Hooking up a moveable electric fence to my solar powered house

Hi there-
My house is completely solar powered (2 250V panels, 2 12V batteries) that I am wanting to connect a moveable electric fence to. Electric fences are solar powered, so theres no way I'm shelling out the $300+ to get another panel and charger for the fence.
Does anyone have experience with this? It seems like I could hook up the fence to the house batteries with an exterior wire cord.
Thanks!!

Over here, we have quite cheap stand-alone little units, along these lines:
http://www.amazon.com/Fi-Shock-SS-440-Solar-Powered-Impedance-Medium-Duty/dp/B0002YX8QC
All the off-grid homes I've come across have been really tight on power and always searching for a way of getting things off the battery-bank, not on

Thanks Leila, that looks like the ticket. That's cheaper than the wiring would cost from the batteries to the fence anyway! thanks-

You can buy fence chargers that run on 12v, hook it up like any other load. It is better to buy one of those and upgrade your main panels than buy the stupid wimpy solar chargers that don't ever get hot enough to work.

R Scott-
Anyway you could give a link to what you're talking about? I dont have any experience hooking up an electric fence. Is it DC converted to AC for the shock or just all DC? What exactly is the charger if it is not the panels or the battery? thanks!

THis is for goats btw- so it does need to be hot

I do this all the time, my home solar set up is a similar size to yours. Do you run an inverter at all? I have a fairly inexpensive xantrex from the hardware store, it's another expense if you don't have one, but useful to have around. You can get a good fencer that plugs in to 120 for much less money, maybe 80 bucks or so. Run an extension cord out to it.

Yes you lose energy going from 12 to 120 and then the fencer converts it back again (plus the inverter is on all the time), but it really draws very very little power so I live with it ...it's inexpensive, and it's nice to have the fencer located a bit away from the cabin so you don't have hot fence wire right up to where you live. If you avoid running it through a bunch of wet grass and brush it will draw less.

Another plus if you live where there is winter is that the larger stand alone cabin system will be much more reliable...in January my solar fencer draws right down and stops working..this is the main reason I plug in to the cabin.

A decent solar fencing unit with some kick seems to be at least 250 if not 350 dollars here. I do use one for the far pastures.

I'm going to pick up one of those 120 v meters that logs amps and usage soon, I'll plug the fencer into it and see what it's actually pulling.

you can use solar controller to charge your electric fence controller just buy a 12V battery powered electric fence energizer , it is enough, see
or
http://www.andmon.com/store/charger/bat-fence-energizer/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Patriot-PE5B-Battery-Powered-Electric-Fence-Charger-Energizer-5-miles-20-acres-/160767355428?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256e7b2a24


you will love it!!!

I ended up getting a $85 energizer for AC or DC (http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=12602&cat_id=170)
and hooking it up to the inverter in the house. The fence uses a very tiny amount of energy, not even enough to turn the inverter's fan on (so it stays silent). It is on all day and gives the goats a nice big shock when they touch it Works great. Thanks for the recommendations everyone.

I'm glad that it worked out for you. From all I have heard, the Patriot energizers have a good reputation.

If you ever want to take that energizer off of the house system, since it is AC/DC, you could easily do so.
With an old, used car battery (fully charged) you could hook in a 10W solar panel, and keep it hot forever.
Kencove has a 10W solar panel for about $40.

A good option if/when your household use ever maximizes your system, or if you need to set it up at greater distances from the house.

I have experience using big energizer, the noise is quit big