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Catalog > Electric Fence Ground Rods and Accessories About Ground Rods: Ground rods are an essential part of electric fences. In order to administer a significant shock, the current generated by the charger, sent out to the fence, and passed through a target animal into the ground, needs to complete the circuit by passing through moist ground to a ground rod, from whence it can follow a wire back to the ground terminal on the charger. Within this context, the electric fence will fail if the ground rod is not in reasonably good contact with moist soil, and indeed this is a leading cause of electric fence failure. Therefore, while a 2-foot ground rod can be perfectly adequate for a fence protecting regularly watered ground around a garden, more extensive deer fences operating in somewhat drier soil should be served by a longer (typically 6-foot) ground rod. For really large systems it is advisable to install several ground rods close together, or even to string a neutral (uncharged) fence wire attached to the charger’s ground terminal, to which ground rods can be connected at appropriate intervals. Also, when installing winter deer fences, even short ones, where the path to moist ground may be blocked by insulating frozen ground, snow, or ice, it is advisable to string a neutral (uncharged) 12.5 gauge aluminum electric fence wire along the fence line, either on the ground or buried an inch or so below it, and to connect this to the ground terminal on the charger, so that any charge passing through a target animal will find this wire and have no difficulty completing the circuit.
Ground Rods and Accessories The ground rods and wire listed below are varied enough to cope with a wide range of circumstances. The 2-foot galvanized steel rod (product 06-01C) is for short fences protecting summer gardens. The copper coating on product 06-04 adds to the rod’s effectiveness by improving its electrical connection to water molecules in the surrounding soil. |
