Other Electric Fence Components
These miscellaneous components have been lumped into the following groups: electrical connectors, electric fence testers, electric switches, ground rods and clamps, lightning and surge protectors, polyconductor winder reels and spools, and warning signs. Here are a few points about each group:
Electrical Connectors: These are mostly simple electric fence clamps and joiners that can be used to connect electric fence chargers to various kinds of polyconductors, and also to span the distance between two runs of polyconductor on an electric fence for the purpose of connecting one run to the other (see products 02-87 thru 02-91A and 05-05). The group also includes split-bolt style clamps (product 08-33) good at forming strong electrical connections between metal wire and undergate and hookup wire.
Electric Fence Testers: The most basic thing that one needs to know about the electrical working of an electric fence is that it has enough voltage on the line to shock a target animal. Therefore, the most common type of electric fence tester is the voltage reader (see products 04-01 thru 04-07). Unlike a regular voltmeter, which will misread or be damaged by a fence charger’s pulsed high-voltage output, electric fence voltage readers are designed to deal with this output. Some, like product 04-01, simply tell by means of a light that there is voltage on the line, without saying how much voltage. Somewhat more sophisticated multiple light voltage readers (see products 04-02 and 04-04A) indicate how much voltage is on the line to the nearest kilovolt, up to a maximum of 5 or 8 kilovolts. And then there are digital or metered voltage readers that read the voltage on the line to about the nearest 100 volts. Within this context, it should be noted that the chargers produced by different makers may have outputs with somewhat different qualities; so in order to ensure the accuracy of these digital voltage readers it is helpful to get a fence tester made by the same company that made the charger. On a more sophisticated level, there is a diagnostic tool called a “fence doctor” (product 04-08) that can read both the voltage and current on the line and point in the direction of a power-draining weed burden or other short.
