All About Grounding

If the ground system is insufficient, electricity cannot find a path back to the fencer and little or no shock is given. An animal provides this path when it touches the fence wire and the earth simultaneously.

The electricity then passes through the animal into the soil and back to the ground rods, which are connected to the ground terminal of the fence charger. Only then is the circuit completed and the animal receives an electrical shock.

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Proper Grounding

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Proper Grounding

The grounding circuit is a critical component of your electric fence and is essential to its proper functioning. The charger, or energizer, is designed to alter the electric charge into a power that is safe for animals and people.

When an animal touches the electrically charged fence wire, the animal feels the electric current as the charge passes through its body. The charge then continues the circuit through the earth to the ground rod and then up the ground wire to the ground terminal of the charger.

If the animal and the ground terminal of the charger are not sufficiently grounded, the path of electric current cannot be completed and the animal will not feel the shock. Since earth provides half of the electric field circuit, it is crucial to have a properly installed ground circuit.

Birds landing on the wire will not be harmed -- since they are not in contact with the ground as they sit upon the wire, they are not completing the circuit, and therefore they will not receive a shock.

Ninety percent of the times the fence is not working, the problem can be traced back to the fence being improperly grounded.

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Zareba® electric fence systems will help contain livestock and pets when properly grounded.

zareba electric fence systems