With an electric fence, does the end have to connect with the begining to work?

Question

Will an electric fence only work if it's ends are connected (like a circle or square) or could they work in a straight line (with an insulated end post)? Thanks.

Answer 1

It depends on what kind of wire you have.  It will work in a straight line if you have 2 (or more) wires to keep it going in a circuit.

Answer 2

our pasture has a start and end on different sides of the barn without connection and it works fine.

Answer 3

You do not need two lines to have an electric fence work in a straight line.  Think of the fence as a road, and the shock as the vehicles on the road.  The vehicle can drive anywhere the road goes, whether in straight lines or circles.  But if the road is broken, the vehicle cannot continue on.

So you cannot have fence in a straight line, then have it stop for ten feet so the horse can go through it as a gate, and then have the fence continue onwards after that.  If you are going to leave an open spot such as a gate you need to have the fence connected in a circle type shape so the far part carries shock.

You do not need two lines for electric fence.  You must use a ground rod for your negative, and then the wire is the positive.  Some people use two wires with one as positive and one as negative, this is good for wintertime when the ground is frozen and the groundrod doesn't do its job anymore.

I use push-in electric fence posts, a portable solar fencer and cheap electric fencing rope/wire.  It works wonderfully, just buy yourself a good fence tester for $10 and you will be able to check anywhere on your fence to see if there is a current there, or not.

Happy fencing.

Answer 4

im not sure its usually best because electricity needs a complete circuit. it all depends on the number and type of wire/s u have.

Answer 5

our electric fence is only half ways around it still  wokrs trust me i touch it yesterday...so yea it should work

Answer 6

No, not if you have a deep ground rod to connect the negative end of the controller to.  The electric circuit will go out through the wire, then complete the circuit through the ground.  When a horse touches the fence, he effectively touches both the positive and negative wires because his feet are on the ground.  My fence is this way.  It seemed weak when I set it up, but then I slipped my foot out of my tennis shoe and touched the ground with my toe and got a big shock!  

Answer 7

The fence will work in a straight line, it does not have to have its ends  connected to work.  

Answer 8

You sink a ground rod about 6-8 feet deep and connect the negative side of the fencer unit to it.

Then connect the other side positive to the fence wire or tape or rope line and run it through your fence posts. If you want a gate in the  line of fence and are using tape you can get a gate handle and attach the tape to one side of the handle and hook the handle into the tape on the other side of the gate area and you have a gate move able when you disconnect the handle. Works great.

I have my dry lots hot taped with a gate handle in the middle so I can put tow on one side or separated them if needed.