Plastic Mesh Fences and Electric Fences Monitored by Satellite Telemetry
High-Tensile Steel Electric Fence
This 6-foot-tall, seven-wire fence is supported by wooden corner posts with fiberglass rods used as posts (1 ½ inches in diameter) or stays (5/8 inch in diameter). The heavy-duty, 10-footlong, 6-inch-diameter wooden tensioning posts are buried 2 ½ feet deep at the corners and gates. Braces made from wooden poles, 3 to 4 inches in diameter, help support the corners and gate openings (figure 12). Heavy posts and braces are required because up to ¼ mile of wire can be stretched between tensioning posts.
Figure 12—Corner posts on the high-tensile fence are sunk 3 feet deep in
holes dug by hand, then
supported with a floating knee brace. The low
end of the brace sits on a flat rock or board and is tied
to the base of
the corner post with high-tensile wire. The pointed end of the
post is up to shed water.
Porcelain insulators were tied to the wooden posts on a 10-inch spacing (figure 13), using high-tensile wire. Seven high-tensile wires were tied to the insulators and tensioned with Gallagher Rapid Wire Tighteners (figures 14a and 14b). A wire reel (spinning jenny) for unrolling high-tensile wire can save a lot of frustration trying to uncoil loops. If the run between corner posts is short, as in our case, the wire is run through plastic insulators nailed to the outside of the wooden post, then tied off at the next post. The Gallagher Rapid Wire Tighteners are very convenient for tensioning wire and rope. Gallagher sells a special tool (G645004) for the Rapid Wire Tighteners that makes tensioning easy for one person. On relatively flat ground, runs of ¼ mile and more are possible between corner posts sunk 3 feet deep and supported by a floating knee brace.
Figure 13—High-tensile wires can run through insulators nailed to the outside
of a corner post and
then tie off to the next post if the wire runs are shorter
than 800 feet and the ground is relatively flat
Figure 14a—Adjustable tighteners simplify tensioning and retensioning
the
high-tensile wire without cutting it.
Figure 14b—Detailed view of an adjustable
tightener.
Fiberglass support posts (figure 15) are driven 12 to 18 inches in the ground every 60 feet between the wooden posts. Fiberglass stays were used every 20 feet to help maintain the spacing of the wires between the posts. Clips that slid through holes in the fiberglass posts and stays held the high-tensile wires in place (figures 16a and 16b). Fiberglass does not conduct electricity, so it is ideally suited for electric fences. A Gallagher B160 energizer supplied electricity to the fence. This fence was hooked up as an alternating hot and ground wired system with a three-rod grounding system.
Figure 15—Fiberglass posts and stays help hold high-tensile wires
upright and at the proper spacing.
Figure 16a—Special clips attach the wire to the fiberglass posts after
the wire has been tensioned.
