Solar Powered Hot Fence

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Slinkky

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Do you use the Solar Powered hot fence or the "plug-in" electric fence.

Do the solar type work or do they have issues I should know about?

Is one type better than the others?

If you were going to buy one, what would it be?

Thanks,
 
I have a solar-powered electric fence, which separates a couple of pastures from the hay field. It works great in the summer, but in the winter not-so-great. I think it's because the minis get SO darn hairy, they can't feel the zap, and when the snow gets deep they can't see the fence all that well against all the white (the fence isn't terribly tall either.) They invariably knock some of it down in the winter. I like having the solar powered charger since the fences it charges are out away from power sources, but the visibility of an electric fence is still a problem here in winter time, even with the wider fencing "tapes", so my problem is with the type of fencing, not the type of charger.
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I have a solar powered fence. so far, it seems to be working. With the regular electric fence, it was going down too often as even though the wire was insulated in a pipe, the critters still seemed to get at it. I do watch my fence line closely for evidence that there is any problem.

Barb
 
I accidentally hit some of our solar-powered tape the other day, YES, it was working!
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We only use it to keep horses off of existing fences (like chain link) - so I can't speak to how it works alone.
 
I love my solar fencer, it seems to get plenty hot, but I did buy one that was a bit more pricy, has a large solar panel, will do miles of fencing and even on coudy days without much sun says it will stay charged up and ticking. I use the electric tape as back up for my wire mesh fence now so it is not flying solo, however, before I got my minis I used 2 inch wide tape with a solar fencer for two full sized horses. I had some posts driven in to the ground, especially on the corners of the field and I pulled the tape tight between the brackets attached to the posts. I used step on temporary posts between the driven posts to keep the tape supported. I also put in 3 strands of tape rather than just one so from a distance it looked somewhat solid. It worked ok for me, but I will say I do sleep better with the mesh and hot tape combination I have now.
 
Thanks for the comments. I can't decide if the solar powered is worth the difference in money. I have an electric one, but it seems to not work more than it works.

It would be used to set up temporary areas for grazing. Our neighbor has 5 acres of great pasture but it's not fenced at all. He will let us graze the horses, but of course, we have to come up with a way to keep them there. We would never leave the house and leave them completely unattended, but I'm sure we would come to the house for a bit and continue to check on them.

Just wondering if you all liked the solar powered over the electric kind.

thanks,
 
We have solar powered fencing and it works fine. We use the tape fencing, like Safe Fence. It is not as effective in winter because of the hair, but we have that problem in the electric powered fence as well. The solar allowed us to set up a small pasture without having to do any wiring.
 
We have solar all around, and the most fun we have is watching the irrigation guys come in the Spring to turn everything on......They arrive in wet clothing from the other homes, and climb all over the fencing going from post to post and spigot to spigot.....If we watch long enough one of them will get ZAPPED, and Zapped GOOD!

Sometimes the guys remember it is electric fencing and THEY wait for the new guys to get nailed too!

I leaned over to pick something up once and touched it with my head...............Don't remember much about the fall only remember looking up to see 4 horse faces looking at me from above............YUP. It Works!
 
I have two and a plug in. Judging from the fence tester -- a metered one -- the solars test as strong as the plug in. I have the bigger sized ones $200+ but work fine. Stay charged several days in overcast, also. Batteries usually last about 4-5 yrs of constant use. Replacements about $30.

They are great for just what you suggest.....pasture with no electric around. I alternate the areas mine serve so if one section "goes down", the adjacent still works. Used to be sole fence but not are inside fully fenced areas. I say go for it! Be sure you have good ground rod to have good power.

Oh, they make the tape fence material in colors other than white, too.
 
I was looking at the solar powered ones here, and the salesman suggested that I go with the regular plug in fencer instead. It isn't an issue of the solar powered ones not working--they work just fine as long as you get enough sunshine, but this salesman said that if we get a week of cloudy weather we'll have problems. The plug in ones will have a problem only if the power fails...and since we get more cloudy days than we do power failures, I took the salesman's advice.
 
Ohio isn't exactly the sunshine state and we have no trouble with power to the solar.

It is also a great way to go green.

Our fence tape is black so not as start as the white fences are. I don't know if it makes any difference, but Bambi doesn't seem to see it and does take the fences down from time to time.
 
We use solar but they are not as good as the ones we hook to a battery (we use an old tractor battery) and they were not cheap either.
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To ward off deer I take and cut up strips of plastic bag or long strips of cloth and knot them on the top strand. The flapping gives both deer and equine the clue to stay away.
 

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