Our inexpensive multi-light fence tester stopped working. After spending too many late nights trying to find a short in the fence we realized it was the tester not the fence (by “testing” the old fashioned way!). Anyone have one you like and would recommend? Better than the cheap ones but not into the $100 & up range.
All I can say is don’t pee on it to test. I know Myth Busters tested that, but I still beleive
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I have one of the cheap ($10) multi light ones by Patriot, and it has been working fine for a few years. I’ve seen fancier ones at the store, even ones that will point you right or left in the direction of a short, but I had never found a need to spend the extra $$$ since my electric fence wires are so short that it doesn’t take that long to walk them.
Do you need a more complex tested, or just a working 5 light one?
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Zareba Digital tester works well. Less than $50. I like the ability to see the voltage on each wire. This unit only reads to 10K volts
When I was a kid we had lots of eletric fence on temporary pastures. I would test it with a green grass stem. We would lay it on the wire and you could feel the buzz of the electricity but not get a real shock.
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Sue, I purchased the Gallagher SMART FIX TESTER G50905 recently for my new electric fence. In doing some research I found that there are some other testers by Zareba and Stafix offer the same features but I went with the Gallegher model because it was a good bit less expensive buying it from Jet.com with the 15% off new customer discount. I paid around $80.00 for it. A tester like the G50905 provides alot of help diagnosing faults on the fence by providing an arrow pointing in the direction of the fault. This came in very handy for me with my new fence that was shorting out in numerous places. The more basic, less expensive testers only provide a volt and amp reading.
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Thanks all! I’ll check out the Zereba and Gallagher. The grass “tester” does work! and the inexpensive multilight probably would be adequate (we realized ours works OK when it’s not real humid out) (which isn’t often this year!). But I guess having lost too many corn and cherry crops to raccoons I tend to be a bit fanatic about knowing that the fence is really ON. Meantime, Steve (my husband Steve) made a temporary tester out of a small florescent light tube and piece of wire. Like the multi light tester it’s hard to see in the daylight, but does work. I’m still going for a higher tech digital one. Meantime, no coons in the corn and I’m hoping the bear that’s hanging around doesn’t really want to get in.
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