Im setting up an enclosure with plans for keeping goats. My problem at the moment is grounding I believe. I have the 5 mile solar charger from tractor supply. The perimeter is about 350 feet. I have 3 8foot ground rods spaced about 12 feet apart. I do have dry sandy soil (mid west south Carolina). That's why I added so much extra grounding. But still even after meeting the charger sit in the sun for days before use I am only getting the lightest little tap. I decided to add additional wires and turn it into a earth return system. With that if you touch both wires you definitely get a solid zap, so I don't believe the charger is the issue. My question is, is there anyway to ground the system better so that I don't have to rely on both wires being touched to deliver a decent shock. Will the location of my grounding rods affect performance? Like is it better to drive the rods in going into the enclosure or does that matter? The area I have the ground rods is fairly close to my septic drain field. Would driving another rod into the drain field help as it may stay more moist or if the ground the goats will be standing on is so dry it won't really matter? With the earth return system could I add grounding rods around the perimeter connected to one of the negative wires to increase the shock of only love wire is touched or something to that affect? Or am I just chasing an impossible goal and should just stop wasting my money.
Oh and before it's suggested the ground rods were driven in a hole filled with bentonite clay and have tried leaving a leaky bucket on the rods. Neither seemed to have any significant effect
by JBpipes
3 Comments
Have you tried it with animals? I’ll test mine with my knuckle sometimes and it only feels like a tap to me, wearing rubber shoes. If I’m an animal touching that with my wet nose, standing barefoot grounded on the earth, it might be a different story. My cows get shocked way harder than I do. And at this point, they’re so trained to the electric that they really won’t go near it, even if it’s not turned on.
Water the grounding rods with a hose and retest.
The charger does not put out enough joules. A manufacturer told me goats and elephants are the two hardest animals to contain. It’s just not enough of a shock to deter them. I had a Parmark six solar and I did exactly what you did. Meter showing 10k volts, after install I packed my tools and walked to the barn and the goats came with me. Thats when I called Parmark. and ended up with a 16 joule charger running 5 strands high tensile wire on 45 acres.