Troubleshooting an Electronic Dog Fence
Electronic dog fences are becoming a very popular solution to the problem of wandering dogs. There are now literally dozens of different brands and models available, some are very high quality and some are simply rubbish. All of the systems available are potential nightmares when they fail to work as you expected. In most cases there is a simple fix for your problem. A few simple tests are all you need to find and correct the fault.
Fault finding in an electronic fence can be a frustrating and time-consuming exercise as often the problem is a combination of faults. Imagine trying to find a bad connection of the boundary wire to the controller by using a collar with a low battery. This will give all sorts of false and confusing results. The way to tackle your problem is to break the fence system down into its 3 main parts and then test each part separately. The 3 parts we will be testing are:
Transmitter or Controller
Boundary Wire
Collar Receiver
Transmitter.
The best way to test your transmitter is to disconnect your boundary wire and connect at least 30 feet (10 meters) of new wire. Lay the wire out in a circle and make sure to twist the last 3 feet (1 meter) before it connects to the transmitter. Turn on the transmitter and check the “power LED” is illuminated. If the power LED does not come on you have 1 of 2 problems. The power supply (usually a 12 volt plug pack) unit has failed or the transmitter is faulty. If you have a multimeter you can test the output from the power supply to determine if it is working. It is also a good idea to test the power supply in a different power outlet.
The transmitter should also have the “loop indicator ” illuminated. An illuminated power LED but no illuminated loop indicator LED indicates the transmitter is faulty and needs to be replaced or returned for repairs. Rechargeable LED Dog Collars Double check that you have stripped enough insulation from the ends of the boundary wires and that they are making a good contact with the transmitter.
The next step is to disconnect one of the boundary wires, this should produce the break indicator warning, normally a flashing light and an audible alarm tone. If you do not get an alarm to indicate a wire break, the transmitter is faulty.
Boundary Wire.
Now that we know the transmitter is working we can reconnect the boundary wire. The boundary wire is the simplest of all to test but the most frustrating to fix. The transmitter power LED and the loop indicator LED should be illuminated. A break indicator alarm will confirm that the boundary wire has been broken. Your problem now is to find the break in the wire, if the wire has been buried this can be a difficult exercise. Locating and repairing a wire break will be covered in a future article.
Receiver Collars.
The first thing to do when testing a collar is to replace the battery with a fresh one. In the case of rechargeable collars this can be a difficult and expensive exercise. Make sure the collar is fully charged and is holding it's charge, rechargeable batteries do not last forever and often they have a life span of less than 18 months. Low or flat batteries will result in confusing and inconsistent performance.