How do I find a Break in my Electric Dog Fence Wire?

If the Dog Fence Transmitter is beeping, It means you have a broken wire somewhere around the invisible dog fence perimeter. You will need to locate the break in the wire and fix it. This review shows a series of steps to help you locate the break in the wire and perform the repair.

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When your wire is Broken your dog might escape putting him in danger

Getting The "best" Invisible Dog Fence Wire with HDPe Coating can spell SUCCESS in your training. A wire break almost always causes headaches on the dog owners like you. Once the wire breaks for whatever reason, you would have to go through a whole roll of inconvenience. We made a short video on Finding a break in dog fence wire.

We get a lot of calls from people asking us "How do I find a break in my Dog Fence Wire?" The answer can either be a long or a short journey. Some people get lucky and find it straight away, others usually find it in the last place they look and that's called Murphy's Law.

  1. Test the Transmitter - Find out if the system is broken or just the wire.

  2. Short Loop Wire Test - Test for a break with the Invisible Dog Fence Transmitter.

  3. Find the Broken Wire - Physical and Visual Test to look for the broken wire.

  4. Return Short Circuit Loop - Test the Buried Wire Leading to the Fence.

  5. Bypass the Buried Dog Fence Wire - Bridge the underground wire to check if its broken.

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There's a lot of options out there we know, and getting it wrong can end up costing more in the long run.

Feel free to call and chat to one of our Dog Fence Specialists to 1300 843 364.

You can also tell us about your dog and property and we will send through our Dog Fence Buying Guide and Pricing.

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Discover More about the Importance of

  • * Lightning Damage Warranty
  • * Regulated Power Supply
  • * HDPe Coated Wire (Australian Made)
  • * Coded Digital FM Radio Frequencies.
  • * The Anti Linger Feature and Battery Life ($)
  • * The Chew Warranty
  • * Reaction times and 'Anti Run Through'
  • * Tri Aerial System
  • * Gentle Steps Training for Success

Finding the Break in your Electric Dog Fence Wire

How do I find a Break in my Electric Dog Fence Wire?

So let's go through the steps and find out how to find a break in the Electric dog fence wire. First, we need to establish that the break is in the wire, and not the FM transmitter. Then, we can start the process of elimination and find where the break in the wire could be.

But before anything else, Try to think of any recent events where a gardener may have been doing some digging. Then, you can just go to the area where they were working and inspect the wire there.

  1. Test the Transmitter to make sure it is just a Broken Wire

    Finding a break in the Wire - Dog Fence Transmitter Test The first thing to find out is if the system is broken. Is it a broken wire or a broken transmitter? Usually if the transmitter is beeping it does mean a broken wire. (In fact I consider a beeping transmitter to be a sign of a healthy transmitter.)

    Though you could have a system that does not have any lightning and surge protection on it and when lightning strikes, there might be a spike of energy that goes to the transmitter that can damage the circuit board.

    So, quite simply - if your transmitter is beeping - it is a good sign, it is more than likely a break in the wire. If so, follow the steps below.

  2. Do a Short Loop to test for a broken dog fence wire

    Finding a break in the Wire - Short Loop TestA short loop test should stop the beeping and test the invisible dog fence transmitter as well - if it stops beeping when you made a short loop there is a break somewhere or a bad connection.

    There is a simple way to do this. Just follow the steps below:

    Basically a short loop disregards the rest of the property and Arcs or Bridges the radio signal go straight back to the transmitter to close the loop. (You should not get Zapped as this is a radio signal)

    1. Check your transmitter and look for the two wires coming from the main connection to the transmitter - find where they join at the transmitter.

    2. Disconnect both wires from the transmitter. (If you have an external surge protector you can just do the short loop there.)

    3. Get a length of test wire or a paper clip to put inside these two contact points where the wires were connected.

    4. Connect the test wire to form a loop.

    5. If the beeping stops, then we've established that it is indeed a wire break and your transmitter is working properly.

    Another simple solution to test if you have a invisible dog fence wire break is to use an ohm meter and check the continuity on the disconnected wires. If there is zero resistance on the wires then you have a wire break.

    Note: this may give you a false reading as if it is a bad connection it may let the test through - but not the radio signal - remember the is radio frequency not electricity you are dealing with.

  3. Do a Physical and Visual Check to find a break in the Dog Fence Wire

    Finding a break in the Wire - Physical and Visual CheckBack to basics: Now that you are sure that there is break in your Electric Dog Fence Wire, you then need to find where it is. The simplest step is to do a physical and visual check of your dog fence wire.

    The usual reason for a broken invisible dog fence wire is physical damage, i.e. gardening, weed whacking, edging, and pesky rodents. If you know where you may have had some work done, you can go straight to that location and start your check.

    If you don't know where to start, you can follow these steps to find out:

    1. Note that you can only use the physical check to find a broken wire in your dog fence if the wires are not buried underground. If they are, it will be tackled in the next section.

    2. Begin your visual check at the transmitter, where you first see the wire above ground.

    3. Walk around the dog fence wire, give it a tug, see if it has tension or if it is loose.

    4. Follow the wire around your property and look for areas where they may have been twisted or chopped. (It may be an internal break)

    5. Walk around the dog fence wire system and pay attention to areas where there is heavy traffic like pathways, driveways and sidewalks. These are also the most common places to find a broken wire.

    Note: you may have more than one break - so if you make a temporary repair - keep going.

  4. Short Circuit Return Loop - Test for a broken wire where it is buried leading to the fence

    Finding a break in the Wire - Buried Wire TestNow, if there is no wire break during your physical and visual check up then there' a possibility that the break is underground.

    In order to check the wire break without digging up all of the buried wire, you'll need to test the circuit between the fence and the transmitter (the twin pair running to to fence)

    You just need to cut them at the fence and join them together to send the radio signal back to the transmitter. If it stops beeping, there's no break underground. Rejoin them and carry-on.

  5. Bridging the Underground Wire to find the broken wire

    Finding a break in the Wire - Bridge Buried WireGo to the driveway where you have the wire underground.

    In this test, you need to have enough wire to go across the driveway for a test bridge. You can use this test on underground dog fence wire such as the driveway - gateways and around gardens etc.

    Simply cut the wire on both sides of the driveway and Bridge across with the new wire.

    Some people have spliced into the wire - the signal will take the shortest route home so it will disregard the buried wire.

    If the beeping stops, the break is in the wire buried under the driveway. So just run a new invisible dog fence wire underground.

    If the beeping continues, then you know there's no break on the wire underground the driveway. (But leave that wire there, you may have 2 breaks)

    Then, you go to the next phase, next gateway and do bridging again until you find where the wire break is.

How to Join and Repair Electric Dog Fence Wire?

You have now found where the break is, all you need to do now is to repair invisible dog fence wire. We have made a step by step Guide on how to Join and Fix a Break in Invisible Dog Fence Wire.

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Our final words...

What Is The Best Wire for a Dog Fence?

One of the best things you can do to prevent wire breaks is to purchase a strong electric dog fence wire with HDPe coating, UV Rating and 7 strand copper core so that even if you're going to hit it with a shovel, it won't break.Our boundary wires will not break down under the sun for a long time because of our UV RatedHDPe Coating, which saves you money compared to other PVC wires that may need to be replaced after a short amount of time. You can put the wire inside some poly pipe to protect it from Whipper Snippers.

If you are still having a hard time about your dog fence wire or you have Questions or inquiries about electric dog fences give us a call on our 7 Day Hotline 1-300-(THE-DOG) 1-300-843-364 do not hesitate to CONTACT US

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