portable, heavy duty, solar electric fence suggestions?

[Rebmik]

I want to get a cheap, portable, solar electric fence to be able to move my drafties around the farm. Any suggestions what to get or NOT get? or advice.

[deltawave]

I don't know if you can have "cheap", "heavy duty", "portable" and "solar" all at once. :) You might need to pick 3 out of 4.

[Sparky Boy]

I would think all solar chargers are portable. The one thing I'd tell you is don't bother using the solar charger with the tape fence. I'm now being told they don't recommend this combination. Too much drain with the tape. I'm switching mine out to a plug in charger.

[Rebmik]

I would think all solar chargers are portable. The one thing I'd tell you is don't bother using the solar charger with the tape fence. I'm now being told they don't recommend this combination. Too much drain with the tape. I'm switching mine out to a plug in charger.

Really???? That is what I was hoping to do. My guys, unfortunately, are not real respectful of just electric wire :sadsmile: We thought the tape would at least hold them and give them a little "juice" to deter further leaning...?
Any brands definitely no? or yes? Tractor supply just as good a place as any to get from?

[Sparky Boy]

Really???? That is what I was hoping to do. My guys, unfortunately, are not real respectful of just electric wire :sadsmile: We thought the tape would at least hold them and give them a little "juice" to deter further leaning...?
Any brands definitely no? or yes? Tractor supply just as good a place as any to get from?


Perhaps if you get one of the really strong solar powered ones it would work ok. This is the solar charger I bought. http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=6371529b-814d-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5 I've had it up for 2 yrs. Didn't bother replacing the battery. Didn't want to throw good money after bad.

I also tested the fence by replacing the solar with the plug in charger to make sure the problem was with the charger and not the ground or the fence somewhere. The meter went from less than 1000 with the solar to somewhere over 4-5000. So the issue is with the solar charger.

Another thing I've learned the hard way is that the Horseguard connections are WAY better than the Safe Fence stuff I bought originally. So now I'm in the process of replacing all the connections with Horseguard products.

[Sparky Boy]

What about doing a combination of tape and wire/rope? If you needed the tape as your top rail.

[vineyridge]

Maybe I've just been lucky so far, but for a temporary paddock, you don't need either solar or heavy duty.

I have one wheel of a center pivot irrigation rig that walks in and out of my back paddock during the summer. For that to happen, the wheel and its walking track have to be fenced off from the rest of the paddock. I use plastic step-in posts and 1/2 tape with a 2 D cell battery powered charger. Not one horse, and that includes two baby TBs who grew up with this, have ever escaped. The 2 D cell batteries will last about two months before they have to be replaced. I've been doing this for about five years, so the tape is pretty frayed, but it works.

My D cell charger is a PEL from New Zealand. Since electric and wire are the standard fencing for New Zealand livestock, the quality of any of the New Zealand made products seems to be extremely high--Gallagher, Stafix, PEL, and I'm sure there are others. At this point, having owned both a Gallagher and this eight year old PEL (which charged a much larger paddock for one horse with the 1/2 inch tape when I first got it), I would never buy any electric fencing product that wasn't New Zealand made, although I have been tempted by Horse Power products.

[secretariat]

I've spent a fortune on solar chargers, and have concluded that they just don't work/put out enough spark to hold a draft horse. TB's, maybe. Drafties -- not a chance. My rec for remote locations would be deep cycle 12 volt battery and rotate/take in and charge weekly. There are some very good 12 volt battery fence chargers out there. Don't fool with the 6 volt, they're just like the solars. And yeah, I'm using tape.

[vineyridge]

http://www.valleyfarmsupply.net/products.php?id=4

http://www.buyfarmstuff.com/products-ranch/jl/chargers.htm

[MikeP]

I've had real good results controlling both horses and cattle with tape fencing and a ParMak 12-volt solar charger. ($300) Maybe I'm just lucky?

[spacehorse]

I had ZERO luck with solar chargers. I had a really expensive one from TSC. I tried for 2 years to get the damn thing to work. It seemed the battery was not recharging? And those batteries get expensive. I gave up on it, it is sitting in my basement. Got a 50 mile plug in, for probably no more than 5-6 miles of fence. They don't mess around with that one. :eek:

This was on TB's for the most part, although there was a very overgrown pony (ISH) that was the one that tended to let me know when the fencer wasn't working. :lol:

[Hilary]

We have 2 parmak solar chargers. One is nearly 10 years old and still going strong - my filly tried to take it apart once and it suffered cosmetic damage only.

They aren't cheap - like $300- but htey are portable and they give a good zap and work fine with the tape fencing for me. In fact, we bought the first one from the tape fencing dealer and it was recommended.

The other we got last weekend after the umpteenth failure of the small plug -in. it's a short section of fence, and we had to run a 30' extension cord and it just didn't work very well. It would blow a fuse, or it would come unplugged or the snow or rain would short something out. And the horses know whether it's ticking. If it's ticking they leave it alone. No tick? Fair game for escapes.

[vineyridge]

I had ZERO luck with solar chargers. I had a really expensive one from TSC. I tried for 2 years to get the damn thing to work. It seemed the battery was not recharging? And those batteries get expensive. I gave up on it, it is sitting in my basement. Got a 50 mile plug in, for probably no more than 5-6 miles of fence. They don't mess around with that one. :eek:

This was on TB's for the most part, although there was a very overgrown pony (ISH) that was the one that tended to let me know when the fencer wasn't working. :lol:

The ones from TSC are not New Zealand made. :) My Gallagher solar S17 is now four years old, still holds my TBs, and hasn't had to have its battery replaced yet. It is used on two lines of 2" tape.

[CatOnLap]

I had very good service from my Hallman Solar 12- it lasted over 12 years and it was used with the 1 inch fiberglas tape. The battery died after about 8 yeares, but I continued to use it during daylight hours and it was fine, as my horses are only turned out in daylight and the collector was large enough to work even on cloudy days. Unfortunately, Hallman no longer makes the 12 volt charger, and someone stole mine right out of the field last year. The police told me that the meth addicts steal them to run their DVD players and radios in their drug camps out in the bush.

Now I have a 6 volt "Red Snapr". So far it seems to work fine with the tape, but certainly doesn't pack the shock that the old 12 volt used to.

[Evalee Hunter]

I've had real good results controlling both horses and cattle with tape fencing and a ParMak 12-volt solar charger. ($300) Maybe I'm just lucky?

You are RIGHT not lucky! The trick is to get a charger with a TWELVE volt back up battery. The six volt backups are useless for many horses. The TWELVE volt will work fine with tape.

The ParMak that SparkyBoy linked to was the 6 volt version - buy the 12 volt & it will do what you want.

I looked over every charger at TSC recently & they were all 6 volt backup.