Wire for an Electronic Dog Fence
16 Gauge Wire vs. 18 Gauge Wire vs. 20 Gauge Wire (thick vs. thin)
Most systems include a reel of wire for you to use, usually 20 gauge wire.
But systems will generally accept any wire between 16 and 20 gauge, the latter being thinner than the former. We have heard suggestions that thicker wire (e.g. 16 gauge or 18 gauge) is superior since it is less likely to break. We are agnostic. Our experience has been that the thinner 20 gauge wire is just as good. Anything that breaks the thin wire will also likely break the thicker wire, so we do not think there is any advantage using the thicker more expensive wire.
Thinner wire has the advantage of being easier to work with since it is more flexible. In particular I would avoid 16 gauge because it is much too stiff to easily work with.
That said, the price difference between the thin wire and the thick wire will likely be less than twenty dollars, so if you feel more comfortable with the thicker wire, go for it. Just try not to mix different gauges of wire, it is not the end of the world if you do, but it will result in somewhat more variable field widths.
A note on availability, the thinner 20 and 18 gauge wire is somewhat hard to buy, not being available at most hardware stores like Home Depot, Loews or Ace, that only stock 16 gauge wire. The easiest place to get more 20 or 18 gauge wire is to order it from the supplier that sold you the system. It should also be cheaper than the 16 gauge wire available at the home improvement stores. To get 20 and 18 gauge wire locally, try your nearest electrical supply stores and ask if they stock reels of “single strand 20 gauge wire.” (note, most are not open on weekends, so time your visit during the week)
Twisted Wire
You need to use twisted wire to run between the transmitter box and the boundary, and for any other place where you do not want the wire to trigger the receiver collar. By twisting two wires together, the radio wave cancel each other out and thus the dog can walk over the twisted wire without getting a correction.
The easiest way to get twisted wire is to buy it. You can usually buy twisted wire from the people that sold you your system. It will cost you around $25.
You can also make your own twisted wire. First decide how much you will need and cut two single pieces of wire double that length (twisting the wire makes it shorter). Tape the two pieces of wire together at both ends using some masking or electrical tape. Now tape one of those ends to an electric drill and hold the other end in your hand. Turn on the drill and let it twist the wires together until you have about four twists per inch. This is harder on the thicker gauges of wire, with 16 gauge wire it is very difficult so use a thinner gauge for the twisted section.
For more details on twisted wire, take a look at the following tutorial video:
Our Most Popular Pages
dog fence review ~ best dog fence ~ pig00 10773 review ~ sdf 100 ~ wire trencher ~ pig00 10777 ~ dog electric fences ~ wifi dog fence review ~ petsafe prf 3004w ~ dog fence twisted wire ~ wireless containment fence reviews ~ petsafe wireless fence reviews ~ dogtek ~ dog containment fence ~ bury dog fence wire ~ hc 8000 ~ sd 2000 ~ stapling dog fence wire ~ ht-023 ~ electric dog fence installation ~ innotek ultrasmart contain n train ~ perimeter dog fence ~ dog training fence ~ prf 304w ~ sd 3000 ~ ef3000 gold ~ innotek ultrasmart ~ sd 2100 ~ driveways and pathways
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
can the wire be twisted too tight and cause the entire system not to work?
ADMIN – you want to do about four twists per inch, but that does not need to be perfect. We have never heard of a system not working due to overtwisting, unless that overtwisting causes a break in the wire.
I am going to have the transmitter in my garage which is on one side of my house, then I am going to lay wire around the perimiter of the back yard which is 600 feet ending up at the opposite end of the property/house. I would need to some how get the end of the wire back to the garage which is 60 plus feet away.
My main concern is that that wire will have to go right through/past the porches that I want my dog to have access to. I cannot see how the twisted wire will help me in this senario..
The only thing I can see is to double back all the way around the yard as I have seen in some drawings…. that just seems to be a waste of wire.
thanks
ADMIN – Hi Darwin,
You are right the twisted wire does not help here. Doubling back would be one option.
Another would be to run the wire up the downspout on one side of your house, through the guttering and down the downspout on the opposite side. The vertical clearance should let the dog still get thought the back door.
A final option would be to run the wire around the front of the house.
Hope that helps.
I have one small section that I would like the dogs to cross over. Can I splice twisted wire into a 12 ft section of the boundry wire? From the drawing plan on the website it looks like a splice then boundry wire then another splice of twisted then boundry around the shed structure. But then I read the post about the porch so I’m confused.
What I want to do is have a shock free section of the boundry wire. How do I do this, I have a couple acres that I don’t want to have to double back on. thanks
ADMIN – Hi Susan,
There is no easy way to create a section of the boundary loop that does not have a correction. You cannot splice the twisted pair of wires into part of the boundary loop.
The only way to create a non-active section of the outer boundary loop is to:
1. go high above that section so that the wire is high enough that the dog does not get the correction down below.
2. go down below that section so that the wire is down far enough that the dog does not get the correction when it crosses over.
Twisted wire is primarily used to connect the boundary loop to the transmitter box. Unforuntatlely it cannot be used as part of the boundary loop.
I have an older Invisible Fence transmitter ICT700 and I need to buy Perimeter wire (800′+-)Invisible fence company sells 14g can I use 20g without a problem
Admin – Hi Barry,
Yes, you can use regular 20-gauge wire without any problem.
In every illustration I have found, it seems twisted wire leading to the transmitter is required. I plan to have the transmitter in my garage. The plan is to have the wires out one side of the garage mounted up in the garage rafters (where the garage acts as part of the boundary, and the other lead directly out the opposite side wall – direct wires out each side of the transmitter to form the loop. Am I missing something? Do I need any twisted wires and splices at all?
ADMIN – Hi Eric,
You don’t need to start with twisted wire. It seems like in your installation that it will not be necessary. The reason most people use a small section of twisted wire to start the installation is that they want a non-correction section that gets them out to the main loop. With your installation, where the garage is part of the boundary, a non-active twisted wire section is both unecessary and undesirable.
How far into the ground will the wire have to be placed for a section not to pick up the signal?
Hi Garrett,
The wire will have to be buried very deep. The exact depth will depend on how high you have the boundary width set, but at least one foot if you want there to be no signal at the surface. Burying at one foot is difficult, and I would strongly suggest that you use another method to create a no signal section. If you tell us more about your layout, we can usually find an easier solution!
I will be running a 2000′ loop around my property. The question that I have is this. What is the max distance that I can run twisted wire from the box out to start my boundary,and will the large size of the boundry effect this twisted wire distance ?
ADMIN – Hi Mike,
There is no limit on the amount of twisted wire your system can use. The 2000′ loop is not an issue, provided your system can handle the combined length of the twisted wire and the loop. If you are using something for big yards like the SportDog or the Innotek IUC-4100 then you are well within the capacity of the system.
How do I bury the perimeter cable under a 16 foot width of sidewalk that I want included?
ADMIN – Hi Sean,
The easiest way to buy the cable under the sidewalk would be to cut a shallow groove across the sidewalk with a circular saw, place the cable in the groove and then calk over it. If there is already an expansion joint in place use this instead.
Hello,
Which is better, strained wire or solid wire? thanks
ADMIN – Hi Rodger,
There is no significant difference in performance whether you use the stranded or solid wire. The stranded is a little easier to work with, the solid is a little more corossion resistant. But, they are still very close and either will work very well for this application.
Has anyone tried using shielded wire for producing dead spots in the loop? I’m thinking that something like TV cable, with the braided shield grounded, to get around a porch without having to use a double loop with twisted wire.
For creating dead spots in the wire, can you do a three wire twist? If I understand correctly, in order to create a dead spot, you have to twist wire with the current headed in opposite directions. This is good for getting from one loop to another isolated loop, like a flower bed. I’m trying to create one single loop around my back yard, including the back of my house where the back door is. I want the dog to be able to pass through the back door without getting a shock. What I was wondering is if I take the wire past the back door a few feet, then go back with the wire in that same area (that gives me the two wires to twist), then come back one more time with the wire. If I twist all three of these sections of the wire, will that cancel the signal, or will having that extra strand enable the signal to be preserved (and my dog will get shocked)?
Thanks,
Dave
ADMIN – Hi Dave,
Clever idea, but unforunately you cannot do a three wire section – the signal will still be present and the dog will still get the correction. There are a few ways to do a backyard only that you can see in our planning section.
This site is great. Wish it was around 5 years ago when I was installing my own here on 14 acres.
I laid down 340o ft of stranded 14 gauge (no not buried, its also through woods and bramble). Rabbits chewed through it in multiple places. So I ordered 4000 ft of 10 gauge solid. They don’t chew through that, and the cost (a few hundred) is a lot less than a half mile of trenching. So if you are not going to bury it, get heavy solid core. Its a few hundred dollars well spent on a large system. I even looked at getting aluminum 6 gauge wire in a huge roll (as for power wires) – If I had do it again I would perhaps use that – no splices. Also you get a nice low total resistance (about 10 ohms on my system).
Also as a physicist I know that twisting the wires is not really needed – for the frequencies that these things work at using wire like lamp cord (I used 16-2 house wiring which is really sturdy and fairly cheap) will work as well. If you do use a twisted method you do need to be carful that the lengths of each wire are the same – if one is shorter than the other then you might get some signal leaking out. My guess would be that not getting the twisted pair of wires each the same length is a problem.
Like the other people I would like to do one loop around the back yard. The backdoor exits to a deck that is about 18 inches off the ground, and the dog carries the collar with receiver at least a foot off the deck. So if I run the wire under the deck the total distance from wire to receiver will be about 30 inches.
Would a 30 inch distance be enough to let the dog get out the door? Can I adjust the RF signal strength so 30 inches is enough and still have the fence effective (it is an inexpensive Innotek)? Will using shielded television co-ax partially attenuate the signal under the deck?
ADMIN – Hi Guy,
You could adjust the boundary width distance to say 12 inches. It would be hard to train the dog with such a thin boundary. I would suggest you try another route. You could not set it to more than 18 inches, otherwise you would get the dog getting the corection every time they lay down and also the boundary is not precise down to the inch, so you don’t want to set ti so agressively that there is no margin for safety.
We have never seen good results from shielding.
Thanks in advance,
Guy
I am planning to install a loop around my backyard on 3 sides with the house being the 4th side. Is it possible to use shielded TV coaxial cable for the wire along the side of the house with the dog access door? I have read your claim of poor success with coaxial cable, and I can understand how it would not be effective if left ungrounded. However, you never said if the homeowners installed a GROUNDED connection to the outer shield braided wire to make the shield work.
ADMIN – Hi Randy,
You can certainly give it a shot. We have tried a bunch of things to shield the signal in one section but none has proved fruitful, nor have we ever had a customer successfully do it. Don’t want to be doom and gloom, we would love to see it successfully done … it would be very useful and we would love to hear if anyone does it successfully, but I would not bank on it.
What most people do to complete the loop is run the wire up a downspout on one side of their home, along the gutter and down the downspout on the other side. That vertical height separation is usually enough to let the dog come in and out of the house at liberty.
can a “Dead Zone” be created by running wire through a section of metal pipe ( ? if copper better shield than galvanized iron) ,or within a section of 2 pipes with one inside the other, a combination of pipe & burying in ground ?
ADMIN – Hi Ken,
There is no good way to shield the wire that we have discovered. Encasing the wire in a metal pipe does not help, nor does shielded wire. The best way to create a section with no correction is to modify the layout so that the wire either bypasses the area, passes high over or low below the intended dead zone.
My basic plan is to have an irregular 3.5 acre loop, on one end I would like to have a dead zone of approx 15 ft in order to allow access to a creek. I seem to be getting that the only way to do this is to bury the cable more than 1ft or elevate the wire more than 6 feet?
Is this correct, I can not just splice in twisted wire for this section?
Also, If I order from you, can I pre measure all footage and get an excact quote with 2 collars and all needed wire?
ADMIN – Hi Pat,
Correct, you have to either go down deep (depending on your boundary width settings you will probably need to go down (2+ feet), or up very high. Most people go high, and string the wire up a tree and across to another tree,
As you rightly surmised you cannot splice in a twisted wire section.
We would be happy to give you a quote. Wire is only sold in 500ft increments and my best guess is that with 3.5 acres you will need a total of 2,000 feet.
I have an Invisible Fence Brand system that I am going to move to another house. I wanted to just move the unit and leave the wire and put down new wire at the new house. Can I use any wire with the invisible fence brand system or do I need to go through the dealer to get more wire?
Also I am getting another dog, is there a different brand collar I can buy, or do I have to purchase an Invisible Fence Brand collar from a dealer?
ADMIN – Hi Waylon,
For an Invisible Fence Brand system, you don’t need to get any particular brand of wire. But try and match the gauge of wire to your old system for best results (12 gauge or 14 gauge), but if it is expensive or hard to find you can also use the standard 20 gauge for smaller installations. You can get this wire at a hardware store (get wire rated for direct burial if possible) or your local invisible fence dealer.
You can get extra collars through your Invisible Fence dealer, we also sell an Invisible Fence compatible collar for $150.
Hi, I have just bought an underground electric fence for my dogs, but I wanted to buy more wire so i can make the boundary bigger. Can I just connect the wire together to make it bigger or how would that work??
ADMIN – Hi Deanne,
You can add more wire to the system to make the boundary bigger. (just make sure you don’t go over the limit for your system, for example the PetSafe Stubborn has a limit of 10 acres and the Innotek IUC-4100 has a limit of 25 acres). You connect the wire together using a waterproof wire splice that is included in our boundary kits, or that you can get at any hardware store.
I was thinking of running the wire in the basement, at the base of the wall, along the back of my house so that I can continue the loop and allow my dog to enter through the rear doors. Will it be a problem to run the wire behind appliances or will that cause interference?
ADMIN – Hi Rick,
When running wire through the basement, just be sure you aren’t getting any signal up on the floor above. Walk around with the collar at floor level and make sure it is not inadvertently going up through the floor. When you run the wire near and parallel to large metal appliances like a washer, or a dryer sometimes the signal will jump into the sheet metal and it will be as if this metal was part of the boundary, meanign the dog cannot approach the appliance.
1.) We live heavily forested area full of wildlife. Our 6 foot chainlink fence does not contain our dogs because raccoons and mountain beaver are constantly tunneling under our fence, and bears climb the fence when the apples are ripe. I’m worried that the tunneling animals will break the wire. Can the wire be woven through a chainlink fence, or will the metal fence interfere?
2) Our home has a metal roof, and I want enclose several acres in a backyard only instalation. To complete the loop, can I take the wire up along the roof line, or will the roof amplify the signal?
Monique
ADMIN – Hi Monique,
(1) You are fine running it along a chain link fence. In fact, I think if there is a fence in place, running it along the fence is a little better because it makes installation a lot easier, you get breaks a little less often, and finding and repairing breaks is easier. Just keep the wire above the ground so it does not get hit by an errant weed whacker. Chain link fences aren’t a concern with the signal jumping into the fence. That is really more of a concern with sheet metal.
What happens when you have long parallel stretches of sheet metal and the wire is that sometimes the signal gets induced in the sheet metal and then the metal acts like it is part of the fence. This is fine for most people, but sometimes it will cause prbolems if the sheet metal fence goes somewhere you do want the dogs to have access.
(2) A sheet metal roof is a bit more of a concern. The whole roof could become active, although even if that happens, the signal should not go down far enough to reach the dogs at ground level. I would be comfortable running the wire along the roof line, but as always I want to check with the collar that the signal is not going anywhere unwanted before I put the collar on the dogs. If anything like that happens, then I would instead run the wire tight around the front of the house.
Let us know if you need any further assistance!
I am laying a 1000′ boundary loop, which includes about 200′ along a lake. My unit is a PetSafe Deluxe, model RF-304W-11. I would like the dogs to be able to go out to the dock, which has an access ramp which is about 1-1/2 ‘ above the ground. I understand that burying the wire may provide some signal shielding. What would happen if, under the ramp to the dock, I were to run a short section of the wire out into the lake (into about 3′ of water)? This would lengthen the distance between the wire and where the dogs would be. Would this work? Would the system performance be affected by the submerged wire? Are there any other consequences?
ADMIN – Hi Larry,
You would be fine running the wire throught the water, but we would want the wire to be about six feet below the dock level depending on how wide we set the boundary width. Remember you always want to have a bit of safety space when you are going under or over the dog. The water does provide a bit of shielding but the effect is far from dramatic and remember if you have a tidal waterway, you want to test during low tide.
we bought 2000′ of 30 guage wire for our 2.5 acres… it is awefully thin guaged. We rolled it out, and it does work, but I’m concerned about its reliability once I bury it. Any experiences with 30 guage wire?
ADMIN – Hi Jerry,
30 gauge is very thin, almost like thread. If you get it installed you may be ok, since once the wire is buried the earth tends to protect it. But installation will be difficult, because even pulling hard on the wire will break it. I suggest you go up to something thicker, or put the wire in something protective like an irrigation pipe.
Wire vs. Cable:
I posted this because my back is a shambles. I have no discs at L3-S1. I have, however, dug up the dog wire (Radio systems RFA-1) that was not producing signal to the collar because it ran parallel, next to the newly laid Cable wire.(my hypothosis). I also have a power line buried under the same spot I ran the dog fence & cable (variable). I moved the dog wire 3 feet away from the cable & the collar works. Even where the dog wire is not over the power line & is next to the cable line, the collar did not work (I forget what this is called in scientific terms, but the light bulb went off over my head. I saw it!). Cable Kills the Dog Wire! Problem solved, please let everyone know because this has been both a very frustrating ordeal, & a painful one.
30 gauge wire….A followup question about the thin 30 gauge wire. Like other people may have found…30 gauge wire is sold rather cheaply. The question is…does the thin gauge affect signal strength/transmission?? I’ve used it but I can’t tell if the system is affected or not! Thanks
ADMIN – Hi Erik,
30 gauge wire results in having a weaker signal, reducing the capacity of a system (so a system rated for say 25 acres, could only do say 5 acres) and maximum boundary width (so a system that would have a maximum boundary width of 10 feet with regular 20 gauge may only have a boundary width of 3 feet) of a system.
But, the biggest problem with this ultra thin wire is not so much the diminution of signal strength but that it is extremely weak. It snaps very easily, and so does not hold up well during installation. Almost always. the wire is intended for use in electronics, not for outdoor burial – so the insulation is not the right kind for outdoor burial and degrades very quickly.
We are not wire fetishists, and don’t advocate spending big on ultra thick wire. But, 30 gauge is not intended for outdoor use, and is a bad idea. It leads to much more work, due to the need for frequent wire repair and replacement for a relatively minor savings.
I currently have Invisible fence Brand system in place with 10g wire. i run the wire into the lake for access but need to extend it because the signal seems to be stronger instead of weaker and i would like to give her access to the whole dock. i dont want to splice it in the water but hate to buy 300′ + of 10g. I had the guy at lowes tell me i needed outdoor wire…is thyere a different coating i should look for? also they have stranded but not solid (which is what i will be splicing to). can i mix the types and whateffects doess a smaller guage have?
ADMIN – Hi Larry,
Outdoor wire (It will say rated for direct burial or something similar) is better because the coating will be more resistant to water, soil acid, etc. Outdoor wire is usually some PET mix, rather than being PVC which is used in cheaper wire that is more suitable for indoor use. There is no difference between solid and stranded from a performance perspective. But, if possible when doing it underwater get solid – if the insulation fails and water gets in, solid will hold up better to corossion than stranded.
Try to use similar gauges in your installtion. When you mix wire gauges, the thicker gauge sections will have wider boundaries width than sections with thinner wire.
Great website. I’m doing a DIY buried install, and recently a professional installer advised me to buy his 16g wire rather than the Lowe’s/HD 16g wire, because his wire is designed for underground use and will last longer. Is there anything to this claim, as the installer’s wire is about twice the cost of big box wire? Specifically, how long would Cerro from Lowe’s/HD last versus a product with (presumably) more sheathing. If it helps, I’m not really concerned about having wire that will last and not corrode for 15 years, more like 5 to 10. Thanks in advance for any help.
ADMIN – Hi Dave,
No, he’s correct. The wire we sell is solid copper core insulated wire that’s rated for direct burial. The wire you’re using may work fine, but you may need to re-install new wire after 3 to 5 years. This is dependent on how acidic your soil is. You can buy direct burial wire from any local electrical supply store. Most Lowes and Home Depot stores don’t carry direct burial wire. However, some do.
We just moved into a house w/ an existing Invisible Fence system and the collars we bought from Invisible Fence aren’t working and Invisible Fence of WNY won’t return phone calls. We made sure the frequency was correct and that we have a green light in the transmitter but the new collars still don’t work. I’d like to purchase the Innotek system and replace the existing transmitters and receivers. Will the existing wire from Invisible Fence work w/ the Innotek system?
ADMIN – Hi Scott,
The existing Invisible Fence wire will work with any inground system, such as an Innotek. If you already have the Invisible Fence, it may be worth calling the Invisible Fence national number (1-866-804-1250). There is some regional variation in franchisee quality – but they are generally of a very high standard. I would be very surprised if they could not help you out. The price is high, but the service is usually very good.
I have a petsafe unit with 18g wire underground. i had a break in the back from some construction that was going on. the easiest way to fix was simply run all new wire along hte back of the yard. the local stores don’t have the petsafe 18g wire only the 20g which is what petsafe recommended. can i splice the current 18g wire with 20g for the 100ft section i need?
ADMIN – Hi Chris,
You can mix together different gauges of wire, but the sections with the 20 gauge wire will have a slightly narrower boundary width.
Can the terminal begin and end with the braided, non active wire? I need a square containment area with a break in it to allow access to the deck .It is at the same corner of the house where the transmitter will be located.. Can I use the braided wire at the beginning to get to my start area( just a few feet) and then end with it for about 30 ft to leave a gap for access? I was considering the idea of running it up the downspout as suggested, but the deck and my bedroom are higher and that downspout is right outside my bedroom window, I was afraid they would get corrected in my bedroom and possibly on the deck if they were wresting and jumping around. My Dane stands a couple feet high, so I wasn’t sure. Thanks so much for any help you can offer. As a single mom of two, I have become very DIY..lol
ADMIN – Hi Myra,
You can use the twisted (braided) wire to connect the system from the terminal block to the start of your square containment loop. That is the most common use for twisted wire, it gets you from wherever you put the control box, to where you want the active containment loop to start.
I have a Innotek underground system and it worked well for about 2 years and then it stopped working. When i tried to find the break in the 20g wire and repair it, i was unable to repair the area due to the wire being so brittle it just kept breaking everywhere. My dog now realizes that it is not working and is running away so I need to find a solution ASAP. I live in PA, so it gets really cold here in the winter. Would you suggest purchasing 18g or 16g wire and relaying the entire yard? Do you think the brittleness/breaking would occur again despite the thicker wire. Thanks!
ADMIN – Hi Lindsey,
The wire getting brittle is more to do with the insulation failing. You want to be sure when you pick out wire that it is rated for direct burial. Rregular housing wire tends to degrade in the soil. Using a thicker gauge won’t hurt either … but the most important thing is getting that direct burial wire.
If the wire is breaking down, I would not bother repairing it … I would just replace it all.
We have recently moved and reinstalled the fence around a new house, double loop to keep the dogs in the back yard but allow them access out the front door and side door. I recently purchased more wire, which I think is 16 g. We connected this with the smaller 20 g wire and was told that it would work fine by the salesman. I’m not sure if the 16 g wire is just old (abt 5 yrs) or if connecting these wires together has caused the problem. The fence works intermittently and will beep a few times a minute indicating a break in the line, but not a continual beep. Should I just start with new wire and toss the old stuff out. We do live in the mountains in Colorado, the wire is somewhat warn because it was not burried.
Thanks in advance!
Mundy
ADMIN – Hi Mundy,
The issues you’re having are directly attributed to the difference in wire gauge. It’s highly recommended to splice together the same gauge and type of wire. If the 20 gauge is solid copper, you’ll want to buy 20 gauge solid copper. You can possibly get away with a gauge that’s one off, like 18 gauge, but you definitely will confuse the transmitter and receive inconsistent operation when splicing something as different as 16 to 20.
HI, I live on 10 acres and I just got a Petsafe stubborn dog electric fence and im looking at wiring prices and gauges and such to in-circle my property.
My first question is, can I use basic wire that I can get from Lowes? Or does it have to be the special ‘Petsafe’ wire?
Whats the lowest gauge I can use with my system? I dont want it to go bad in a few years and I dont mind spending the extra money now to save me alot of time and money down the road trying to find the break in the wire.
Also, I have about 10,000ft of non-insulated galvanized steel wire 14 gauge that we used to fence in horses with, can I use this?
Thanks, this website has been EXTREMELY helpful!
ADMIN – Hi Chris,
You can use pretty much any single insulated wire – you don’t need PetSafe wire or any other brand. Where possible use wire that is direct burial rated. Wire intended for outdoor use has insulation that will no degrade in the soil like regular house wire. This means that the wire has a much longer lifespan. Anything 20 gauge or thicker is fine – we don’t see a lot of benefit from thicker wire from a break perspective. Anything that is going to cut through the thinner wires, such as a lawnmower of edger will just as easily slice through the thicker wire). The wire is available in some Lowes, Home Depot, and Ace. An even better source is your local electrical supply store.
I am getting ready to put my fence in. I live on a pine tree farm and my trees run beside 2 sides of my house. On those 2 sides i am wanting to run my #14 wire through the plastic water line you see in houses today called (peck) I think that is how you spell it? Is there a problem running the wire underground then through the pipe and then back in the ground? I just dont want to trench through the trees
ADMIN – Hi James,
As long as the pipe is not metal, I don’t see a problem with that at all.
I ran my wire around my back yard then came to the house and up the wall 4ft to the left of the patio door. I then continued 4ft over the door then down the wall 4ft to the right of the door. A strange thing is happening. When the patio door is slid open 10″ or less, the collar gives a correction at any height within the opening. If the door is open 10″ or more the collar does not give correction as you pass through. What could be causing this?
ADMIN – Hi Bob,
If the patio door is metal, it could be helping propagate the radio signal. If the boundary wire is run parallel to something metal, sometimes the signal will jump into that metal object. If you want to eliminate the problem, you can move the wires on either side of th door further out, or run them at an angle instead of parallel ot the door.