Posted: 4/3/2003 11:37:31 AM EDT
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My dog keeps trying to escape from my yard. So I am going to put a fence charger up to keep the dog from digging under my fence. But there is not currently a receptacle on the outside of my home. So I will also be installing a outside receptacle on a new breaker. It is my understanding that outside receptacles need to be GFI(ground fault protected). My question is wouldn't the GFI trip as soon as the dog hits the shocker thus turning it off and making it useless. Opinions and suggestions please. |
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The fence charger uses a voltage conversion circuit and BFC's (big fucking capacitors). The output is high V, low I. GFI's trip due to current. The current supplied in the shock is low. The input side will barely see any transient event from the dog getting shocked. The GFI receptacle will not fault. |
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The electric fence device you employ (and you are going to employ one right?) should reduce the current to a level that's painful but not lethal. It should be able to handle any changes in load without tripping the Ground Fault Interrupter Circuit in your receptacle. The GFI is there to prevent the equipment you're installing from becoming electrified in a way it wasn't designed to. Your electric fence doohickey, if it's operating correctly, should not trip the GFI regardless of many animals you've tied to it. |
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No I am not going to fry my dog! I am using a fence charger or(transformer) made for small animal containment. I am only trying to deal with new electrical code that states all outside reciptacles need to be GFI and weatherproof. But since a GFI is made to trip when it goes to ground instead of increased amp draw like regular breakers. And a fence charger shocks when it goes to ground. My common sence says this combination won't work. Am I wrong? Edited to add yall replied again before I could respond to being called a sick fuck. hehe Thanks yall |
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Diss_ipator- They way my sheep fence is set up. cord runs with GFI from the house to a small box where "sparky" lives. Next to the box the grounding rods is sunk 10ft. NEG side of sparky goes to the rod. POS side of sparky goes to the lines and out and around. Does this help? |
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Diss, This has nothing to do with the amount of current involved. There is no transference of elctricity from your household current to ground. There is a primary side and a secondary side in the fence controller. The primary side is hooked up to the household current and WILL return all current from the hot leg to the neutral leg unless malfunctioning. The secondary side is the side that sends output to ground. This should in no way effect the electron flow on the primary side. In a transformer, there is no physical connection between the primary and secondary sides that would allow electricity to flow. Kinda scary to realize that "wall warts" defeat GFCI. At least they are usually low enough voltage, combined with the skin's resistance to prevent the electricity from shocking. Hope you've got an old school controller that has the grass burning circuit. I don't think the new ones will keep the grass from growing and defeating them. You'll be out there weed wacking quite a bit with your hot wire so close to the ground. BTW, a determined dog will not be easily deterred by an electric fence. We had a sheep killing shepherd that repeatedly jumped a six foot chain link + electric fence with a 25 pound weight chained to his neck. Good luck |
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Interesting question.... First let me clarify your understanding of how GFCI's work. The idea that "a GFI is made to trip when it goes to ground" is sometimes misleading. A GFCI is made to trip when it senses a difference between the electricity (amps in this case) going out on the hot (black) line and the amps returning on the neutral (white) line. As long as these amounts are equal, the GFCI will not trip. It only trips when there is an imbalance in the amps going out compared to the amps coming in. This differential amperage is 5ma (.005 amps). This dispells the thought that GFCI's will protect a person from being electrocuted. You can still get electrocuted with a GFCI! If you grab the hot wire with one hand and the neutral wire with the other hand, the GFCI will sense that the amps going into your body are the same as the amps returning from your body and not trip. You of course will fry. There's an assumption here that you're insulated from ground whereby there are no amps being bypassed to ground. You can make an argument that this assumption could never happen, but who's going to test it? So there is a limit on the protection that a GFCI offers. Your weather receptacle must not only be weather proof, but it must be certified weather proof WHILE IN USE. Usually this means getting a receptacle with a fold down cover that covers the plug while it's inserted in the receptacle. I'd be interested in seeing how you're going to install that fence. The fence must be insulated from ground. The farmers who install their electric fences for their cows have the shock wire insulated from ground. You got that kind of fence? Also, I think you may have to place signs on the fence stating "Electrified Fence". I have no idea how the electric shock unit will effect the GFCI. I suspect that it will not based on the thought that the unit will have an internal transformer and the amps going into the primary of that transformer will be equal to the amps coming out of the primary. therefore no trip. The unit I guess could be located outdoors near the fence or indoors in the barn or house or whatever outbuilding your have out there. I would expect that the unit will require to be grounded locally (at the unit). The circuit (that does the shocking) appears to be from the secondary of the transformer, through any black box firing circuit, through the insulated fence, through your dog, to ground, through the ground back to the ground at the secondary of the transformer. Nothing here to affect the primary current. The primary current will just increase during the shocks. As in all things, contact your local electrical inspector to be sure. Also get qualified help from a local electrical contractor before doing this project. And, do keep us posted on how it works. |
| Thanks guys from what yall say there shouldn't be a problem with the GFI. And the dog is a 5 month old yellow lab. I think after a few jolts she won't be digging at the fence. Probably won't even need it plugged in after a few weeks. She learns fast. But if you can't catch them in the act you can't stop the bad behavior. But sparky will tell her right away, bad dog. LOL |