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General
Description and Installation
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Basic
Design Considerations
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Specific
Design Solutions
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Psychological
Impact
-
Liability
Requirements and Troubleshooting
GENERAL
DESCRIPTION AND INSTALLATION
There are several
basic considerations and many secondary considerations in designing an electric
fence. We shall discuss the primary considerations first.
NOTE:
When properly designed and installed, an electric security fence is the least
expensive, safest, and most secure method for securing property
and lives when compared to walls, other types of fences, human guards, and watch
dogs. The fence does NOT sleep. The fence CANNOT be bribed. The fence does NOT
require food or water. A well designed electric fence has more deterrence value
than a guard with a sawed off shotgun or a snarling pit bull,
1.
COST: consider that any cost is “too expensive” if the
fence is ineffectual, or just doesn’t work. So then, we have to have, at the
least, a minimally effective design, to justify the cost, or it isn’t worth
doing at all. Do it right, or don't bother.
If
you have security guards, you can pay for the fence by laying off at least half
of your guard force and still maintain a much higher security level. The
remaining guards can respond quickly before an intruder even enters onto the
property.
An Electric Security Fence is designed to keep out predators, thieves,
trespassers, vandals and disease. If you also employ security guards, they will
complement the security that is provided by a well designed high voltage
electric fence.
An Electric Security Fence is designed to protect property, livestock,
production, manufacturing, and lives.
When designing your electric security fence, keep in mind the above two
statements and each individual item that applies. Also to “keep out” or to
“keep in” or “both” are all valid considerations.
The smallest effective “fence extension” consists of 3 strands where one (1)
center strand is grounded (ground potential) and a minimum of two (2) charged strands.
The reason for 2 charged strands is security. You make the connections to
achieve one (1) charged wire where the high voltage goes out and then loops to
return on the second
strand.
However, if you connect both the outgoing and returning ends to the charger,
then, even if cut, the high tensile wire is charged from both ends.
The more
secure design is, the returning high tensile wire is connected to a high voltage
monitor and alarm.
Therefore all electric security fences should have an even number of charged
“high tensile” strands. 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. strands.
A
voltage monitor
attached to the very end of the charged strand will sound and
alarm or siren if the wire is cut or shorted making the voltage drop. Although
very few petty thieves will attempt to cut through the fence, the
fence/voltage
monitor
makes the electric security fence into an alarm sounding security device
when tampered with.
If the fence is designed to make it very difficult to pass
without a resultant shock, and when coupled with a
voltage fence monitor
becomes
an
extremely effective
security system. The final determination will always be a
balance to whether the additional level of security is worth the added cost of a
voltage monitor.
Grounded Strands: the high tensile strands should alternate with grounded
strands. The grounded strands should be insulated exactly like the high tensile
strands. If all the strands are insulated, the fence is perceived as much more
lethal, and therefore becomes much more effective. If an intruder actually
decides to cut a wire, not knowing which are grounded strands and which are
charged strands makes the fence retain a higher security rating.
A fence is designed with 3 or more strands. Usually, the top strand and the
bottom strand are charged, however, there are some cases where a 4th grounded strand
is added as the topmost strand to help ward of falling foliage, fronds, etc to
help prevent the plants from shorting out the high tensile strands and creating
"false alarms".
If the electric fence is constructed from ground
level, then the bottom strand may be a grounded strand to prevent weeds and
grass from shorting out the “high tensile” circuit. However, a concrete
footer is a better design option.
Back to top
INSTALLING
THE EQUIPMENT:
The
components
of your system
should be installed and mounted inside and out of sight and LOCKED out of reach from
unauthorized people. Hang the high voltage charger from the wall and connect it
to the battery placed under
fence charger
using the red and black wires that are
attached to the
fence charger
with the red wire to the positive terminal and the
black wire to the negative terminal.
NOTE:
Make
sure the
fence charger
switch is turned to the “OFF” position.
Connect the
battery charger
to the battery and plug the battery charger into the
wall voltage of 230 volts so that the battery is being continuously charged. The
current limiting circuit supplied with the charger will keep the battery from
becoming over-charged
and protect the charger from shorts.
Now connect your Earth Ground
System and all your ground
return wires together, and then make the connection to ground connection
on the
fence
charger. Use a minimum sized wire of 14 AWG or larger, in either
solid copper or galvanized steel and make the connections with appropriate
connectors. A common cause of failure is a poor connection to the high
voltage strands from the high voltage charger.
Finally make your high voltage
connection to the fence using an appropriate connector with high tensile or
spark plug wire with an insulation rating of 15,000 volts or higher. When you
run the high tensile wire to the
fence charger
make sure the high voltage wire
is not laying on the ground, and is not running through water, and
is not placed across sharp corners.
Many installations use standard (14AWG solid) single strand wire fed through a
thick wall plastic hose.
If you have purchased a
fence
monitor
connect it to your battery and connect the high voltage input to the
high voltage terminal on the
monitor
using the same high tensile wire that you
used to connect the
charger
to the fence. Connect the Earth Ground System to
the ground terminal of the monitor.
The
fence monitor
will
continuously monitor the voltage on the fence. If an intruder cuts a wire the fence
monitor will sound a siren alarm.
As the monitor is powered from the same battery that feeds the charger, and the
"fail safe" relay will close on loss of High Voltage, the relay will
also close on the loss of the 12 volts from the battery that is powering both
the charger and the
monitor, so we strongly recommend
a separate battery that powers the siren, bell, or whatever alarm notification
is provided. The small extra cost of a small
12 volt battery
that will feed your
siren raises the security rating of your system at least another notch higher on
the security rating scale.
The built-in voltmeter on the
High Voltage charger
also
continuously monitors the voltage on the fence. If a frond or foliage is laying
across the high tensile wire, and partially shorting
it out, the fence voltage will drop. If
the voltage drops out of the green zone, it is time to clean your fence.
We recommend that you
check your fence at least once a week. Plant foliage, or branches or fronds
laying across the high tensile wire might not reduce the voltage on the meter
when dry, but foliage becomes a conductor when wet and might easily short out
your system completely reducing the fence voltage to almost zero when soaked
from rain.
Back to top
-
General
Description and Installation
-
Basic
Design Considerations
-
Specific
Design Solutions
-
Psychological
Impact
-
Liability
Requirements and Troubleshooting
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Security Alarm Trading & Services 2003 - 2008
Mandaue City, Cebu Philippines
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