First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to my previous thread about building my own electric fence charger. I decided to buy this small, cheap commercial unit instead. It's mains-powered and advertised to charge a 2 mile / 8 acre fence via its 500mA input. It claims to output a pulse voltage of 4.2kV. It has a built-in pulse indicator light that flashes once per second, and it was on sale for $30 and came with a neon fence tester, so I thought I would give it a try based on the low cost for everything that's included.
I plugged it in and touched the terminals with my hand, and I certainly got a strong enough shock to NOT do that again! I think a raccoon would come to the same conclusion. However, when I tested the charge voltage with the included neon tester it indicates an output of only 2kV. This concerns me because the instructions provided by the seller say the fence charger should test at least 4000 volts -- so either the tester is incorrect, or the charger is not producing the advertised output.
I know I can exchange this unit for one that might actually indicate 4kV output, but I could also end up with another one that still indicates only 2kV. This made me wonder about something I read about once -- that creating an air gap between the charger and fence will increase the voltage pulse on the fence.
Is there any truth to this "air gap" theory, or is this fiction?
If true, this means I could install a spark plug between the charger and fence to create a stronger "zap" on the fence itself. It also suggests that this could be a solution to extending the life of a gradually weakening pulse fence charger as it ages.
???
I plugged it in and touched the terminals with my hand, and I certainly got a strong enough shock to NOT do that again! I think a raccoon would come to the same conclusion. However, when I tested the charge voltage with the included neon tester it indicates an output of only 2kV. This concerns me because the instructions provided by the seller say the fence charger should test at least 4000 volts -- so either the tester is incorrect, or the charger is not producing the advertised output.
I know I can exchange this unit for one that might actually indicate 4kV output, but I could also end up with another one that still indicates only 2kV. This made me wonder about something I read about once -- that creating an air gap between the charger and fence will increase the voltage pulse on the fence.
Is there any truth to this "air gap" theory, or is this fiction?
If true, this means I could install a spark plug between the charger and fence to create a stronger "zap" on the fence itself. It also suggests that this could be a solution to extending the life of a gradually weakening pulse fence charger as it ages.
???