So it was Easter Sunday, and after the family brunch, it was our only day of the week to get the electric fence tape strung... but it happened to be raining. So out we went into the pasture because this is the Puget Sound, we're use to rain.[Click here for the history of the fencing project]
[Click here for part two of the back story...]
We got the extra wide tape, and some fence splicer clips - more on that later, and started to go. I was trying to avoid just tying knots in the end of the strands, I think that looks kind of unprofessional, but there's really no way around it. At a termination point, it's really the best way to secure it to the clip.
One other side note: when we first started, I assumed that you attach the end of the tape to the charging unit, but I was wrong. You just terminate it near the charging box and then run a wire from the box to the top wire... glad I read the instructions for a change.
We ran just the one tape from our barn (where the electric outlet is) to the corner of what will be the pasture area, then it will go to three strands. Again, you run a jumper wire from strand to strand to electrify it. We will also need to install the grounding rods here soon.
Here's how our termination point looks by the barn. We bought some little brackets that we'll use when it's time to attach the live wire to the tape. That will happen next time.
We got up the top two strands before our hands started to freeze, and we were running out of tape. We need to buy a few more rolls to finish things up.A quick word about these splicing clips.
They're kind of like those horse shoe puzzles where you try to get the ring out. It only took two of us about 20 minutes of staring at the thing and then looking at the illustration on the back of the package to figure it out. But once we did, they seem to be working like a charm.
Herb the goat approved. And as Murphy's Law dictates, as soon as we went inside, the sun came out.
And Squid the Horse is ready for us to be done so she can go out and graze.See you next time when we will hopefully juice this thing up.
~ron
