Electrifying Infront of Gates

So you have a gate or two in your paddock where you're running an electric fence. You have a few options;

1. Do Nothing

Great option for saving time. Other than that, your gate becomes your leaning post for your livestock and in not too long a time, the post that's holding up the gate's looking a bit like Italian architechture in Pisa.

2. Run a Gate Kit

Better option, but again there's a right and a wrong way for doing this.

Wrong way, just join one side of the electric fence to the gate kit and then the other side of the electric fence to the gate gate anchor. Problem with this is that the wires in most gate kits are really fine and become the weakest link in the electric fenceline. You can have the biggest of energisers and the best of braids, but that fine wire in the gate kit will draw that down to only what it can carry. Secondly, as soon as you undo the gate handle, you've powered down all of your electric fence downstream. And lastly, when you disconnect the gate handle, you've got a 50/50 chance you're walking around with a live bit of tape!

So the right way is to run underground cable under your gate and connect the gate kit to the cable. That way;

1. You don't power down your whole fence downstream


2. It automatically takes the charge off the tape on the gate kit


3. It doesn't become the weak link in the fenceline

Have a look at the picture below;

So starting from the right hand side with the energiser.

1. Pulse is coming down the fenceline right to left. Joined up to cut out switch (optional) with a wire joiner.

2. Cut out switch joined to underground cable (if not cut out switch - then straight to fenceline)

3. Cable goes underground, come us other post and connects to gate anchor.

4. Gate anchor connects to Left hand side fenceline.

So the pulse is going underground and not relying on the gate kit, so no weak link and no cutting the supply when the gate handle comes off.

Secondly, because the gate kit gets its power from the gate anchor, when you take the handle off the anchor, that section of tape is instantly dead and can't zap you.

That's the right way.

So lastly, why the switch? Well if you put a switch at every gate, if you ever need to fault find, it's a fast way of being able to close down your fence bit by bit to isolate the fault, that's all.

Hope that helps. If it did, or you have any other questions, please add on to the blog and we'll see what we can do.