- Ensure that overload protector/earth leakage protector is functional.
- Electrical connections must be covered or well insulated.
- Earth wires must be connected and in working order.
- Belts, pulleys, and couplings must be safely covered.
Safety for Electrical Fences
Safety Requirements
- Electric fences shall be installed and operated so that they cause no electrical hazard to persons, animals, or their surroundings.
- Electric fence constructions, which are likely to lead to entanglement of animals or persons, shall be avoided.
- An electric fence shall not be supplied from more than one energiser.
- The gap between two separate electric fences with different energisers shall be at least 2m.
- If this gap is to be closed, this should be affected using an electrically nonconductive material.
- Barbed or razor wire shall not be electrified by an energiser.
- Any part of an electric fence which is installed along a public path or highway shall be identified by warning plates securely fastened to the fence posts.
- Except for low output battery-operated energisers, the energiser earth electrode shall penetrate the ground to a depth of at least 1m.
- Connecting leads that are run inside buildings shall be effectively insulated from the earth structural parts of the building.
- Connecting leads that are run underground shall be run in a conduit of insulating material.
- Care shall be taken to avoid damage to the connecting leads due to the effects of animal hooves or tractor wheels sinking into the ground.
- Connecting leads shall not be installed in the same conduit as the mains supply wiring, communication cables or data cables.
- Connecting leads and electric fence wires shall not cross above overhead power or communication lines.
- If connecting leads and electric fence wires are installed near an overhead power line, their height above ground shall not exceed 2m. This height applies either side of the orthogonal projection of the outermost conductors of the power line on the ground surface, for a distance of 2m for power lines not exceeding 1000V and 15m for power lines exceeding 1000V.
- Distance of 10m shall be maintained between the energiser Earth Spike and any other earthing system such as the power supply system protective earth or the telecommunication system earth.
- Electric fences intended for deterring birds, household pet containment or training animals such as cows need only be supplied from low-output energisers to obtain satisfactory and safe performance.
- In electric fences intended for deterring birds from roosting on buildings, no electric fence wire shall be connected to the Earth Spike.
- Where an electric animal fence crosses a public pathway, a non-electrified gate shall be incorporated into the electric fence at that point.
- Energisers do not cause interference. This is normally caused by bad joints, leaking insulation or vegetation touching the fence line.
Interference Problem Checklist
The energiser Earth system must be sufficient.
The energiser Earth System must be 10m away from the main supply, safety Earth and buried water pipes.
The energiser must not be connected to the main supply safety earth or the water supply pipes.
The main power supply plugs and sockets for the radio and the energiser must be in good working order. No Loose Connections.
The energiser earth cable must not touch buildings, which can act as a broadcast aerial. Use double-insulated (HTG) cable or run the wire to earth using insulators.
The energiser’s ground system should be at least 10m away from radios and buried telephone wires.
Avoid running the electric fence line parallel to power or telephone lines.
Use only top-quality insulators. Sparking inside cracked or poor-quality insulators causes interference.
Vegetation touching the fence line close to the radio can also cause sparking and therefore interference.
To locate sparking caused by leakage, faulty joins, broken wires, or faulty insulators, walk the fence line with a transistor radio tuned off station on the AM band on high volume. The clicking will get louder as the fault is approached.
Lightning Protection
Lightning strikes can damage energisers. Damage can be minimised by disconnecting the energiser from the fence line and disconnecting it from the power supply during electrical storms.
A Lightning arrestor kit is recommended to minimise damage to your energiser. Lightning always finds the easiest path to the ground. Therefore, the ground system of the lightning arrestor must be as good as or better than the energiser ground.
The choke can be made quite simple and causes a blocking effect for the extremely high voltage of the lightning so that it jumps the silicon carbide discs in the arrestor and is diverted to the ground.
In areas where lightning is a major problem, it would be advantageous to have additional arrestors dispersed over the farm in damp areas.
Warning Plate Requirements
Firmly clamped to the fence wires at intervals recommended to be approximately 10 meters to 50 meters, but not exceeding 90 meters.
The warning signs shall be at least 100mm x 200mm.
The background colour of both sides shall be yellow.
The inscription shall be black and shall be the “TAKE CARE – ELECTRIC FENCE”.
The inscription shall be indelible, inscribed on both sides and have a height of at least 25mm.