I was talking with a customer the otherday and she told me a story of how her father created his own electric fence to keeps animals away. He stripped off the ends of some wire and stuck one end in the 120volt recptacle on the back of the garage and attached the other end to the fence. She said she grabbed hold of the fence and could not let go. Her father had to yank the wire out of the receptacle to free her.
This fence was also attached to all of his neighbors fences. I guess he decided this wasn't such a good idea after all.

The word manslaughter comes to mind.

I did want to do this to my own truck after it had been broken into a couple of times.

A freind of mine did this to the padlock on his garage door after it had been broken into. He decided to remove it when I explained the hazards of doing this.

I remember reading about somebody putting 120V to a garbage can due to dogs getting into it when he set it out at the curb for pick up, as a result a child was electrocuted, it seems as though I remember there was indeed a Manslaughter conviction in the case.

I also remember the story of a store owner in Miami (I think) that electrocuted a thief by booby trapping his store, I don't remember the charges or the outcome though.


Roger

[This message has been edited by Roger (edited 09-16-2005).]

Series a light bulb in the circuit, Grandpa did it at the hog pen to keep the bores away from the sows and piglets all the time. Never lost a hog to the fence and it did keep us young’ens out and off the bore’s backs. Noting is more fun for a 6 to 10 year old than to ride the hogs.

I don’t recommend this type of fence instead use an electric charger. The cost of a small unit is about $30 and a good one could cost upwards of $400. I use a Gallagher 880 that produces 25 Joules at about 2000 volts for one tenth of a second once every second. This will not only keep the livestock in the fence but it also deters unwanted guest.

It is also legal.

Edited after gfertwell’s post

The fencing unit is what is legal not the light bulb.


[This message has been edited by jw electric (edited 09-16-2005).]

Even the smallest 4w nightlight bulb would still let 30ma or so through. Still plenty dangerous.

Electric fences, to control livestock, are common in Europe and usually pulse high voltage with a very low amperage and can be battery or mains powered. You can usually hear them 'ticking' every few seconds or so.
Cows are very sensitive to electric shock, and the amperes must be very low to avoid costly mortalities! Many years ago I built a system from an automotive ignition coil and an old mechanical car voltage-regulator to pulse the volts, (the ground is the return path). Ran it off a 12v truck battery to keep our sow out of the veg patch. Once she got a belt, she would not go near a wire again ( fouth most intelligent animal on earth!), so we eventually turned it off and put up some string. Actually, it stung our dog once as well. He turned round and bit the wire, but he did come back in a day or two!
But Mantraps are illegal in the UK following horrendous injuries to trespassers and poachers in the 19C. These sometimes consisted of gigantic sprung gin-traps 5 feet across and able to almost cut a man in half.
Recently, a Farmer was prosecuted after he set an electric fence-machine to protect his Land Rover from persistent vandalism at a local farmers' market.
Result at the High Court was that electric shock applied by a non-lethal method to deter theft was legal, and not a man-trap.
Not guilty.
My favorite tale is the old man plagued by a persistent pair of burglars. He sawed out the floor over his basement and tacked the carpet to the baseboards. The Burglars fell eight feet into his cellar and broke their legs. He got prosecuted too.

Alan

"""My favorite tale is the old man plagued by a persistent pair of burglars. He sawed out the floor over his basement and tacked the carpet to the baseboards. The Burglars fell eight feet into his cellar and broke their legs. He got prosecuted too. """

I hope the prosecutor and the jury in that case get robbed by those guys some day!!
That would be justice.


Dnk........

BTW the Miami guy finally got off but after paying a huge "lawyer fine". Florida juries are pretty easy on people kill folks who need killing.
The guy who cut a guy in half with a shotgun for trying to screw with his boat in the driveway got off too.

Click Here

There was a wire run to keep a pair of Rottweilers away from the pool. It was plugged into a wall receptacle.

What would be a simple rat trap that could be used to kill but not cook them just a good jolt, your thoughts?

I was doing a job 120km away in Christchurch about 3 years back.
I was wearing Live Gloves and contacted the fence that the former owner had put up.
It was run at 400V between the fence wires.
There was a helluva bang when it hit the metal roof.
Had have I not been wearing gloves I'd not be writing this.