August 5, 2008

20B Solar Battery Energizer for electric fences

The 20B Solar Battery Energizer was the first one we bought to power our electric net fencing. With this unit, your electric fence is completely portable so you can set it up far away from buildings or houses. While initially expensive, the many uses of this system outweigh its cost over time. We've used this to contain livestock and also put it around our vegetable garden to keep out rabbits and woodchucks. We recommend getting the one with the biggest battery (it says it will last 4 years) even though it costs more because we were going through one battery every year. Our recommendation is to supply your own ground rod so the fence is strong enough. The directions say that you can use the unit stand as the ground rod (see picture), but it's only approx. 7" long and doesn't go deep enough into the soil to provide a good ground. Buy a piece of rebar or find an old pipe at least 3 feet long and pound it into the ground near your energizer. Hook up the ground wire (green clip) to it. Just make sure you can get it out when it's time to move the fence. You can find this and other great fence products at Premier 1 Supplies.