How To Choose A Power Supply For Your Electric Fence

Choosing the right power supply for your electric fence is very important to ensure that your electric fence operates at optimum level. There are realistically three main choices for power supplies. There are plug in power supply types that are usually either rated at 110v or 220v as well as battery powered units and solar powered units.

In very general terms the plug in power supplies are considered to be the most cost effective because the power is constant and of a high enough quality. Plug in power supplies also do not put too much strain on your electricity bill because they generally only draw about 50 watts which is more or less the same as a common household light bulb. So they are thus reliable and extremely cost effective.

If you are not near a convenient plug in power source then it might be a good idea to go with battery power supplies, these tend to be more expensive than plug in power supplies because the batteries are a bit more specialized, the best ones to use are deep cycle marine batteries. Marine deep cycle batteries are specially designed to release charge more slowly than other batteries thereby increasing their power life span making them ideal for electric fences. In some cases more than one battery is required to run a larger power supply which also increases the costs.

Solar power is growing in popularity and is considered to be the greenest option available; it is also extremely flexible but can in some cases cost more than the battery power option. If you are considering going the solar power supply route keep in mind that you will need to get the actual power supply as well as the solar panel or panels. The solar panels can cost as much as the power supply itself.