Mother's Electric Fence Charger

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All that's left, then, is to mount the corner molding to the face of the roof peak (over the plexiglass cover), using No. 7 X 1/2" flathead wood screws . . . waterproof these remaining sections . . . and install the. battery cables and some claw terminal clips at the ends of the exterior wires.

USE IT FOR MONTHS

This homemade fence charger is, of course, hooked up in the same way as are the store-bought ones. We simply hung the box on a convenient fencepost, placed a 12-volt auto battery-raised off the ground -beneath it, and drove a 4-foot bare steel rod into the earth near the site. (If you choose to build another enclosure to protect the battery from the weather, as shown on the cover of this issue, make sure you provide vent holes to allow any combustible gases to escape.)

The positive and negative leads go to their respective terminals on the battery, the terminal labeled "earth" should be connected to the buried steel rod with a piece of (preferably insulated) wire, and the high voltage lead gets clipped directly to the bare fence strand.

Keep in mind, though, that the "hot" fence wire will do its job only if it's [1] insulated from both the fenceposts and the ground with standard ceramic or plastic knobs (of course, you could try homemade protectors such as bottle necks or PVC pipe sections), and [2] placed at an appropriate height for the animals you're trying to train.

Remember, too, that you can run several strands of fence wire at different levels if they're simply tied together by a connecting conductive wire. This arrangement will allow you to keep both adult and young beasts from passing through your chosen borders.

Given tight connections and a healthy battery, your fence charger ought to function for several months without a "boost" . . . and the unit itself should last for quite a while before any component part gives up.

Additionally, since the pulse rate is adjustable, you can stretch the device's working life a bit by starting it off at a rapid rate, then, after a few days (by which time most of your critters will have learned their lessons), cutting it back by turning down the variable resistor.

If you're interested in tinkering and don't mind saving a few bucks in the bargain, do consider building this little hotbox ... we're willing to bet that your garden (or your neighbors!) will thank you for it.

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