How do I ? Electric wire cattle line using batteries..?
Question:I'd like to use some standard 'D'-size batteries, hook them up together and make a miniature electrified "cattle" fence. Can anybody tell me how I can go about doing this? How to make the wires "short" when you touch it, so that it gives a slight jolt?
Also, will it be possible to hook it up so that each time the "electric fence" gets triggered, it will also trigger off an alarm bell?
Answers:
Electric fences work on very high voltages with very little current. For example, a static electricity shock is around 30kV (30,000 volts) but extremely little current (amperes). A D-size battery is 1.5V at around 1A (ampere) when fully charged, but that won't shock anyone. You would need to have a circuit, using a step-up transformer, ramp the 1.5V up to around 20kV or more, which will be enough to shock someone. Unfortunately this is not so simple a circuit to build, so I would go to Lowes and just buy the lowest-cost model they have, around $29. The alarm bell feature might be something an electronics engineer could factor in; for example, an event (contact with the line) triggering a secondary circuit that measures a drop in line voltage or current causing a latching or non-latching silicon-controlled rectifier to activate a device such as a bell...but you can surmise, I think, that this would be a little pricey. Just listen for the "yelp", that's a lot cheaper. :-)
D size batteries are not strong enough. It would be so much easier to go buy a solar powered electric fence charger , it does'nt cost anything to run.
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