When thinking about which type of energiser to choose, the mains powered energisers are alway the ones that we'd recommend where possible.

These require a bit more planning and effort to get mounted and to run the cables out to your fence but in the long run they are considered the best for a permanent fencing solution. There are several reasons for this but primarily they will keep going with next to no maintenance. Just switch them on and forget about them.

Even in a situation where there is a bit of earth leakage these will power the fence with minimal consequences. More power will be consumed and the fence might not have the same amount of power going through it but unlike a battery energiser, it won't run out of energy. In a situation where there is a large leakage to earth (for instance a branch down over the fence) a battery energiser would drain the power in the battery far quicker than normal and may well empty the battery without it being realised. This may well result in animals escaping or worse, foxes gaining access to areas with free range poultry.

Some of the larger energisers have alarm systems on them which will sound if the current along the fenceline goes below 3000v. Normally these are on larger fencing units where they will be powering some large areas of ground and if there is a breakage this will usually be the first notification there is. Other mains units have a series of flashing lights that light up with each pulse. From this the current going along the fence is easily seen and any problems are easily visible.

To plumb a mains machine in it must be mounted near a 240v socket in a dry area (outhouse, barn, stable, etc) and will have to have the power taken out to the fence and have an earth stake attached. If they are very close by then you can get some connection leads to do this but normally there is a bit of a distance to travel and if it's to be a permanent solution then doing it with insulated lead out cable is best.

One length will go from the earthing terminal to the earth stake. If there is more than one earth rod in the ground then they should be a couple of metres apart and connected with a length of insulated cable. Normally this is the 1.6mm steel cable.

The other length will go to the fence from the live terminal using the same 1.6mm insulated cable but if there are gateways to go underneath then we recommend the 2.5mm cable as it is far stronger with a thicker insulated coating. Puting it through a length of blue alkathene pipe is also advisable as over the years any wee stones that may be next to the plastic cable insulation may score or cut into the cable in wet weather with the pressure from surface traffic.

Quite often larger units will have two terminals to choose from. This is so you have one to unleash the full power for those longer fences and one to use when you are only powering a few fields / paddocks and do not need maximum power.