| COMPONENTS
FENCE CHARGER FAQs
FENCE POST FAQs
INSULATOR FAQs
FENCE WIRE FAQs
GROUNDING FAQs
GATE HANDLE FAQs Answers to the FAQs FENCE CHARGER FAQs
Q: What can I do to prevent lightning from destroying my fence charger? A: Lightning frequently finds its way to electric fence lines. When it does, the sudden power surge can travel down the fence wire and damage your fence charger. Lightning protection products such as lightning diverters, lightning constrictors, lightning arrestors and surge suppressors can prevent or limit lightning damage to your fence charger. They are a low-cost way to help protect your fence charger.
You may want to consider disconnecting the charger from its power source when storms are nearby.
Q: What factors should I consider when purchasing a fence charger? A: The power source (AC, Battery or Solar Powered), energy output (in joules), the type of animal being controlled, the length of the fence and the amount of vegetation growing along the fence are all factors to consider when you are selecting your fence charger. You want adequate power to keep your animals safe.
Q: What does Low Impedance mean? I see that on chargers in stores
and on the web. A: Low impedance chargers increase the joules (energy) on a fence line if weeds or other vegetation touch the fence. Low impedance chargers are ideal for long, multi-strand poly wire, poly tape, poly rope or high tensile fence systems. Low impedance chargers are recommended for most applications and can be operated by AC, DC or Solar Power.
The other type of charger, known as a solid state charger, is usually used to control short-haired livestock, small animals, and pets where only moderate weed conditions exist. These chargers deliver a medium-amperage shock and can be operated by AC or DC power.
Q: Why does my fence charger make clicking noises? A: The fence charger has a pulsed output. Every time it “clicks” it is releasing energy to the fence that has been stepped up or increased through a capacitor and a transformer. This release of energy makes noise. This noise is by design and only lets the owner know that the charger is on and working. Many chargers do not make sounds.
Q: Why does my fence charger need to be grounded? A: The animal only feels a shock when the electric fencing circuit is completed. When the animal touches the electrified fence line, current goes through the animal’s hooves, through the earth, back to the ground rods and finally back into the charger to complete the circuit. The better the ground system, the greater shock the animal will feel. For dry, sandy, rocky or frozen soil where the animal is not feeling a very intense shock, there is also an alternate method of grounding called "ground wire return system." Refer to your installation manual for grounding in these conditions.
Q: With a pacemaker, how close to the fence can a person be and what
would happen if they touched it? A: Due to the high volts and low amps, they will not cause harm. FENCE POST FAQs
Q: What should I consider when I am deciding what posts to use? A: The most important factors in deciding what post to use are determined by the purpose of the fence. Ask yourself these two questions: -
How permanent do you need your fence to be -- is it a temporary, rotational or grazing fence or is it permanent fence? -
What type of animal is being controlled -- are you keeping animals in or keeping animals out of the fenced area?
Q: Rebar posts are made of metal and they seem sturdy. Can I use them
for a corner post? A: Unfortunately, we do not recommend rebar posts for corner posts. Although they are cheaper than wood posts, they cannot hold up to the strain and tension like a wood post. Wood posts should be used at corners, gates and termination points of a fence. Rebars and fiberglass posts can be used along the fence line.
Q: Do wood posts require special insulators? A: Yes, there are insulators designed for wood posts. Some of these insulators are made from porcelain, while others are made from heavy-duty plastic. Check out our store where you can find insulators for wood posts to suit your fencing needs.
Q: What type of post should I use for letting my horses graze temporarily
in a particular area of my farm? A: Step-In posts! Step-In posts are perfect for this purpose. They are easy to install and cost less than more permanent fencing. In addition, they can handle poly tape, poly rope and poly wire as well as regular wire, although we highly recommend using poly tape for your horses. Both you and they will appreciate the visibility poly tape offers.
Q: Where are brace posts or brace pins used? A: Brace posts (pins) are used at corners to support the wood corner posts. They will significantly increase the strength of the corner post and therefore, the strength of the fence itself. INSULATOR FAQs
Q: Do I need insulators for my electric fence system? A: Insulators allow you to fasten electric wires to posts without losing energy through the posts and potentially shorting out your system; so yes, definitely use insulators to maintain the current throughout your fence line. The only exception is when you are using polypropylene step-in posts since these function as a post and an insulator.
Q: Which type of insulator should I use? A: There are several factors to consider when determining which type of insulator you want for your electric fence system. These factors include the type of fence post you will need, the type of wire you will need, and if there are corner or end posts. (Corner and end posts have a lot of stress and tension on them, so they will need sturdy insulators.)
Q: Is a porcelain insulator better than a plastic insulator? A: Porcelain insulators can be used with high tensile fences as well as standard electric fences. Porcelain will last the lifetime of your fence. Their only drawback is cost: Porcelain insulators usually cost more than plastic insulators. Insulators made from plastic are generally used for standard electric fences only, although there are some designed for use with a high tensile fence.
Q: Will plastic insulators break when the weather gets very cold? Will
porcelain insulators? A: Both plastic and porcelain insulators can stand up to very cold weather. It is true that plastic insulators are more likely to break when the weather gets very cold or they are hit by something hard.
Q: Can you paint plastic insulators or will it interfere with the operation
of the fence? A: You can paint them and it won't interfere. FENCE WIRE FAQs
Q: Why is poly tape better for use with horses than regular wire? A: It's a matter of visiblity. Horses can see the tape more readily than wire. Remember, electric fencing is a psychological barrier: after a horse has met up with a poly tape electric fence and has felt the shock, when it sees the poly tape again, it will remember the shock and stay away from the fence.
Q: Why should I place one wire at the animal's shoulder? A: Positioning one electrified wire at animal’s shoulder height will cause the animal to hit the fence with its nose, making the animal back up. See illustration below. 
Q: What is the advantage of using high tensile wire rather than
aluminum wire? A: High tensile wire is designed to be both a psychological barrier and a physical barrier. High tensile wire not only carries a shock, it is also strong enough to prevent a large bull from penetrating the fence line (as long as it has been installed correctly.) In addition, aluminum wire can slowly stretch out over time as tension is applied to it. High tensile wire will not stretch; this affordable barrier can last for many, many years.
Q: Won't poly tape succumb to wear and tear? A: Poly tape is designed to withstand wear and tear. The open-weave design allows wind to pass through it, reducing wear and increasing longevity of the fence. It is poly and steel, so over time the poly will eventually wear out.
Q: Does the size of the wire make a difference? A: Electricity travels through and over the surface of wire. This is important because it explains why larger diameter wire conducts more electricity. If a wire is larger in diameter, it has more surface area over which the electricity can travel. The more surface area, the less resistance. Always use the largest diameter wire available; it will transmit the greatest amount of electricity.
Since electricity flows through and over the surface of the wire, anything on the surface, such as rust, will impede the flow of electricity, causing a loss of voltage and amperage.
Q: What kind of fence wire do I need? A: Generally, use the most highly visible fence wire you can afford -- for the simple reason that animals can't avoid a fence they don't see. For horses, this almost always means white poly tape or poly rope. For other animals, yellow and black poly wire may do. And high tensile systems require high tensile steel wire. GROUNDING FAQs
Q: How does a ground system work? A: An animal touching the fence wire and the earth simultaneously provides a path for electricity to follow. The electricity passes through the animal into the soil and back to the ground rods, which are connected to the ground terminal of the fence controller. Only then is the circuit complete and the animal receives an electrical shock.
Q: What type of hook-up wire should I use? A: We recommend an 8-foot ground rod/clamp/20,000 volt insulated hook-up wire in most cases.
Q: Besides the charger, posts and fence wire, what else do I need for
properly grounding my fence? A: You’ll need the several other items to properly ground your electric fence. Here's what we recommend: -
Three 6-foot or 8-foot copper or galvanized ground rods -
One insulated hookup wire, 12 ½ or 14 gauge -
Three heavy duty galvanized ground rod clamps -
Line clamps to connect insulated hookup wire to the fence line. The type of clamp used will vary with the type of fence line you are using.
Q: How do you check your grounding system? A: Check your ground system by placing a short metal rod (12-18 inches) into the ground at a distance of about 1 yard from the ground rod(s).
Attach one voltmeter lead to the metal rod and connect the other lead to the ground rod. If the voltmeter shows more than 500 volts (0.5 kilovolts), it will be necessary to replace the existing ground rod by a longer one, or to add more ground rods. The distance between any two ground rods should be at least 10 feet.
Q: Why don't birds get shocked when they're on electric wires? A: Since the birds are not touching the ground, the electricity cannot complete its path to the charger, and, as a result, the birds do not get an electric shock.
Q: Is it true that most times when an electric fence won't work, it's
because of grounding issues? A: Yes, we at Zareba® Systems, along with everyone else in the electric fence controller business, believe that improper grounding is the cause for 90% of the problems found in an electric fence system.
HERE’S WHY----
Most electric fence systems are “earth ground” systems. This means that the electricity produced by an electric fence charger must travel from the charger’s output terminal, through the fence wire. When the animal touches the fence, a specific amount of the electricity goes through the animal’s body and into the earth. This electricity then travels through the soil, back to the ground rods of the electric fence system.
The electricity travels through the ground rods, through the ground wire, back up to the fence charger’s ground terminal. At this point, the electrical circuit has been completed; the electricity produced by the charger has made its way back to the charger, and the animal touching the fence should feel a shock. The intensity of the shock the animal feels is dependent on many variables. One of the most important variables is the integrity of the ground system.
Think of the ground system as an underground antenna. In the same way a very tall TV antenna allows you to pull in TV stations from far away and gives better reception, a charger’s ground system tries to pick up all of the electricity moving through the soil. The bigger and better your underground antenna, the more electricity it will be capable of collecting. So when we specify three 6’ ground rods spaced 10’ apart, we’re just asking you to build a bigger antenna.
The electricity transmitted through the soil is moving in the most direct path of least resistance back to the charger. Electricity doesn’t travel through certain soils very well. Moist soil with concentrations of conductive minerals is the most suitable transmitter of electricity. By driving a ground rod 6’ into the earth, the chances of reaching subsoil moisture are very good.
By the way, electricity travels at speeds approaching the speed of light...186,000 miles per second in a vacuum. So, when the animal touches the fence of an earth ground system, the shock it feels is almost instantaneous.
If you use ground rods that aren’t galvanized or copper coated, you will have rust covering the rods in a few weeks. Remember that rust impedes the flow of electricity and a rusty ground rod will not allow all of the electricity to travel back to the charger. A ground rod that is painted will also impede the flow of electricity, since many paint compositions are non-conductive. GATE HANDLE FAQs
Q: Where should I plan to put gate openings along my fence? A: Plan gate openings in your fence where people, animals and equipment need easy access to barns, stables or pastures. When moving animals from one pasture to another, they can find an open gate in a corner much easier then they can find an open gate in the middle of the fence.
Q: I'm not sure what all I will need to install my gate. Can you help me? A: For easy assembly, consider using the gate-handle kits specific to the type of post or wire you are using. Our kits include the handle, insulators, hardware and simple installation instructions.
Q: How strong of a hook-up wire will I need for my gate openings? A: Depending on the gate location, you may need a 20,000-volt underground hook-up wire to carry the electrical current under the gate opening to the other side. This allows the fence to remain electrified even when the gate is open. A non-electrified metal gate also requires an underground wire.
Q: How do I determine how many gate strands I will need? A: It depends on the size and temperment of the animals that you are trying to contain. Dairy cattle generally need very few strands of wire while bulls will need more strands of wire. Zareba® is the largest manufacturer of electric fence systems offering durable, reliable electric fence products for all of your animal fencing needs. 
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