Harbor Freight Solar fencer

cowboy joe · #1 05/25/10, 06:01 AM

Received a flyer in yesterday's mail which had this solar fencer advertised for $49.99:

http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-fencer-47454.html

Don't know if I'd trust it for larger livestock but thinking this might be an option for a predator deterrent for a portable chicken / rabbit tractors I'm building. Any thoughts or opinions? Thanks.

huisjen · #2 05/25/10, 07:18 AM

Input voltage is listed as 8.7 volts, but it comes with a 6 volt battery. Something's not right there.

Dan

rambler · #3 05/25/10, 07:44 AM

I got one a few years ago, it's still hanging on the post, shgould just scrap it out but not worth the effort. Mine doesn't work worth a hoot. Donno if it's just mine, or they all are worthless.

I have some good buys from HF, but this is probably the least.

--->Paul

wy_white_wolf · #4 05/25/10, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by huisjen

Input voltage is listed as 8.7 volts, but it comes with a 6 volt battery. Something's not right there.

Dan

Input would be the maximun voltage output of the solar panel. That is correct as a nominal 6V battery is actual 7.2 volts fully charged and you would need at least 1 volt over that to reach full charge.

cowboy joe · #5 05/25/10, 12:04 PM

Yeah, I've made some good buys & some not so good buys from HF. I recently purchased a greenhouse window opener from them. It fell apart in the box. Fortunately, I was planning on doing a few modifications anyway so it worked to to less than half the cost of what the greenhouse supply houses were asking.

Was thinking of making my own charger from an old TV flyback transformer but figured it would be quicker & possibly less expensive to buy pre-made. The units from HF are on back order anyway so I'll have time to mull it over.

badlander · #6 05/25/10, 12:13 PM

We just purchased a 45 watt solar unit from them for general home useage. We've tested one of the panels and it was working perfectly. We are hooking up all three this weekend and hoping for the best.

So far so good as far as our purchases from HF are concerned, but we are careful to check out what we buy and usually shoot for their middle of the road price when we buy anything from them.

badlander · #7 05/25/10, 12:23 PM

We just purchased a 45 watt solar unit from them for general home useage. We've tested one of the panels and it was working perfectly. We are hooking up all three this weekend and hoping for the best.

So far so good as far as our purchases from HF are concerned, but we are careful to check out what we buy and usually shoot for their middle of the road price when we buy anything from them.

RJMAcres · #8 05/25/10, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rambler

I got one a few years ago, it's still hanging on the post, shgould just scrap it out but not worth the effort. Mine doesn't work worth a hoot. Donno if it's just mine, or they all are worthless.

I have some good buys from HF, but this is probably the least.

--->Paul

Same here.
Mine never did work right.
Tossed it on the shelf and called it good.

Hogleg · #9 05/25/10, 03:07 PM

I have just upgraded my charger. I used the Parmak Magnum-12 for 2 years while I was getting my permanent fencing going. Very powerful. Ran it off of a deep cycle battery. I would drag out a charger to the battery or battery to the charger around every 90 days. Bet a solar trickle charger would work good on it but never tried it. Had plenty of power and was almost foolproof. Upgraded because I now have enough permanent HT fencing that it would not hold over 3500 volts. Upgraded to the SE-4 and now have a bunch more power - 8000 volts. That keeps the animals in, for sure.