electric fence

johnnypopper720

Expert Expediter
f you have ever used an electric fence or know someone who has one you should read this.

The language used is a bit salty, but 'he tells it like it is' without cursing.

If you don't laugh hysterically at this,....CHECK YOUR PULSE...this is funny....and true. This was sent by a retired dentist.

We have the standard 6 ft. fence in the backyard, and a few months ago, I heard about burglaries increasing dramatically in the entire city. To make sure this never happened to me, I got an electric fence and ran a single wire along the top of the fence.

Actually, I got the biggest cattle charger Tractor Supply had, made for 26 miles of fence. I then used an 8 ft. long ground rod, and drove it 7.5 feet into the ground. The ground rod is the key, with the more you have in the ground, the better the fence works.

One day I'm mowing the back yard with my cheapo Wal-Mart 6 hp big wheel push mower. The hot wire is broken and laying out in the yard. I knew for a fact that I unplugged the charger. I pushed the mower around the wire and reached down to grab it, to throw it out of the way.

It seems as though I hadn't remembered to unplug it after all.

Now I'm standing there, I've got the running lawnmower in my right hand and the 1.7 giga-volt fence wire in the other hand. Keep in mind the charger is about the size of a marine battery and has a picture of an upside down cow on fire on the cover.

Time stood still.

The first thing I notice is my pecker trying to climb up the front side of my body. My ears curled downwards and I could feel the lawnmower ignition firing in the backside of my brain. Every time that Briggs & Stratton rolled over, I could feel the spark in my head. I was literally at one with the engine.

It seems as though the fence charger and the piece of **** lawnmower were fighting over who would control my electrical impulses.

Science says you cannot crap, pee, and vomit at the same time. I beg to differ. Not only did I do all three at once, but my bowels emptied 3 different times in less than half of a second. It was a Matrix kind of bowel movement, where time is creeping along and you're all leaned back and BAM BAM BAM you just crap your pants 3 times. It seemed like there were minutes in between but in reality it was so close togetherit was like exhaust pulses from a big block Chevy turning 8 grand.

At this point I'm about 30 minutes (maybe 2 seconds) into holding onto the fence wire. My hand is wrapped around the wire palm down so I can't let go. I grew up on a farm so I know all about electric fences ... but Dad always had those piece of **** chargers made by International or whoever that were like 9 volts and just kinda tickled.

This one I could not let go of. The 8 foot long ground rod is now accepting signals from me through the permadamp Ark-La-Tex river bottom soil. At this point I'm thinking I'm going to have to just man up and take it, until the lawnmower runs out of gas.

'****!,' I think, as I remember I just filled the tank!

Now the lawnmower is starting to run rough. It has settled into a loping run pattern as if it had some kind of big lawnmower race cam in it. Covered in poop, pee, and with my vomit on my chest I think 'Oh God please die ....

Pleeeeaze die'. But nooooo, it settles into the rough lumpy cam idle nicely and remains there, like a big bore roller cam EFI motor waiting for the go command from its owner's right foot.

So here I am in the middle of July, 104 degrees, 80% humidity, standing in my own backyard, begging God to kill me. God did not take me that day.... he left me there covered in my own fluids to writhe in the misery my own stupidity had created. I honestly don't know how I got loose from the wire ....

I honestly don't know how I got loose from the wire ....

I woke up laying on the ground hours later. The lawnmower was beside me, out of gas. It was later on in the day and I was sunburned.

There were two large dead grass spots where I had been standing, and then another long skinny dead spot where the wire had laid while I was on the ground still holding on to it. I assume I finally had a seizure and in the resulting thrashing had somehow let go of the wire.

Upon waking from my electrically induced sleep I realized a few things:

1 - Three of the fillings in my teeth have melted.

2 - I now have cramps in the bottoms of my feet and my right butt cheek (not the left, just the right).

3 - Poop, pee, and vomit when all mixed together, do not smell as bad as you might think.

4 - My left eye will not open.

5 - My right eye will not close.

6 - The lawnmower runs like a sum***** now. Seriously! I think our little session cleared out some carbon fouling or something, because it was better than new after that.

7 - My nuts are still smaller than average yet they are almost a foot long.

8 - I can turn on the TV in the game room by farting while thinking of the number 4 (still don't understand this???).

That day changed my life. I now have a newfound respect for things. I appreciate the little things more, and now I always triple check to make sure the fence is unplugged before I mow.

The good news, is that if a burglar does try to come over the fence, I can clearly visualize what my security system will do to him, and THAT gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling all over, which also reminds me to triple check before I mow
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Funny story, but if you've ever had horses enclosed in an electric fence, you'd know it's 99.7% fiction. An electric fence, even using an energizer made for a 26 mile fence (or a 100 mile fence, which is the largest that Tractor Supply carries), doesn't supply anywhere near 1.7 gigavolts. One gigavolt is one billion volts, just about what a really large bolt of lightening puts out, which is enough power to light a 100-Watt light bulb for 95 years, give or take a week.

Electric fences do not carry a steady stream of electric current, but rather deliver electric shocks in pulses of 10 per second, and is delivered in Joules. For a really large fence, the energizer might put out as many as 2 Joules. Watts are equivalent to Joules per second, and one Watt Hour is equivalent to 2600 Joules. [FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif] Many electric fences are run from a 12V car battery for weeks between charging the battery, or with a solar panel to recharge it. The energizer ramps up the voltage to a larger voltage than 12V, from 2000V to as much as 10,000V, but again these are delivered in short pulses and at very low Wattage. [/FONT]

Animal fencing as for cattle or horses use this type of electrical fencing for two reasons, one, so that the animals won't be killed if they touch the fence, and two, so that humans won't be killed if they touch the fence. The electricity is delivered in electric shocks of 10 pulses per second specifically to prevent the electricity from contracting and "freezing" your muscles and preventing you from letting go of the wire, as could happen with AC or DC current. In fact, because of the pulses, it's very, very hard to grab onto a charged electric fence wire and keep holding on.

Now, pееing on an electric fence is another story. If the stream isn't broken up because you're standing too far away, just like touching an electric fence, you won't get electrocuted, but it'll make you wish you never learned to pее standing up.
 

jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
A very funny story.
We actually have the 30 mile electric fence charger hooked to enough wire to cover the permiter of 7 acres.
My stepson described being shocked by it as feeling like someone hit him in the b***s and on top of the head at the same time.
It is very effective at keeping our three horses where we want them and keeping our neighbors horses out.
We do of course have the caution electric fence signs posted. But for some reason it seems people are always pulled toward leaning on the fence and getting zapped.
I don't know how well it would work for burglar control as we use a Golden Retriever and a Collie as an alarm system so we are always warned well in advance of someone approaching.
 
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