6.5' Tposts - 4' fence hotwire at 5' - opinions please

[Bruce]

Hi all, last week I bought 30 7' T-posts from TSC. I started putting them in today (finally stopped raining for a couple of days) and after the 16th (yeah I'm slow) I think they are all 6.5' posts. Checked the receipt, yep I paid for 7' posts.

Planned: 7' T-posts 2' in the ground (2.5 would be better I'm sure), 4' sheep and goat fence to keep chickens and alpacas on the right side of the fence. Hotwire at 5' to hopefully prevent a GP from going over. I don't actually know how much "pressure" the dog will put on a fence with hotwire on it at any level.

So now what do I do?

• Pound them in another 6" (except for the ones that hit ledge) and run the hotwire at 4.5'? Is that sufficient? I suppose I could put fiberglass rods (more$$ ) on each "short" post to bring the height up for the hotwire. Or maybe if that is all they are holding I can space them farther out so I don't need one on each T-post? The posts are at 10' intervals.
• Leave them as they are and put the hotwire at 5' as planned?
• Buy a puller and put in 7's?

Shy of pulling them all out I have no way to prove to TSC that they weren't 7' other than my word that the guy from the store got all the bundles from the same rack. But I will try when I return the remaining 14 posts.

And a hot wire question. Thin tape is most visible, rope second, solid wire nearly invisible. Visible sounds good but I do not know if the conductivity of it is reasonably similar to solid wire for relatively short fence. Even long term I don't think the fence would be more than a mile of wire if I end up with 1 high and 1 low (in case of digging).

And a fence charger question. I've seen posts suggesting that Zareba isn't all that good, Cyclops and Gallagher maybe better. Opinions?

Thanks

 

[greybeard]

Cyclops is the king and has a great repair policy if anything ever goes wrong, but they are proud of tho$e thing$. Gallagher would be my next choice. Zareba has gotten better I've heard on their better energizers, but their eco levels not-so-much from what I've read over on the cattle boards. I have one of their 10j 100 mile chargers and it's worked fine for 2 years now.

If it's permanent fence, I'd use HT wire myself. I just don't have much use for temporary anything, and everyone I've seen use the tape around here is always having to go out and hang it back up or replace it, or rehang it when a big windstorm blows it against the rest of the fence.

As far as your 'short' posts, if you think you will have a future use for a post puller, I'd go ahead and get or borrow a puller and just pull the 16 you have in the ground up where you want them. They should stay there ok with the spade biting in. I have a Preifert model I use a lot and can pull a post with little to no effort in about 1-2 minutes tops no matter how long it's been in the ground. A little learning curve t it, but pulling one up 6" is only about 2-3 jacks on the handle--the gripper drops right down by itself each time you raise the handle. (I took that blasted hook off mine--just gets in the way and I don't pull wooden posts anyway) I always look at the long term value I'll get from a tool, across the life of the tool instead of just the upfront cost to get it. (if it's soggy ground, you may have to put a piece of board under the puller--the base is only about 6"x6" and may go down in really wet soil-tho it will eventually stop..somewhere.
https://www.priefert.com/products/fencing-aids/t-post-pullers

 

[babsbag]

I used the hook on my puller for the first time the other day. I had a post that was SHORT, too short for the puller to reach so I tied baling twine around the post and the hook and pulled it that way. Would've used the tractor if I could have gotten it in the barn.

I use 6' posts with 4' fencing and hot wire right at the top; my dogs don't challenge it but some may be able to clear that height, depends on the dog. I use poly wire (not the tape), which is temporary, but at 7 years it is just starting to fall apart and that was the cheap stuff. I like it as it easy to install, easy to splice, and goes around curves (i.e. trees) better. I can make it tight so the goats don't get tangled in it when they reach for branches. It is also easy to do wires across gates with handles. I have only worked with the HT wire once and just wasn't a fan on property that isn't level. You could run the fiberglass posts on a few t-posts, wouldn't have to do all of them. If it is a straight line I can go about 20' between the add-on posts with the poly wire.

I have had Zareba DC charges. The first one went about 3 years, the next two about 1.5 years, the last one made it 2 months. I have also had Fi-Shock which lasted a year. I am now using a Patriot, but haven't had it long enough to judge. They have all been 25 mile 1 joule DC chargers.

 

[Bruce]

@greybeard "As far as your 'short' posts, if you think you will have a future use for a post puller, I'd go ahead and get or borrow a puller and just pull the 16 you have in the ground up where you want them."

Maybe I wasn't clear. I have 5' of post out of the ground now, which is what I planned. But that means only 1.5' in the ground. Not sure if that is OK. No huge animals like cattle or horses so I don't expect any large force on them.

I was able to get my remaining 14 6.5' posts replaced with 7' posts and credited for the "overcharge" on the 16 6.5' posts. The cashier told the guy to make sure he measured the posts. So back I went to do the swap and he measured the first bundle in the 7' rack, then a second and a third. Turns out someone (he said the inventory people) put a bunch of 6.5 bundles on the top of the 7' rack.

 

[Bruce]

OK, now I am confused (OK, maybe that isn't unusual)

1. Cyclops Champ: "Stored energy" 6.3 joules, output 5 joules. Should be able to handle a mile of wire, 40 acres. $195 (in specs it says $250 and that is what Amazon charges). There are 2 that are smaller but this is the lowest that meets the "requirement" of 1 mile, 1 strand.
2. Gallagher M160 "Stored energy" 1.6 joules. Claims to handle 11 miles of wire, 60 acres. $120

That is a LOT of difference! And Champ says "Battery" on it but is listed under A/C units. Is it actually battery powered, not A/C? If it is, the next one up is the Brut for $340.

There is a Cyclops Hero that has 1.9 stored 1.5 output for $140 but it doesn't come up in the "Which Charger" with input of 1 mile of 1 strand HT wire. Neither does the Stallion: 3.2 stored 2.5 output for $175

So can the Gallagher M160 really cover a larger area with much lower joules than the Cyclops Champ at less than half the cost?

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I wouldn't want to brush against that 5 joule charger!

I accidentally brushed against a wire off our 4 joule charger. My hand also was touching the T-post.

I have been electrocuted quite a few times... One time part of my hand turned black.

This was the absolute worst. It nearly knocked me down and it felt as someone beat my chest with a baseball bat, my hand felt severely burnt, and about half of my body felt the numbness/tingling for several hours.

Just be careful, especially if you have young human kids around.

1 joule tends to work well around here.

 

[babsbag]

1 joule works great for my goats, dogs, and ME. I can't even imagine touching a 4. OUCH.

I think that they sell the Champ in battery or AC. Personally I wouldn't spend that much on a charger, not for dogs and alpacas. Maybe a bull ???

 

[greybeard]

OK, now I am confused (OK, maybe that isn't unusual)

1. Cyclops Champ: "Stored energy" 6.3 joules, output 5 joules. Should be able to handle a mile of wire, 40 acres. $195 (in specs it says $250 and that is what Amazon charges). There are 2 that are smaller but this is the lowest that meets the "requirement" of 1 mile, 1 strand.
2. Gallagher M160 "Stored energy" 1.6 joules. Claims to handle 11 miles of wire, 60 acres. $120

That is a LOT of difference! And Champ says "Battery" on it but is listed under A/C units. Is it actually battery powered, not A/C? If it is, the next one up is the Brut for $340.

There is a Cyclops Hero that has 1.9 stored 1.5 output for $140 but it doesn't come up in the "Which Charger" with input of 1 mile of 1 strand HT wire. Neither does the Stallion: 3.2 stored 2.5 output for $175

There is a Champ in each of the Cyclops lines.
110v ac powered Champ
12 V C battery powered Champ
Solar charged/internal battery powered Champ.

Champ is just their name for their medium range energizer. Kinda like a gasoline and diesel powered Chev Silverado--both are still Silverados, just powered differently.
Look to the left on this page and you will see all three type chargers and each model.
http://www.cyclopsfence.com/order_online.htm

 

[babsbag]

We have a small solar panel that charges the 12v battery that my fence energizer uses. Works well and a lot cheaper than the all in one solar/battery units.

 

[Bruce]

Thanks for the link @greybeard, very helpful. And I notice free shipping in the Continental US with a cheaper price than Amazon. I notice that on the Cyclops site, they have the same problem with pictures. Click on the A/C Stallion and get the battery picture. Click on the battery Hero and get the A/C picture.

OK, so does the $120 Gallagher really cover a 4X larger area/length of wire with reasonably equivalent performance to the 1.5 joule $159 Cyclops Hero?? I'm trying to understand how that can work. As DD1 likes to say "it doesn't math". No idea where she picked that up. Intelligent and 23 years old.