Lightning Protection: Keeps Your Energizer Safe from Storm Damage
Lightning protection catches overvoltage before it reaches your energizer. Here you will find compact units and lightning chokes for mains energizers.
AKO Electric Fence Lightning Protection Unit for Mobile Battery Devices
Regular price: €17.60
Lightning Protection: Safety for Your Energizer in a Storm
An electric fence is often hundreds of metres long and stands exposed in the landscape. If lightning strikes nearby, the overvoltage can travel along the conductor to the energizer and destroy the electronics. Lightning protection diverts this voltage through its own earth before it reaches the electric fence energizer. With 230V mains energizers that are permanently connected to the fence in particular, this is a sensible safeguard.
How Lightning Protection Works
The lightning protection is fitted between the fence and the energizer. In normal operation it lets the fence pulses through unhindered. If the voltage rises sharply because of lightning, it jumps across a spark gap onto a separate earth stake. A lightning choke strengthens this effect: it slows the fast voltage surge so that it prefers to take the route across the spark gap into the ground rather than into the energizer.
Fitting It Correctly
What matters is a separate earth for the lightning protection, at some distance from the energizer earth. That way the overvoltage does not flow back through the energizer earth. The lightning protection is best placed where the lead out from the energizer runs to the fence. Compact models also suit small installations. Lightning protection does not offer complete protection against a direct strike, but it clearly reduces the risk of damage from storms in the surrounding area. When severe weather is forecast, it still makes sense to unplug mains energizers from the power supply as well.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need lightning protection for a battery energizer too?
Battery and rechargeable energizers can also be damaged by overvoltage. On long fences in exposed locations, lightning protection is therefore worthwhile as well, while the risk is lower on small mobile fences.
How far should the lightning protection earth be from the energizer earth?
As a rule of thumb, keep several metres between them so that the two earths do not affect each other. The greater the distance, the better.
How can I tell if my energizer has been damaged by lightning?
Typical signs are an energizer that no longer pulses, a weak voltage despite good earthing or visible scorch marks. In that case a specialist should check the energizer.
Lightning Protection for Electric Fence Energizers
If your energizer is permanently connected to a long paddock fence, lightning protection is worth having as a small insurance policy. It sits between the energizer and the fence and diverts overvoltage during a thunderstorm across a spark gap into a separate earth. The lightning choke strengthens this effect by keeping the voltage surge away from the energizer. For smaller installations there is a compact unit that takes up little space and is quickly fitted. For it to work, a separate earth a few metres away from the energizer earth is important. With 230V mains energizers it also makes sense to disconnect them from the power supply during a heavy storm. That way you protect your equipment twice over and do not have to worry about your energizer after a summer storm. A regular look at the spark gap shows you whether everything is in order.