Comments on: Connecting and Testing

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:39:16 +0000

Hi – First, I have found your website to very helpful, but have a couple of site-specific questions.

First, my husband has heard that the “wired” systems tend to work very well until the wire gets cut, which requires time-consuming trouble-shooting or replacing the whole line. How common is this breakage? Is it worth the worry?

Second, I have been reading the reviews and comments about the wireless systems and they do not seem as consistent, but may be our best option (if my husband does not want the hassle of fixing broken wires). Are there any wireless systems with Waterproof collars? We have a pond behind our house that would be part of the radius that the dog would be allowed to roam.

Also about the wireless, we have a full walk-out basement behind our house with retaining walls (about 7 feet tall each) that extend to daylight. If we put the wireless unit high in the first floor (not basement) or somewhere in the second floor, should the wireless system work properly?

We only have two trees in our yard, and a gently rolling landscape, so I do not think the wireless will get interference from anything else.

ADMIN – Hi Sarah,

The wired fences are more time intensive to install and will require the occasional break repair, but are well worth the effort. The wired systems give you a much more reliable field which makes training easy – the temperamental nature of wireless makes them hard to train a dog with, even if they do work in you situation.

Wire breaks do happen, but if you are careful when you install the wire to protect the vulnerable parts (wherever the wire crosses a pathway or driveway and might be hit by an edger), then you can avoid the majority of breaks. How common are breaks? Hard to give a precise answer on that, if installed with an eye toward avoiding break I think the average owner gets a break every 2-3 years. Finding a break, with a break detector should take about an hour for an average 500 foot installation.

The Havahart Radial and Havahart Custom collars are waterproof and can handle swimming. Placing a radial wireless system transmitter on your first floor would be your best bet for getting a signal, but since the signals have a more difficult path to get outside. This reduces your chance of success with a wireless system.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:23:07 +0000

I have two dog collars and one gives the warning beeps but the other collar does not. Why would that be?

ADMIN – Hi Jeff,

Assuming both collar are the same type, and batteries are good, the collar that is not being triggered is defective.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:20:27 +0000

I have a long stretch of twisted wire and I am getting a tone with the collar over it. Do you connect both ends of the twisted wire to the boundary wire and the transmitter?

ADMIN – Hi Alan,

Each end of the twisted wire should have two loose ends. The two ends on one side will connect to the two terminals of the transmitter (one on each terminal). The two ends on the other side of the twisted wire should each connect to one of the sides of the boundary loop. If you are getting a tone, it is likely that the twisted wire is not correctly connected. For more details and some diagrams, check out the Installation –> Twisted Wire section of the website.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:41:37 +0000

Hello my wife and I are looking to purchase a system, more than likely the Innotek 4100, and we were wondering about the connections of the boundary wire. I use crimp-able wire terminal inline splices at work and wondered if these would work to connect the boundary wire to the next 500 feet. they crimp like normal wire splices and also have heat shrinkable ends to seal the splice to eliminate any inclement weather getting into the connections. we have a 5 acre square property with a levee and several barns on the property.

ADMIN – Hi Michael,
Yes, those splices will work well and the waterproofing will be great.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:18:48 +0000

Hi, I have an ICT 725 and I am getting a blinking green light with a beep. I will disconnect the unit and after reconnecting it will take some time for the beep to start up and there is a minute or so between beeps. Do you know what this means?

ADMIN – Hi Mark,
Unfortunately, you’ll need to contact the local installer for the Invisible Fence. This is not a brand we sell or troubleshoot.

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:19:05 +0000

Hi, I bought a house that has an invisible fence system. How can I find the exact location of the burried wire so I can set my flags and start training?

ADMIN – Hi Jay,

When you plug in your fence, you’ll use the collar to locate the edge of the boundary to set up flags. This may take some trial and error, but you should be able to locate it as long as the wire is intact.

By: Chad braswell

Chad braswell — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:51:45 +0000

we have ict 725 and I lost the fuse. do you know the fuse size or replacement? thanks

ADMIN – Hi Chad,

Unfortunately, no. The best person to call would be your local Invisible Fence installer.

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 15:28:53 +0000

Great site! Thanks for the information. I have a ICT 725 and am confused as to how the coarse and fine adjustments on the panel work. As I understand the manual, I’m suppose to set the coarse to get the width of the signal emitted from the buried wire. But what does the fine adjustment do? How do these two adjustments work together? Can you explain?

Regards,

Steve

ADMIN – Hi Steve,

Thanks for the feedback. You use the coarse adjustment to set the overall boundary width. The fine adjustment is used to tweak the boundary to your exact goal. So, with the coarse adjustment you get it close to what you need and use the fine adjustment to make it perfect.

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:43:39 +0000

Hello, I recently installed a 4100 system with 2000 feet of wire. I have one section that is about 250 feet long that I get no signal with either of the two collars. I have no neighbors and it is over a 100 feet from any other electrical lines and the house. The light on the control says everything is fine. I am stumped. Another problem I have is that one collar will signal at the edge of the boundary area and then you can walk away from that area and walk back through the exact same spot and cross the wire with no signal. I can not seem to get any consistency out of that collar. Thank you for your help and the great website.

ADMIN – Hi Ken,

It sounds like you may have a partial break; I would go check all the splices close to the area there the wire is dead. More times than not if you are having problems with the initial install, one of your splices is not making a great connection.

By: Jamie Grenier

Jamie Grenier — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:07:52 +0000

I have a pet safe underground fence. I have had to run 1500 Feet of wire to get around the Acreage. Checked my splices and they are good. Is 1500 feet too far. I could run two loops if so ?

Admin – Hi Jamie,

You should be able to install 1500 feet of wire with no issues. Most PetSafe systems can contain anywhere from 10-25 acres. You can run a second loop from the boundary wire. You would simply splice into the outside boundary wire and run twisted wire to the new area you wish to enclose. Please view our install page for exclusion zone.

Exclusion zone: http://www.dogfencediy.com/installation/plan/#exclusion