Lightning Protection
Lightning poses a threat to electric fence chargers because the spread-out fence wires are vulnerable to lightning strikes, and a struck wire is likely to conduct a huge jolt of electricity right into the charger, where a good deal of it may pass through before blowing the fuse and may damage delicate charger mechanisms. The devices below can help counter this problem. Lightning chokes send the huge charge through parallel runs of metal where it generates magnetic fields that interfere with its own passage and choke it off. Lightning diverters offer the charge an easier path to the ground than that afforded by the charger and its connections. Both of the lightning protectors in the table below require a separate grounding system (ground rods) superior to the charger’s grounding system, one employing more interconnected ground rods than those connected to the charger’s ground terminal. Obviously, neither of these devices will protect the charger from a direct lightning strike, but all will markedly diminish the lightning problem