In a message of 07 Dec 97 Simon Avery wrote to Bob Kohl:
 SA> I think the worst problem with leccy fences is when something breaks.
 SA> Had one this week - our biggest field, on a huge hill. Walking all
 SA> around it, testing it. Found the break, then had to trudge all the way
 SA> back down to turn off the fence, all the way back up. Fix it, down
 SA> again turn on. Carry on testing, find another break... A job for two
 SA> people, that.
  Find something to stand on while you work... be it a phone book or a 
specially made stoolish platform. then you'll be able to touch the wire 
without much of a shock, OR eliminate the shock by having a wooden box sort 
of a platform with a peice of metal or metal mesh or chickenwire ect across 
the top, something that conducts electricity.
 Use two peices of wire with a hook at the end, both going to the mesh you 
stand on, on the top of the box. step onto the box and put a hook on the wire 
on one side of where you work and a hook on the other side of where you work. 
Then you can work to your hearts content on the live fence without problems.  
 ------electric fence wire      *=break you want to fix
                                   
                                   
 _   hook                    hook              _  
| |-T---------------*---------T---------------| |------
| | |                         |               | | 
| | |                         /               | | 
| | |wire                    /                | | 
| |  \                      /                 | | fence
| |   |                    /wire              | | post
| |   |                   /                   | | 
| |    \                 /                    | | 
| |     \               /                     | | 
| |      *=============* chickenwire across top
| |      [_____________]                      | | 
| |      [_____________]  old wooden          | | 
| |      [_____________]  fruit box           | | 
 This will let you fix the fence without turning it off, and without getting 
even a tingle from the fence. the hooks can be made from coathanger wire 6 
inches or more for the hook handle on each. Any electrical cable is ok, 
something salvaged from an old appliance is fine, strip off the ends and wind 
the bare copper around the coathanger wire and wrap it up in tape to keep it 
on and make it smooth. the bare copper wire at the other end wraps around a 
corner of the chicken wire maybe a nail or two to hold it on.
 The coathanger wire hooks can be as big as you want, I suggest a foot or so 
of wire for each one, the electrical wire shouldn't really be long enough to 
touch the ground when the hooks are on the fence, but if it still has its 
plastic sheath where it touches the ground it'll be ok.
 
 You won't get any shock if you follow this procedure..
 1) find a break, then put the box down where you can stand on it and lean a 
little and fix the break.
 2) stand on the box without touching the fence hold your tools between your 
knees or between your feet or in your pockets.
 3) pick up both hooks by the bottom of the handles.
 4) with both feet on the box, put the hooks onto the fence both sides of 
where you want to work.  
 5) you can now work on the fence. Don't reach for tools ect that are on the 
ground, don't step off the box, you'll get a shock from either one. Only use 
tools that are on the box with you or in your pockets.
 6) to get off the box, take the hooks off using the handles and you can now 
step down, or reach for tools/wire etc on the ground.
 Youll find you can work on the fence without a single tingle and you won't 
need to walk back and forth endlessly... you can just grab the box, tools and 
go.
Edison
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