Patriot PE2 Electric Fence Energizer Plus 250-Feet Made in U.S.A. 17 Gauge Spool Aluminum Wire for Containing Pets and Keeping Out Small Nuisance Animals

Electric fence chargers have changed a bit since I was a kid. So I was nervous about getting one to keep my dogs from tearing up my new wood fence. I read a few reviews about this unit not working, and had to wonder if the reviewers were on to a problem, or didn't have it grounded well enough, or connected wrong, or something else. So, when I got the unit, I carefully read and reread all the instructions.I had also ordered some electric fence insulated stand-offs, and a gate hook. Those came the same day as the charger. I had also ordered a yard long metal grounding rod, which had not shipped yet. I got the fence wire installed and terminated it by wrapping and twisting it around the last insulator. For a ground, I clamped the ground wire onto the galvanized steel pipe fence post. I knew the posts went a couple of feet below the concrete base into damp soil beside the house. I had concerns that it did not go deep enough, and that the top soil under the fence was too dry.Childhood memories kept me from touching it to see if it was working. So, I got my volt meter and set it to the highest setting, and touched the probes to the two wires as they came from the charger. It burned out my meter, so I knew it was getting power to the fence wire. I thought that, since I was wearing rubber soled sneakers, nothing much would happen if I touched the fence. But just then, one of the dogs came outside and ran over to the hole they had torn in the wood fence, and sniffed the wire. There was a loud yelp, he jumped back and sat down, with a shocked expression. Then ran back into the house. Clearly, my two inch steel pipe in a couple of feet of damp soil was enough of a ground to overcome the resistance of the dry soil.The other dog had the same experience, and we have had no more problems with the dogs breaking or ripping pickets off the fence. No animal, human or otherwise, has been harmed. The jolt is just very unpleasant and lasts a fraction of a second, with a few seconds between surges, plenty of time to recoil and break contact.The aluminum wire that came with the unit in this package is very light and flexible, but keeps its tension well once you put it up. it doesn't sag much in hot weather or tighten up much in cold. The fence and charger have stood up well to some heavy wind and rain. I thought steel wire might be better, but the aluminum seems to be make a better fence.The a/c cord on the charger is a bit short, but since I had to run a long outdoor extension cord to it anyway, I just tied it up to the fence and made a drip loop when plugging it in, to keep water out of the plug connection. I have seen a big surge in my electric bill, so it doesn't use a lot of power.I do miss the mechanical clicking of the big, old metal boxes of years ago. I have limited vision and cannot see the flashing led on the front of this plastic housing. But for a person with decent eyesight, the led is probably a lot better than hearing the clicking all night long.The main things I've learned in setting up this electric fence are:1. Grounding is everything, the deeper, the better, and even better if the soil is damp.2. Dry soil under the fence will still complete the circuit, but a bit of dampness is even better.3. If you are standing on dry soil and wearing shoes that offer some insulation, and touch the fence, it may seem like it is not working. Take your shoes off and try again. Animals are not wearing shoes.4. Keep plants and all other matter from touching the wire, they drain the charge from the wire.My big dog is still trying to lead me away from and protect me from that monster that bites all along the fence. I guess it leaves a lasting impression.

I bought one unit to test it out along a new fence line to deter my two dogs from digging and biting at the fence. I have a pit-bull and a german shepherd, both around 50-60 pounds.At first the grounding wire wasn't installed correctly, and both my boyfriend and I could feel static but it wasn't really a shock. We then grounded it to a chain-link fence post we had. This almost knocked my boyfriend on the ground so we ended up using a third grounding method and used a small grounding rod like suggested. This was just the right amount of shock to deter both large dogs but not harm them (or my boyfriend lol).Long story short, grounding properly is key. I ended up buying another one for the other side of my yard and I'm very happy with them.

I ordered a brand new unopened product and received a refurbished unit maybe because the package was opened and squished the box itself was not but it works it was really simple and easy to set up and install and it definitely works overall it's a good value for the money and I would recommend it

I was afraid to hook this up per instructions. They were very nice about returning the item.

Short Summary: This "kit" of electric fence and wires worked great, but it isn't strong enough to deter raccoons, so I kept the fence and upgraded the unit to a more powerful. The measure of how strong a shock it gives is the "Output Joules". The Patriot PE2 is 0.1 output joules. I upgraded to a 2.0 output joule fence (so 20 times as powerful as this unit) and that is enough to keep the raccoons out.Longer Explanation: Raccoons come onto our back deck every single night, 2 or 3 times a night. They catch little bugs and crickets on the deck, then wash their food in our small pool every night, which is super adorable (I setup cameras to view their nighttime activities). However, the raccoons also walk by our glass sliding doors that lead out onto our back deck, and our small little two dogs sleep inside (on the other side of the glass sliding doors). This means the dogs lose their minds at 3am and the barking wakes us up and I have to deal with dogs. (sigh)So I bought this Patriot PE2 Electric Fence and the 250 foot Aluminum wire spool, plus some plastic offsets found elsewhere on Amazon, and put up a 3 wire electric fence. Oh, I also bought an ALLOSUN Electric Fence Tester (about $30) to make sure the fence was working. This is where the bottom wire is "hot/live" about 3 inches above the deck along the outside of the railing, then 4 inches above that is a ground wire, then 4 inches above that is another hot wire. I had to purchase an extra roll of the Aluminum wire, and in the end it was probably about 330 feet broken down into 110 feet of "hot" at bottom, 110 feet of ground wire, and 110 feet of another "hot" wire at the top.This setup IMMEDIATELY changed the raccoons behavior. It defeated them from coming onto the deck for about 5 days. Then the raccoons decided they missed the crickets for food and missed the little swimming pool, and I have video of them squeezing through the live electric fence!! For the next 4 days they would just endure the shock to get onto the deck, sometimes mangling the electric fence a little bit (easily repaired) then when they want to leave they don't even get shocked at all. to leave, the raccoons climb up a little rock wall, and dive like a flying squirrel over the top of the electric fence landing in some soft bushes. It's totally amusing to watch. They clearly want to avoid the electric fence, they also want to eat crickets and play in the pool, LOL.So I bought a more powerful unit that instead of 0.1 output joules is 2.0 output joules. It happens to be the Zareba EAC50M-Z, but I think these units are all the same except for the output joules. I didn't have to rewire a SINGLE THING, other than disconnecting the PE2 and connecting the Zareba. And ever since that moment, no raccoon has ever come onto my deck. This means the wiring was flawless, these PE2 just doesn't enough of a shock to deter a determined raccoon. :-)

I attached this to my chain link fence with isolators of course to teach my dogs when we moved into town that they don't need to be jumping on the fence or trying to jump over it. We lived in the country and they were accustomed to being able to run all over the place but they learn quickly I think they've only touched it three or four times and that was enough I keep it hooked up for now just in case they decided to start jumping up on the fence again then I may have to plug it in I have friends that have had these for their animals and left them on for 2 to 3 years with no problems and are still using them today good product