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Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 22:56:02 +0100, Chris Wilson
wrote: You can buy some sort of neon indicators from the electric fence makers, but they are about 20 quid each... Neon and a capacitor (maybe 0.22uF) in parallel, fed from a bridge rectifier. Cost a quid or so. -- Smert' spamionam |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
Andy Dingley wrote:
Neon and a capacitor (maybe 0.22uF) in parallel, fed from a bridge rectifier. Cost a quid or so. Why the capacitor? If the fence is pulsed, as all of ours are (at ~ 1 Hz) then just a neon with a ~1M resistor works great. -- Grunff |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
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Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
Chris Wilson wrote:
Neon as in a mains tester screwdriver neon? A mains tester screwdriver contains a neon bulb and a series resistor. The neon bulb is just a small glass envelope with low pressure neon and two electrodes Are neons different voltages? Not as such - you need to limit the current through them with a resistor, the value of which will depend on your voltage. If the signal lamp was fairly bright could see it from the house, which would be good. Depends what your HT circuit's like, but I suspect if you were drawing that much power from it there wouldn't be much left to mainain a good fence voltage. -- Grunff |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
fred wrote:
10mA sounds like an awful lot for the neon (if the 10kV is right), you'll have nothing left to zap the birds ;-). I was going to suggest 1mA from 4x2M2 high voltage resistors in series with a standard mains neon. I don't reckon ours put out any more than 2-3kV once hooked up to a few hundred metres of fence tape - much less in the wet. -- Grunff |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
In article , Grunff
writes fred wrote: 10mA sounds like an awful lot for the neon (if the 10kV is right), you'll have nothing left to zap the birds ;-). I was going to suggest 1mA from 4x2M2 high voltage resistors in series with a standard mains neon. I don't reckon ours put out any more than 2-3kV once hooked up to a few hundred metres of fence tape - much less in the wet. Ahhhhhhhh, theory and practice diverge again :-). Still, the HV resistors are prob still a good idea, standard are prob only 500V . . . . Maplin codes are 'V' +value , values 1M, 2M2, 4M7, 10M and are 3.5kV working, subject to power rating. -- fred |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
Andy Dingley wrote:
Depends on the earth, and the type of fence driver. If you have a low earth impedance, and can get a decent voltage on the neon, then your design will work. If the earth is lousy, then the rectifier-capacitor design can charge up successive pulses until there's enough to flash the neon. True, very true. There's a guy near my parents (West Lancs) who (like everyone around there) has lots of glasshouses. In the Xmas runup, and to provide a burglar alarm for the glasshouses, he keeps geese outside around them. His fence has fluorescent tubes hung off it, which manage to flash quite impressively. I've no idea what he drives the fence with, but I'm not touching it.... Must be an interesting sight. A farmer not so far from here drives his fences with old neon sign trannies. *OUCH* -- Grunff |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 00:51:28 +0100, Dave Plowman
wrote: Why not do it at the low voltage side? Of course, this won't check that the unit is actually working, but only switched on. The usual need for a fence detector is to check that the wire hasn't been broken. -- Smert' spamionam |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
In article ,
Chris Wilson writes: Would like some DIY means of having a visual light indicator that power is on to an electric fence (well, fenceS actually), one around a chicken run, using poultry netting, and the other wires around a 3/4 acre bird enclosure. You can buy some sort of neon indicators from the electric fence makers, but they are about 20 quid each... I was thinking something about 2 quid each G. The potential on the wires is between 9 and 10 KV, to a decent earth. Thanks. Try a wire-ended neon, one end connected to fence and other end just pointing away from the fence wire into the air. If it's too dim, extend the wire pointing into the air. This is how some of the much larger aircraft warning lamps strung along HV transmission lines work -- the floating wire leaks enough current by corona discharge and capacitively to light the lamps. -- Andrew Gabriel |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
In article ,
Andy Dingley wrote: Why not do it at the low voltage side? Of course, this won't check that the unit is actually working, but only switched on. The usual need for a fence detector is to check that the wire hasn't been broken. Ah. The OP simply asked for an indication that it was 'on'. And for several fences. -- *All men are idiots, and I married their King. Dave Plowman London SW 12 RIP Acorn |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
Andy Dingley wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 00:51:28 +0100, Dave Plowman wrote: Why not do it at the low voltage side? Of course, this won't check that the unit is actually working, but only switched on. The usual need for a fence detector is to check that the wire hasn't been broken. .... and/or that it hasn't been shorted out by falling debris, weeds, etc. -- Chris Green ) |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
"Andy Dingley" wrote in message ... On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 00:51:28 +0100, Dave Plowman wrote: Why not do it at the low voltage side? Of course, this won't check that the unit is actually working, but only switched on. The usual need for a fence detector is to check that the wire hasn't been broken. I take it that licking it (like we used to do with 9v batteries to check them!) isn't a suitable option... ;) What sort of kick do these fences give? I've never had the misfortune to experience one. D |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
Andy Dingley wrote:
There's a guy near my parents (West Lancs) who (like everyone around there) has lots of glasshouses. In the Xmas runup, and to provide a burglar alarm for the glasshouses, he keeps geese outside around them. His fence has fluorescent tubes hung off it, which manage to flash quite impressively. I've no idea what he drives the fence with, but He could attach a flashing neon to each goose, and hold a Christmas rave... -- jc Remove the -not from email |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
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Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
"David Hearn" wrote:
Hello David DH| I take it that licking it (like we used to do with 9v DH| batteries to check them!) isn't a suitable option... ;) The usual method on a farm of dealing with "know it all" types is to simply not tell them about the electric fencing. Can give substantial amusement. My dog ****ed on some once, he'd never go into that field again. DH| What sort of kick do these fences give? I've never had the DH| misfortune to experience one. Battery and Mains. The smaller 6v hobby jobs give enough to be felt. 12v car/leisure batteries kick out about 4-12kv (yep, kilo volts) at absurdly low ampage. The mains one actually kick out *less* voltage, but higher ampage and hurt considerably more and can energise miles of wire. The "hurt" is a typical electric shock. If you touch with your hand, it hurts there and you get a deep pain followed by ache and tingling at your wrist and ankle. Normally gone within a few minutes. Apparently can be fatal to those with pacemakers by disrupting their signal. Kids don't seem to get hurt as bad, but older people do. I'm guessing, but I figure this is down to resistance of the human body increasing with age? -- Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK uk.d-i-y FAQ: http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/ |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
Steve Firth wrote:
SF| 12V car batteries do not "kick out 4-12kV" they supply SF| approximately 12V (usually about 12.3-12.8V). An electric SF| fence run from a 12V battery will supply several kV from the SF| coil. Which is what I said. Well, no it isn't, your comment is reproduced above if you're unsure of that. Hate to butt in on this little tet-a-tet, but while Simon did write "12v car/leisure batteries kick out about 4-12kv (yep, kilo volts) at absurdly low ampage", I (and undoubtedly many others) understood that he meant the fence units powered by 12v batteries. As for use of the word ampage - while it's more correct to say current, saying ampage or amperage is pretty commonplace, and understood by most. So it was all a simple misunderstanding. Group hug? -- Grunff |
Electric fence power indicator? Neon?
In article ,
says... In article , says... Andy Dingley wrote: Neon and a capacitor (maybe 0.22uF) in parallel, fed from a bridge rectifier. Cost a quid or so. Why the capacitor? If the fence is pulsed, as all of ours are (at ~ 1 Hz) then just a neon with a ~1M resistor works great. Neon as in a mains tester screwdriver neon? Are neons different voltages? The HT lead to the bird enclosure runs for about 40 yards, and passes through the roof space of a shed, the fluorescent tube it passes by "pulses" dimly, even when off. Pity it's in the shed, or that would do VBG Thanks for replies. If the signal lamp was fairly bright could see it from the house, which would be good. Sorted now, and I feel a bit of a fool. Being in the motor trade I should have realized that a drawer in the workshop contained a spark indicator neon to go onto spark plug leads to check for HT to a plug. Worked fine, zero cost. Sincere thanks for all the replies! -- Best Regards, Chris. |
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