Electric Fence question

[babsbag]

I have a different and new problem on my fence and I am hoping someone can help. @greybeard seems to be knowledgeable about all things fencing so maybe he will chime in here.

I have no climb horse fencing with hot wire top and bottom using the standoff insulators. My energizer is DC. My ground is attached to my fence to make the fence act as a ground for anything that is climbing. It has been like this for 7 years and then today I notice that a chain I have clipped on the fence and then around a pipe gate is arcing where it touches the gate. It has never done this before. I walked the fence tonight and didn't see anything touching the fence but my meter is 1.8 and should be 8.0 or higher. Am I right in thinking that somehow my fence has been energized? Could it be related to the ground attached to the fence? I don't want a hot fence.

I have another field with another energizer that is set up the same way and no arcing anywhere and my reading tonight was 9.9.

 

[greybeard]

Do you also use a conventional ground rod?

If so, then Yes, your no-climb fence is some how 'hot'...AND, you have insufficient ground rod and/or a bad connection at your ground rod. The pulse will always follow the path of least resistance back to the neg terminal on your energizer, and in this case, it's using the steel post at the gate as a big path back to the - terminal on your energizers board--the pulse is going down that post thru the soil and then back to the ground rod itself.
Find where the positive pulse is getting into the no-climb fence and re-check your ground rod connections including where the no-climb connects to the ground rod. I've had good luck walking a fence at night and watching for a spark jump if I don't see anything in daylight.

Sometimes, this happens in extremely dry conditions.

IF you do NOT also use a copperclad ground rod and only use the no-climb horse fencing as path back to the point where the energizer connects to it, then you just have a bad connection at that point.

Point to keep in mind: Negative is only negative in reference to terminals. I assume you DO use a ground rod. On a strictly 2 wire (one + the other - ) system, ( Yours is not one) where one wire is hot and the other is ground going straight back to the negative terminal on the energizer, you can cut the wire that is 'ground' anywhere along the run, separate the ends 1/4" and then jumper between the hot and ground. The gap you created will spark. It would also spark across the gap if an animal touched both +&- wires somewhere. That pulse in no way 'sees' any difference in the path--the only thing that does 'see' it is the electronics inside the energizer case.