# Battery or Solar Powered Electric Fence Charger.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I am going to be putting a couple of hives of bees in the mountains of extreme North Georgia. Bears are a problem so i need a electrified deterrent. I will be using barbed wire strands to electrify so that it will reach well into the bears fur and hide.

I have not bought a charger in 20 years and what I have are all 110 volt and I need something for a remote location....and as reasonably priced as allowed for something that will for sure work well. Any first hand recommendations?

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Mike, not directly applicable but sort of. Three years ago I watched a bear walk across my hay field and approach the neighbors cattle pasture which was fenced with solar powered electric fence, #11 steel wire. the bear hit his nose on the wire and recoiled in a ball. after he shook off the shock, pun intended, he got up and just walked through the fence undeterred. My point is if not getting the nose I wonder if you can actually penetrate the hair and hide even with barbed wire. seems like some type of electrified welded wire a foot off the ground would work well but would be a pita to install.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Mike

To my knowledge solar powered fence chargers have a battery just battery is recharged by the sun. I have a fence charger that has a solar panel that seems to work fine. Very important part of a fence charger is having multiple ground rods.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

I was going to mention that I am a fan of Gallagher fencers, then I looked at their price for a 16 stored Joules battery/solar outfit. Yikes, I would be able to buy a LOT of honey. For what it's worth here is their site.

https://am.gallagher.com/us-en/products/electric-fencing/power/fence-energizers/solar-battery/AFR1600

Larry


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## ozarkian (Dec 11, 2010)

I use solar chargers exclusively. My favorite and most reliable is the Patriot 155

http://www.patriotchargers.com/SOLARENERGIZERS.htm

I'm not associated with this company, but I have had great service from them at a good price. They can repair any brand and model of fence chargers.

http://www.fencerfixer.com/


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Tx Jim said:


> Mike
> 
> To my knowledge solar powered fence chargers have a battery just battery is recharged by the sun. I have a fence charger that has a solar panel that seems to work fine. Very important part of a fence charger is having multiple ground rods.


Yep, that is true....what I was meaning by the title is either a solar charger or a battery(marine)-charger for a remote location. I will probably be set up with hives about six weeks.

Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

r82230 said:


> I was going to mention that I am a fan of Gallagher fencers, then I looked at their price for a 16 stored Joules battery/solar outfit. Yikes, I would be able to buy a LOT of honey. For what it's worth here is their site.
> 
> https://am.gallagher.com/us-en/products/electric-fencing/power/fence-energizers/solar-battery/AFR1600
> 
> Larry


I have a Gallagher 110v and I liked it immensely the last time I used it many years ago. I have not had any livestock for several years now.

Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I will be fencing a very small area.....probably about 10'x15' is all I need with about 3 or 4 strands of wire. So what I am saying is that I don't need a high joule charger....or at least I don't think I do. I have looked online at some of Gallaghers a few days ago, but I am still unsure just how many joules I need to be effective on a very small area.

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

r82230 said:


> I was going to mention that I am a fan of Gallagher fencers, then I looked at their price for a 16 stored Joules battery/solar outfit. Yikes, I would be able to buy a LOT of honey. For what it's worth here is their site.
> 
> https://am.gallagher.com/us-en/products/electric-fencing/power/fence-energizers/solar-battery/AFR1600
> 
> Larry


good grief, they really think a lot of their charger


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## Swv.farmer (Jan 2, 2016)

Contact your local fish and wildlife.
After the bear ate my bees I called they gave me electric netting and a solar fence charger.
I had to replace my own bees.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Blueberry growers here have resorted to putting hives on elevated platforms on steel poles that the black bears can't climb.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

I use the Gallagher solar fencer. Pretty handy if you need a temporary fence somewhere. I even had to use one this year in March to keep the cows from going over some snow covered fences. They give a pretty good zap but its not as strong as a 110 volt. Cows respect them so I'd imagine bears would as well. I don't always drive a ground rod in if its going to be temporary. I ground it on the steel post I mount it to and it seems to work ok if the ground is wet.

https://www.amazon.com/Gallagher-G344404-6-volt-Fencer-1-Mile/dp/B001GLULV0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1494541931&sr=8-2&keywords=gallagher+fencer


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Vol said:


> I will be fencing a very small area.....probably about 10'x15' is all I need with about 3 or 4 strands of wire. So what I am saying is that I don't need a high joule charger....or at least I don't think I do. I have looked online at some of Gallaghers a few days ago, but I am still unsure just how many joules I need to be effective on a very small area.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Maybe my thinking is wrong, but I thought the more joules the better. Kind of like a 110 grain bullet verses a 220 grain bullet in a 30-06, the bear might respect the 220 grain bullet a little faster. Maybe I am mistaken on the stopping power of joules.

Larry


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## ozarkian (Dec 11, 2010)

I found these specifications on Patriot's website:

Volts Required to train the animal avoidance:

Beef cattle: 2,000 to 3,000 volts

Bears: 5,000 volts

http://www.patriotchargers.com/images/Patriot.pdf


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

r82230 said:


> Maybe my thinking is wrong, but I thought the more joules the better. Kind of like a 110 grain bullet verses a 220 grain bullet in a 30-06, the bear might respect the 220 grain bullet a little faster. Maybe I am mistaken on the stopping power of joules.
> 
> Larry


From what I gather from Gallagher website is that the longer the fence the more joules needed to be effective. Their smaller rated charging units that cover a mile or less are not even one joule....but the ones that cover 25 miles and above are several joules.

Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

ozarkian said:


> I found these specifications on Patriot's website:
> 
> Volts Required to train the animal avoidance:
> 
> ...


That's good info ozarkian.

Regards, Mike


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

Bears,and Angus bulls you want that fence HOT! 7k volts or more!
Open up the box and add a few more capacitors to it to knock them down with aching joints!
My friens has hives and the bears did a number on them.. not now with the new hopped up fence charger! 
An old school ignition coil hits around 15k new ones are like 40k! Yeah... they hurt! Just to give some perspective.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

skyrydr2 said:


> Bears,and Angus bulls you want that fence HOT! 7k volts or more!
> Open up the box and add a few more capacitors to it to knock them down with aching joints!
> My friens has hives and the bears did a number on them.. not now with the new hopped up fence charger!
> An old school ignition coil hits around 15k new ones are like 40k! Yeah... they hurt! Just to give some perspective.


sounds like bear stew that tastes like singed hair to me.


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

With 3 seconds in between hits they usually get away. 
Joules are like amps,the more you have the more energy you can source to keep the voltage at the desired range. 
Just going around the hives you dont need many joules but you do want high voltage, enough to knock them back.
Freinds fence will kill a rabbit and really hurt a **** (wont kill him just disables them so you can catch it and cage it.)
Cant have his honey getting ruined..his Mead is just too good ya know..LOL


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

In my experience keeping livestock in a field and dogs out the more joules the better. The lighter chargers give them a zap but not enough to detour them. When I finally bought a top line charger all my problems stopped that thing would shoot a spark if you got within 3", it also helped when I ran every other strand as a ground so they were sure to get a good zap even on dry ground.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

ozarkian said:


> I found these specifications on Patriot's website:
> 
> Volts Required to train the animal avoidance:
> 
> ...


Maybe because they had something else on their minds, but I've seen our bulls walk right thru a multiple wire hi tensile fence to get in with the cows and it had 7000 volts, upgraded to a charger that keeps the fence around 13K-16K volts and that ended right now.

I imagine with a bear how much he wants the honey is gonna decide how much juice he's gonna ignore. My experience at least with randy bulls, no such thing as too much juice.

Gallagher is good stuff, just kinda expensive, if you can get a 110v power supply up to your bees I can guarantee that the charger that lists for $2600 will keep the bears out.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hmmmm. I don't think I will be spending that kind of coin on a fence charger. 

Regards, Mike


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## jr in va (Apr 15, 2015)

ParMak 12V solar is what I like. Haven't used them for bear but do for grazing.

Someone else said grounding is important.They are right!

kencove's web site has an article on bear fence.Written by someone who works with bees at PA State U


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