY exteriror power source (1 outlet) is under the carport

@deb....
could i move the charger...probbaly BUT...it would mean, 1: running a heavy duty extension cord out to the spot neer grounding rod number 1, 2: building a "house" for the charger to live in (as its an AC charger so not realy what id call weather proof)
im always leery of running anything full time through an extension cord (even one made for outdoor use), and buiding it its own little house to live in would cost me more time and energy, (plus more money) than just driving a new rod in

did more looking online and so far the only explanation i can find for whats going on is grounding issues so i definatly think your right about the rod being too far away.

i think before i go out and buy a new rod though, im going to run the extension cord out to the grounding post thats there and take the box over there, use a couple of scrap peiced or wire to attatch the ground and the fence and see if the box being closer to the rod fixed the isue BEFORE i go trying to dirve the rod...
*fingers crosssed*

 

[pinkfox]

well this morning i unhooked everything from the box, took the box out to the grounding rod, and hooked the box up with some spare wire to the ground and added a peice of spare wire to the hot...
got a little blinking light...
SO...it definatly seems to be the ground, so im currently in the process of sinking a new rod as close to the charger as i can get it. the closest spot is 18 ft from the charger no matter which direction i go
and it looks like im not going to get a full 6 ft grounded, all downward movment seems to have stopped at the 3 1/2 ft of rod left mark (about 4 1/2 ft burried) taking a quick break and will then give it another go and see if i can get that last 1 1/2 ft down but if not im praying to anyone that will listen that this orks. ive got the girls in the back yard now and despite my best efforts they managed to get into the strawberry bed (which was looking quite nice) and my rose bush...the rose should recover as they havent eaten it down to the ground, BUT th strawberry bed is probably a loss...GAH, the rose and the strawberry were the 2 things itook the time to put up blockades around too...*sigh*

anywho...
yeah just hoping 18ft is close enough to get this system working properly and the goats OUT of my back yard!

 

[pinkfox]

ok so pounded in NEW grounding rod, 18 ft from charger, could only get it in about 5 1/2 ft beofre hitting something vry solid (to the point i was beinding the rod trying to get it in further) checked, NOTHING.
so i moved the box closer to test it...with the box 1ft from the new grounding rod i have power to the hot wire...
however NOW when i test the fence STILL nothing...
take the hot line of the fence and theres a WEAK charge on the hot line, but once on the fence its reading so low that my little fence tester isnt reading it.

I dont own a voltmeter nor can i afford one right this moment so i cant tell you how many volts its reading at the box or at the fence...
but its fine at the energizer and WEAK at the fence.

this once again indicates this is a grounding problem...
The charger is now about 70 ft from the fence itself and 12" from the grounding rod...

the second grounding rod is about 50 ft of wire away from the newest grounding rod...obviously alot fuurther than the reccomenations but people arnt having issues using just a single rod so why am i?! do i just have serously crappy conductivity in my dirt?!
is it just too dry right now?!

Ive set the hose to trickle on the new rod (and then about 10 mins later the heavens opend and its Pouring right now so im going to let the rain do its thing...the goats are currently quietly cowering under the carport because as we know...goats melt in the rain.
IM REALY hoping this bad grounidng is just a case of dry ground...im hoping after this current downpour ill see a spike in the fence when i plug it back in...
if not im not sure what the next step is...

theres current from the box.
i hooked the box up to the ground rod and then attatched a pice of 17 gage fence wire to the 'hot" terminal...when i touch that peice of wire with the tester i get a "good" on the tester.
took off that peice or wire and put the insulated wire on the "hot" terminal, tested that wire AT the charger, good signal with the testerhooked onto a raw end of insulated wire and grounded in the dirt. so at that point i know that that wire is getting a charge. so i followed on over to the fence, touched the fence with the tester...NOTHING.
so i unhooked the "hot" wire from the fence itself, and tested the ht wire on the delivery end, same wire thats giving me a good signal at the charger, just on the end that would attatch to the fence...and the littl eblinking light blinks but JUST barely...its as if the current just isnt getting though the 12g wire...
this is a 1/2 mile charger, 60ft of insulated 12g shouldnt be resisting...

thoughts?

next step is to let this storm and the rain pass then go out and try again now the ground has some moisture and see if i get a better signal on the fence.
If that doesnt work im going to run a test line of fence wire directly to the fence from the charger...if i get a good charge on the 17g, then that would indicate its a problem in the inuslated wire...
if not i can only assume im going to need at least 1 more grounding rod no more than 10 ft from this new one...
because before there was no signal at all...now there is power going out to the fence...just not nearly enough...



and if all that doesnt work im going to go sit and sulk in a mud puddle and let the goats just eat me!

 

[pinkfox]

so ive decided, if all this rain doesnt help im ging to try the 2 wire system...taking 1 wire on the fence and grounding it (literally removing ho from it and instead hooking it to the grounding rod...)
that should take out ALL issues of too dry ground because the current doesnt HAVE to go through the earth, it can simply follow the wires on the grounding rods back home instead...

going this rout may mean me adding 4th line though to ensure good contact whe they touch the fence (cause with the 2 wire system the animal has to touch hot AND ground wire to complete the circuit so i think if have to put the wires closer together to ensure they dont get their head THROUGH then get shocked and as a result try to go forward instead of back. so the 2 middle wires need to be no more than about 6" apart...this could be fun.
and its not happening today or tomorrow, tomorrowisa crazy day betwen apointment and cleaning...

Cindy, im going to pass on the visit tomorrow, i need to get everythign sorted here...
once ive got this fence figured i promise a dozer visit
but right now, especially since it looks like im going to be fighting the weather for the next few days..i need to focus.

this fence has me all kinds of frustrated, its SUPPOSED to be "user friendly" but aparently my ground isnt made of clay...its made of plastic it has 100% insulative capabilities LOL, it says to electrickery "you shalt not pass" and thus screws my fence big time!
but one way or another im going to beat this stupid thing...even if i literally have to BEAT it! lol

the good news is while the goats are stood by my back door complaining, the ducks and geese are having a grand old time playing in the mud puddles.

 

[Wannabefree]

I don't blame ya for staying and getting that stuff finished sis. I hope you do get it done

 

[pinkfox]

Well, i MIGHT have a better idea of whats going on with the fence...
and i think its got something to do with the wire leading out...

i played with a little now the rain has pretty much stopped.
once again no power on the fence end, but now theres NO power on that wire at all..
took the hot line off and put a peice of 17g wire and guess what, the line was hot...

so i took a peice of spare insulated wire hooked that to the box and tested it and THAT wire was hot, good clear signal comming through beginning to end...

so...2 different peice of wire Both transmitted a signal, BUT the wire ive currently got as "hot" isnt transmitting any pulse either at the terminal or the end...
whihc makes me think i might have got my wires crossed somehow, somewhere...im not entirely sure HOW (especially since this same line was getting a weak pulse earlier)
but since 2 other peice of wire were transmitting current, it makes me think now that theres got to be a problem with the wire itself...
since 2 other wires are both transmitting a current on the same hot terminal, it HAS to be that wire...right?!

So tomorrow after i get home from my apointment ive got to unhook everything pull the wires and see if i can find where the heck things whent wrong.

 

[Denim Deb]

Hope you get it figured out soon. Wish I was closer, I'd come and take a look and see if I could figure out what your problem was.