How to Install Your Electric Fence

Electric fencing is often seen as complicated, and highly technical, but in fact, the opposite is true, and it’s an easy DIY project for most.

Before you start, make sure you have all your materials ready, and you will probably need the following tools as well:

• An electric drill
• A rivet gun

The actual process involved is quite simple, and here’s what you will need to do:

• First, fit your brackets. If you’ve bought pre drilled brackets, all this entails is drilling corresponding holes in the uprights of your fence, or on your wall, and bolting the brackets to the fence or wall. Remember, if you have intermediate brackets that are pre fitted with insulators, use them only on the fence lines, not on corners or ends!
• Your next step will be to fit your tensioners to the main (corner and end brackets.) Again, with pre drilled brackets, this is simply a matter of slipping a spring or hook through the pre drilled holes.
• Next, you will need to string your wires. Tie one end to a tensioner, and then run the wire the length of the fence, passing it through the insulators. When you reach the end, tie it to the tensioner on the opposite pole. Remember to keep wires taut, or they may touch the brackets, or each other, causing a short and a false alarm!
• Once all your wires are in place, the only thing left to do is to create loops. These are pieces of wire connecting the various strands. Remember that your fence needs to be a complete, unbroken circuit, in order to work. Loop wires horizontally across corner brackets, and vertically at the end of the fence.
• After the fence wires are up, you can install your energizer. This is typically a matter of drilling a few holes in the wall you’ve selected to house the energizer, and bolting or screwing it down.

When it comes to wiring the energizer to the fence, there are subtle differences between different makes or models, but they all work on the same basic principle, and here’s what you will need to do:

• Open the energizer unit cover, revealing the circuit board.
• Typically, energizer units will have circuit boards that are well marked, and the only wires you would need to run to make the unit work would be from the live out, earth out, and live return. All of these wires should be high tension cable, as the unit does, typically put out a high voltage! Use insulated wires, and if possible, look for shielded or armored cable.
• The live out wire should go to the start of your fence, to the top wire.
• Earth out should be taken from the energizer to an earth spike, which you can knock into the ground.
• Live return will run from the end of your fence, the same spot as the start, but from the bottom most live wire.
• Once that’s done, you should have a completed circuit, and an electric fence that’s ready to power up!
• If you are using a siren or strobe light to indicate alarms, there will be an output on the circuit board. A simple "house wire" from that point to the strobe and or siren is all you need.
• Lastly, plug your energizer in. If you’ve installed your fence correctly, you should hear a "ticking" noise from your energizer, and if you hold an insulated object, like a screwdriver with a rubber handle, to one of the strands, you should see a spark.

As mentioned, each energizer may be slightly different, but in most cases, manufacturers supply comprehensive installation instructions with the units, so be sure to refer to those! Follow their guides and you will have a successful diy electric fence installation for your home security.