Parmak Mod 6 Electric Fence Charger

[W.T.F.]

I have both the mark 6 and mark 7 model Parmak Electric Fence Chargers. They are grounded to 8 foot electrical ground rods. All lead and ground connections are tight The fence wires are touching nothing but the insulators but the charger wont send a current through the fence wire. When I take the leads loose from them they peg out on voltage output but when I hook them back up, same thing, no voltage on the fence. Awhile back I accidentally got my leg up against the ground rod on one of them and it knocked the bejabbers out of me! They worked fine for the first yr or so the way I have them set up and I never had a problem. For the last few months though they have been acting up the way I have described and I don't know what the heck to do about it. Any input you may have about this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you kindly

 

[duke37]

If you are grounded and get a shock by touching a ground rod, then the rod is not doing its job or the ground has very high resistance. Try a new ground rod in a different place.

In the UK we would use maybe a one foot ground rod but then it rains here.

You could test the charger feeding into a resistance of 5k. A large resistance will be required, not to dissipate a lot of heat but to withstand the high voltage pulse without arcing over.

Voltmeters are available to measure the pulse voltage (Gallagher) but if you do not have one, make a micrometer spark gap (4BA or 6mm = 1 turn/mm). Voltage is about 3kV/mm.

 

[Kiwi]

My guess would be that one of the insulators is shorting out internally and grounding the fence wire.
This may be helpful http://www.patriotglobal.com/en/learn-more/handy-hints