Shamefully simple electricital question

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Steve B 16 years ago

Today, I found out my garden dog shocker wasn't working after coming home and finding my new rescue dog full of manure, compost and mud. She got into the fresh flower bed.

The wire shocker there apparently got wet and fried. I took it apart, let it dry for hours, put it back together, and touched the terminals with no shock. Outside of case says: 110v. AC in, .27amp, 60 hertz, 10 watts. These Fi-Shocks are about $25 new. Where would I get a transformer like this? When I looked at the transformer, it's marked 311-158 R2 10 2000.

How do I read this to buy another cheapie, and where?

Steve

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Bill Noble 16 years ago

the thing is probably not a transformer, it probably a current limiting device - I've made such a thing with a low wattage bulb off the high side of

110 - a 1 watt bulb will limit current to 10 ma but will give a pesky shock - the commercial units limit current perhaps in other ways to be super safe. your choice how to proceed -

when you "took it apart" - what did you find inside?

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Spehro Pefhany 16 years ago

The first part is probably the part number, the 10 2000 the date it was made.

These guys sell what appears to be it for $30!!

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You're probably better off buying a new on for the $25 or whatever.

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120:800VAC transformers are not common and safety is an issue.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany 16 years ago

p.s.

Just to expand on this safety thing a bit.. I have not looked inside the continuous kind of electric fence energizer, but I'd expect to find a special transformer designed to have a lot of leakage inductance as well as proper mains isolation and step-up ratio (and not much else). The consequence of that is that the short-circuit current would be limited to a relatively safe value (relatively safe for animals and relatively safe for the transformer's health). This is not a regular transformer, I suspect.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Tim Wescott 16 years ago

Not enough info. I'd see if you couldn't find a decent equivalent at a farm store, one that'll last for a while.

Like Spehro said, these are specialty items, not bog-common transformers.

We just kennel our dogs up when we're not around -- they don't seem to mind, as long as we make sure they know they're not in trouble going in, and that we love them when we get back and take them out (and it's never for more than half a day).

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Steve B 16 years ago

Two wires to a device that looked like a 2" x 3" metal rectangle with a hole in the middle. In the hole are two 1.25" diameter coils that look like they are wound of rough brown paper, then a clear sealant. Between the coils are two little boxes the size of your fingernail, but are sealed in with clear goop. Two wires in, two wires out.

Steve

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watch for the book

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

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Bob Engelhardt 16 years ago

I've looked inside a number of fence chargers and not one of them was just a transformer. They all had some sort of timed interruption, probably to give an inductive kick (I never actually analyzed a circuit).

Bob

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Paul Hovnanian P.E. 16 years ago

Buy another new unit. Its not worth screwing around with something like this that could be a safety issue.

To keep the new one dry, built a little roof over the top of it to keep the rain off. Make sure there's some air circulation around it, although I doubt this unit needs much cooling.

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