We've got this one and the 32 joule. We are very happy with them after 5 years of constant use. Ours are under roof and to further protect them we mount plastic tool boxes and mount the charger inside the tool boxes. Thank you for the helpful and informative video.
Thank you for such a great video. I like this charger but its out of my price range. What do you think about the ATMOREA Electric Fence Charger - Multi-Powered, 3 Joules High Power charger?
Thanks for the question. I've never heard of the brand, so I had to look them up. They're a Chinese made unit and I don't think any parts are offered for their stuff. So once it's out of warranty it's probably a throwaway unit as cheap as they are. If you want something that's serviceable and long lasting, look at a smaller joule Cyclops, Gallagher, or power wizard brand. Are you after an AC model or a 12v model. I hate throwing away good money at something cheap upfront, just for it to cost me more in the long run by having to replace it with another unit.
Thank you for your reply. I am looking at an AC until. Now I’m leaning toward a Cyclops Stallion. Do you think the Stallion version offers enough joules to deter bears?
It should be more than plenty. I've seen videos of polar bears get deterred by a 0.5 joule solar unit. And Audrey video of a grizzly bear getting deterred by a 2-3 joule AC plug in. As long as the unit is well grounded and you maintain the fence of debris on the line, you should be fine.
it really comes down to how much is on your fences. i have 300 linear feet of polybraid that i move daily, so it has lots of wet grass touching it. A gallagher S200 can only do 1kV on a rainy day and 4kV on a dry day (about the same as a Hero spec-wise, i felt like the hero had more pop than the S200 does fwiw).
The GFCI and such don't hurt the unit itself, but depending on how a unit is built, quality wise and wiring set up internally, there can at times be a feedback back into the unit. That feedback can at times trick the GFCI of a surge and trip the GFCI. This doesn't always happen though. It doesn't really hurt anything either but it can be an annoyance. Most brands don't recommend plugging them into a GFCI type outlet and just plug them into a regular outlet. We get this sorta phone call question every once in awhile.
i was planning to use one of these (12v version) in a mobile operation, can i just use 4x 3' rods to get to sufficient ground? alternatively, i am not in a lightning prone area, can i just clip the jumper to protect the boards? to test for ground being sufficient is it just test from the rod to the dirt with a fence tester?
Depending on what size joule unit you get. If it's a lower joule one in the Hero or Stallion model then possibly 4) 3' might work. But again it might not be if you go with a higher joule unit 5+ joules. You shouldn't have to cut any wire inside with the 12v version, they don't have that same set up on the input side like the AC ones do and even then, I wouldn't cut that wire, I would just add more ground rods. There's really only one correct way to test the ground system, and you're 50% there. The only other thing you have to do first is after everything is wired up and ready to go, walk down your fence line and take with you a handful of metal rods, leftover metal fence post, some pieces of metal pipe, some sticks of rebar or a combination of all the above. Walk down 200' or so on your fence, then test the voltage at the fence for a reference, ex: 8kv. Then stick over of those metal piece into the ground an inch or so and lay it up on the fence wire and retest the fence voltage, it should go down some. You want to lay as many as you need to in the line until you get that voltage on the fence to be 2kv or less, so it may take a few rods against the fence to get it to go down that low. Once that voltage on the fence is at 2kv or less, leave them on there, walk back to your ground system, and put the fence part of your fence tester on the last ground rod and the ground probe of your tester in the dirt. Depending on what joule rated your unit is, any model under 15 joules, the voltage on the ground system should be 0.3kv or less. If it's over that amount of kv, you need more ground rods. Make sure to space them 10' a part. Get longer ones if you can, 6' ones would be ideal and drive them in as deep as you can, deeper the better. You can never have too many ground rods and the ground system is the most important thing to the whole fence system, it's what ties everything together. So don't try and save a handful of dollars by going skimpy on the ground system, that's they one part of the fence system you don't want to try and save a couple of dollars on.
We have a Boss that keeps blowing the fuse on the fence side. I opened it up and found one of the main capacitors scorched. Would the bad capacitor cause the fuse to blow? Also, where in the world do you get those capacitors? I've looked everywhere and can't find one for sell
Are you talking about the large blue capacitors stacked side by side, or somewhere else inside? Those large blue capacitors don't go bad all that often, so that scorch mark you're seeing might be cosmetic from something else near by that blew. If one of those large blue capacitors are indeed bad, it won't cause the output fuse on the right hand side to blow, so there's likely something else that's wrong causing it. The only sure way to know if that capacitor is bad is to test the (uF) microfarads of the capacitor with a multimeter that can test capacitance.
@@TheGuitarsquatch Does it have anything that's supposed to be plugged onto it? Like a small circuit board, some small resistor/diode soldered together, or just wires?
@FencerFixerRepairLLCKansasCity the wire directly links the capacitor to the transformer. Edit: I just plugged it in with the case apart and found a capacitor in the other pair arcing at the circuit board. So, in one pair of capacitors there is a scorched capacitor. In the other pair of capacitors there is arcing at the board
I just bought this one and it trips my GFCI outlet immediately, if I move it to an indoor plug it works fine. I tried it on 3 other GFCI outlets and same results. Is this a known issue?
It's not an issue with the unit itself, but the way the unit is wired internally for the surge suppression board that it has, inside and the ground connection for it. You could have excess ground voltage if you don't have enough ground rods and that can cause some feedback and the GFCI doesn't know what's going on and it's tripping because it thinks there's a problem when there's not. Most brands don't recommend plugging fence chargers into GFCI outlets.
We've got this one and the 32 joule. We are very happy with them after 5 years of constant use. Ours are under roof and to further protect them we mount plastic tool boxes and mount the charger inside the tool boxes. Thank you for the helpful and informative video.
Keep them protected like that goes a long way. I wish more customers would do that lol
Great info thanks I’ve had that ground fuse blow quite a bit on one of mine
Install more ground rods on your existing ground system, 10' a part and as deep into the ground as you can.
Thank you so much for all your help. I really appreciate your knowledge and expertise in this field. 👊🏽👍🏽
You're welcome
Thanks for the information. Have a great week
Thank you for such a great video. I like this charger but its out of my price range. What do you think about the ATMOREA Electric Fence Charger - Multi-Powered, 3 Joules High Power charger?
Thanks for the question. I've never heard of the brand, so I had to look them up. They're a Chinese made unit and I don't think any parts are offered for their stuff. So once it's out of warranty it's probably a throwaway unit as cheap as they are. If you want something that's serviceable and long lasting, look at a smaller joule Cyclops, Gallagher, or power wizard brand. Are you after an AC model or a 12v model. I hate throwing away good money at something cheap upfront, just for it to cost me more in the long run by having to replace it with another unit.
Thank you for your reply. I am looking at an AC until. Now I’m leaning toward a Cyclops Stallion. Do you think the Stallion version offers enough joules to deter bears?
It should be more than plenty. I've seen videos of polar bears get deterred by a 0.5 joule solar unit. And Audrey video of a grizzly bear getting deterred by a 2-3 joule AC plug in. As long as the unit is well grounded and you maintain the fence of debris on the line, you should be fine.
it really comes down to how much is on your fences. i have 300 linear feet of polybraid that i move daily, so it has lots of wet grass touching it. A gallagher S200 can only do 1kV on a rainy day and 4kV on a dry day (about the same as a Hero spec-wise, i felt like the hero had more pop than the S200 does fwiw).
Are 110v units adversely affected by a GFCI or a AFCI?
The GFCI and such don't hurt the unit itself, but depending on how a unit is built, quality wise and wiring set up internally, there can at times be a feedback back into the unit. That feedback can at times trick the GFCI of a surge and trip the GFCI. This doesn't always happen though. It doesn't really hurt anything either but it can be an annoyance. Most brands don't recommend plugging them into a GFCI type outlet and just plug them into a regular outlet. We get this sorta phone call question every once in awhile.
i was planning to use one of these (12v version) in a mobile operation, can i just use 4x 3' rods to get to sufficient ground? alternatively, i am not in a lightning prone area, can i just clip the jumper to protect the boards?
to test for ground being sufficient is it just test from the rod to the dirt with a fence tester?
Depending on what size joule unit you get. If it's a lower joule one in the Hero or Stallion model then possibly 4) 3' might work. But again it might not be if you go with a higher joule unit 5+ joules.
You shouldn't have to cut any wire inside with the 12v version, they don't have that same set up on the input side like the AC ones do and even then, I wouldn't cut that wire, I would just add more ground rods.
There's really only one correct way to test the ground system, and you're 50% there. The only other thing you have to do first is after everything is wired up and ready to go, walk down your fence line and take with you a handful of metal rods, leftover metal fence post, some pieces of metal pipe, some sticks of rebar or a combination of all the above. Walk down 200' or so on your fence, then test the voltage at the fence for a reference, ex: 8kv. Then stick over of those metal piece into the ground an inch or so and lay it up on the fence wire and retest the fence voltage, it should go down some. You want to lay as many as you need to in the line until you get that voltage on the fence to be 2kv or less, so it may take a few rods against the fence to get it to go down that low. Once that voltage on the fence is at 2kv or less, leave them on there, walk back to your ground system, and put the fence part of your fence tester on the last ground rod and the ground probe of your tester in the dirt. Depending on what joule rated your unit is, any model under 15 joules, the voltage on the ground system should be 0.3kv or less. If it's over that amount of kv, you need more ground rods. Make sure to space them 10' a part. Get longer ones if you can, 6' ones would be ideal and drive them in as deep as you can, deeper the better. You can never have too many ground rods and the ground system is the most important thing to the whole fence system, it's what ties everything together. So don't try and save a handful of dollars by going skimpy on the ground system, that's they one part of the fence system you don't want to try and save a couple of dollars on.
We have a Boss that keeps blowing the fuse on the fence side. I opened it up and found one of the main capacitors scorched. Would the bad capacitor cause the fuse to blow? Also, where in the world do you get those capacitors? I've looked everywhere and can't find one for sell
Are you talking about the large blue capacitors stacked side by side, or somewhere else inside? Those large blue capacitors don't go bad all that often, so that scorch mark you're seeing might be cosmetic from something else near by that blew. If one of those large blue capacitors are indeed bad, it won't cause the output fuse on the right hand side to blow, so there's likely something else that's wrong causing it. The only sure way to know if that capacitor is bad is to test the (uF) microfarads of the capacitor with a multimeter that can test capacitance.
@@FencerFixerRepairLLCKansasCity It's one of the big ones. It's scorched around one of the terminals and the wire on the terminal is melted.
@@TheGuitarsquatch Does it have anything that's supposed to be plugged onto it? Like a small circuit board, some small resistor/diode soldered together, or just wires?
@FencerFixerRepairLLCKansasCity the wire directly links the capacitor to the transformer.
Edit: I just plugged it in with the case apart and found a capacitor in the other pair arcing at the circuit board. So, in one pair of capacitors there is a scorched capacitor. In the other pair of capacitors there is arcing at the board
I just bought this one and it trips my GFCI outlet immediately, if I move it to an indoor plug it works fine. I tried it on 3 other GFCI outlets and same results. Is this a known issue?
It's not an issue with the unit itself, but the way the unit is wired internally for the surge suppression board that it has, inside and the ground connection for it. You could have excess ground voltage if you don't have enough ground rods and that can cause some feedback and the GFCI doesn't know what's going on and it's tripping because it thinks there's a problem when there's not. Most brands don't recommend plugging fence chargers into GFCI outlets.