Connectors

Using the right Connectors on your electric fence

So you’ve bought some nice new rope …or tape...or polywire and have got it running nicely through your plastic posts or through those insulators oh so lovingly screwed onto your wooden fence and now you’re going to tie a nice b i g granny knot in the end to finish it off or maybe to attach it to something else! Surely not ...?

Surely this spoils the look somewhat? And maybe you’re asking yourself , more importantly this knot will possibly make your fence a bit less zappy?

 

Well you’re right – on both counts!

One of the most common questions we get asked is how do we connect the lines of an electric fence and how do to decide which one of the wide range of different connectors to use! Here are some quick tips on this topic.

All connectors available here

In the good old days customers used all sorts of granny knots to join the lines up in an electric fence but fortunately nowawdays the importance of using the correct connectors to make the connections is recognised. After all, a connection point is potentially a weak point on your fence so it’s sensible to make sure that power transfers across your lines of tape/rope/polywire/ wire efficiently (or even across a combination of these media). This’ll ensure a zappier fence and will reduce chances of sparking and help prolong the life of that lovely quality rope or tape you’ve just bought.

There’s often several ways to join the lines of an electric fence and more than one connector suitable for making the join. Whichever connector you use, you are aiming to make a good tight connection that cannot loosen off.

Connecting the lines of separate fences close together (tape to tape or tape to rope)

You can use a line connector (60cm long) (good for joining tape to tape fence , or a tape to rope fence)

Or a hart clamp line to line joiner (55cm long, good for joining wire or polywire or rope fence lines)

Connecting the lines of fences a distance away from each other

Use Leadout cable with croc clips or clamp connectors to join 2 separate fences that are a distance away. Leadout cable can be bought in lengths from 10m, 25m, 50m and 100m and then cut to the exact required length (lengths longer than 100m are available using a leadout cable connector and even if you use longer lengths of leadout cable you won’t reduce the power down the line J)

http://shop.electricfencing.co.uk/shop/42/53/1529/10m-lead-out-cable http://shop.electricfencing.co.uk/shop/42/53/1529/25m-lead-out-cable

http://shop.electricfencing.co.uk/shop/42/53/1529/50m-lead-out-cable

Attach croc clips to the ends of the leadout cable and clip onto fence to join polywire or wire or rope fences http://shop.electricfencing.co.uk/shop/42/53/1529/crocodile-clips-pack-of-4

Or a more permanent connection can be made using clamp connectors instead of the croc clips

To join tape fences you can connect leadout cable onto the metal connections on tape insulators as per pic below - overleaf

 

To make the fenceline longer

For joining Rope onto rope to give you a long enough fenceline use a rope buckle

or get the stainless steel version rope joiner, dearer but worth it - lasts forever

likewise for joining tape onto tape to give you a long enough tape fenceline use a tape buckle (for tape up to 20mm wide) or the 40mm version

To transfer power across parallel fence lines within a fence

For a tape fence use line to line connector (1 per pack - so 1 pack will join2 lines; to transfer power through a 4 or 5 line fence you’d need 2 packs)

For a rope/polywire/wire fence use a hart to hart clamp for

 

Insulators can also have a role in assisting in connections in electric fences

For instance

To tie the ends of rope and keep them secure, run them over a pulley insulator http://shop.electricfencing.co.uk/shop/42/53/718/208/corner-pulley-insulator-for-wire-polywire-or-rope

and then secure with a rope joining buckle http://shop.electricfencing.co.uk/shop/42/53/718/207/inline-rope-joining-buckle or

http://shop.electricfencing.co.uk/shop/42/53/718/207/stainless-steel-rope-connnector

 

To secure the ends of tape a use a P99 tape tensioner ; this tape tensioner has a metal belt clip on it which makes a very good connection point for joining onto and transferring power between fences –see diagram below.

http://shop.electricfencing.co.uk/shop/42/53/718/208/end-post-tensioning-insulator-for-tape

Leadout cable can be attached to the p99 tensioner thus connecting fence lines together, or going under gates to maintain power