more electric fence

[keh]

Thanks for the helpful comments previously. I extended the fence to my garden and got some insulated wire for the gates. That wire is now on top of the ground temporarily. Fence charger is moved and I installed a new ground rod, 6 feet in the ground at the drip line of a building. Now, the fence charger has been clicking on the phone line and a better ground was supposed to stop that. Charger still clicks on the line. I cleared green vegetation away from the old part of the line and found a place where the electric fence was touching the barbed wire. Still clicking on phone. I have a Sears device to jump off dead batteries, pump air, it has a radio and a light. It also has a 110 volt outlet which I have used to power an electric drill. I plugged the fence charger into that and the clicking stopped. Does this mean that the houshold wireing does not have a good ground? Other reasons? The fence charger is a strong one good for 50 miles of fence which I don't have so I first thought that might be an issue.

BTW, this is a procedure for putting the ground rod in without using a hammer. Take a gallon of water and wet the ground. Take ground rod in both handsand state driving it into the ground, of course removing the rod with each stroke. Pour some more water in the hole you have started. Repeat until rod is deep enough. If you hit a rock, move over and try again. Worked fine in this red clay. Learned this from one of my ham radio friends. Probably old news to some of you, but I was impressed when I first tried it.

KEH

 

[Jim k]

You want to check the ground that the phone company connects to your water main if you have one, (has your town changed from copper to pvc water lines)? Has the water meter been removed recently? Otherwise they should have tied it to your house's ground rod.
Then check the ground circuit for the house panel, be sure all connections are tight, put a wrench on it, don't just look at it.
If there is alot of corrosion at any connection change it. look in the meter socket and panel also, all must be tight.
If your not confident with electricity have an electrician check things out.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Maybe you got the ground rod right next to a underground phone line and it's feeding thru that way. I know I had stray voltage in my barn and they found it was feeding from a neighbors through the phone line.

 

[keh]

Thanks.
The ground rod I put in is about 200 feet from phone line.
The phone ground is fastened to the house current ground Both are bare copper wire maybe 1/8 or less in diameter. The household ground wire goes into the earth and I don't know what sort of ground arrangement
they have. I have a ground rod for radio gear on the other side of the house. Could I lay some fence wire from that rod to the house and phone ground temporarily to see if that would help?

KEH

 

[RayP(MI)]

After you have satisfied yourself that you can do nothing more to improve grounds, both fence, phone and your electrical service, then take a look at the fence itself. Any bad connection, loose connections, rusty connections, etc. can cause RF interference which can get into some of the darndest things. A battery operated transistor radio can help you locate bad connections. Just set on an unused frequency on the AM band, and wander around the fenceline. Noise will get louder as you get near bad connections. Also leaky insulators allowing arcing to posts, even wooden posts can be the culprit.

 

[Coloken]

They make simple little filters that go between the charger and your house/110volt plug in. All computers have to pass tests to keep from feeding back interference. Many devices do this.

 

[Anonymous-0]

You could always have more perplexing stray radiation...
Space Shuttle on Baby Monitor

 

[kyplowboy]

Every one has some thing they like to preach about on here. Mine is electric fence stuff. I have never had the click bleed over onto the phone, but seen a hot wire do some strange things. Don"t know how big your fence is but are you sure that one ground rod is enough. Many times people have trouble with an electric fence and it comes back to they need more ground. I have four 8 foot rods stick"n 6 inches out of the ground 20 foot apart. I am not big on gadgits but a year ago I spent $112 in a Gallager (sp?) Smart Fix. This thing reads volts AND amps AND tells you which way the amps are going. If I lost the thing today I would buy another one first thing Monday. It saves alot of walk"n round looking for a short. When I bought mine I had been looking for a problem for two days. When I got home with the thing I had .4 kv at the charger, and 34 amps going out. An hour and a half later I had 2.9 kw at the end of the system and 5 amps going out of the charger. (You will learn quick that 1.5 will make you dance, 2 will make you scream, over 2.5 and you will be going to the house for more pants!) Good luck and tell us what you find.

Dave

 

[Allan in NE]

Check your AM radios and any antenna-fed video on your TV. Should be getting the "click" there too.

Normal for the course; it's what fencers do. :>)

Allan

 

[TomTX]

My charger instructions said to drive a minimum of 3 ground rods, in a row at least 10 foot spacings. Use more than 3 for longer fences or in dry conditions. Also said to use special rod made for this grounding, not rebar or plain steel rod. Tom

 

[Bret4207]

You have a short in the fence someplace. Your little Sears inverter type thing probably isn't throwing enough voltage to make the fence arc. Take a walk around the fence in the dark. You'll see the spark. Happens to me every 2 months or so, winter and summer.

 

[Bill of TN]

The single most important part of an electric fence is the ground. Your fence will be no better than the ground system.

Take the time and get extreme with your ground system. Drive at least three rods 10 feet apart and join them. You may want to drive 6 rods.