I just posted with the success on ours. My husband ordered from the link below and got some of the components at the local Farm and Fleet store.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jeffer's Livestock Supply

Yes for me it does work. There is a downside of course. I needed it only to keep the coons out of the corn, because they thought it was ripe about 3 days before I did. Because I am a small hobby-type gardener, my corn plot measures 4'8', so last year I put up a fence that cost me $2.50 an ear. That's pretty expensive corn, but the taste of it and the sweet smell of success helped me psychologically.

I purchase the parts I needed from Tractor Supply, if you have one in your area it's a good choice. While you're there you can look at the cool real farmer stuff, from clothes to machinery, and the cutest stuffed animals you have ever seen.

My fence charger just died last month. It lasted for 8 years. The Lowes near my home had a Fi Shock S525 fence charger. I believe it was about $25. This is a constant 1200 V Fence Charger. Be aware, all Lowes stores may not carry this item. So call before you go. Tractor Supply has a Zareba ACC2 fence charger for about $20. However, this one has a pulse charge. I decided to go with the Fi Shock because the fence charger that died also had the same 1200 V constant charge. I did call Home Depot who also carries fence chargers. However, not all Home Depot stores had the same items. The Home Depot near my home did not carry a suitable charger.

I got a super simple electro-net set-up from kencove.com, but it's prolly bigger than you want. Plus it set me back about $300...though i also use it for chickens.

Also, it works for critters like raccoons and rabbits, but not so much for mice, voles and ground squirrels....;~(

We bought one 3 years ago after having problems with coons. It did the trick last year. Last weekend they got back in and over the course of two nights ate over 80 ears...Btw, it is fully"juiced" - we tested it. I have 4 strands around the permiter of my already fenced garden starting at 3" off the ground up to about 30". I'd like to add a 5th strand ontop of the fence but haven't seen a way to do so on "U-posts" - at least at TSC. TSC has everything but "U-Posts" insulators...The coons got shocked going in and exiting two nights in a row... I bought a cage trap yesterday and caught a coon overnight. Round two tonight. Luckily I have two more plantings but this might get old...Gardening ain't cheap...

My main garden is in a rural area, with just about any kind of wildlife that gnaws... especially deer, rabbits, woodchucks, and coons. I use chicken wire low to keep out the rabbits, and several strands of electric fencing above that to keep out deer. Without that protection, a country garden is a waste of time.

Electric fencing works best as a deterrent, to discourage animals from getting in the first time. If they get in & like what they find, it may be difficult to keep them from coming back for seconds... and thirds... and fourths...

I purchased mine at a local Farm & Fleet. One of the employees helped me make sense of the "joules" ratings, and to handle persistent herbivores, recommended a fence rated to keep out predators. It's got quite a kick; the deer get bit once, and seldom try again. I keep the fence on from sunset to sunrise, and have had no coon damage except for one year when I was late running the wire (I take it down in Spring for tilling).

My first charger lasted 10 years, and protected a 100' X 100' garden, so I think I got my money's worth.

Daryljurassic, I had a similar experience with coons raiding the garden about 5 years ago. The problem was that grass and weeds touching the wire had deactivated the fence. Since then I've routinely checked the charge on the vence with a volt meter. However, the meter only works with the constant voltage fence charging units, which is why I went with this type. (You can find volt meters most anywhere.. WalMart, Radio Shack, Sears, Harbor Freight, etc.) I start checking voltage when the corn nears harvest and have not had a problem since.

BTW, adding to my post above, the comparable unit that SOME Home Depots carry is a Red Snapr 33B or 33C. This unit is also made by Zareba. It's actually the unit I had that mentioned above that lasted for 8 years.

Mine is small scale and solar from Harbor Freight. It does a great job protecting 4x20 boarded raised strawberry bed from rats or other critters

My neighbor tested my fence and the meter read 5.8. There were a few fried cuke vines touching it then. Mine is solar powered and had the same reading as his "electric" fence. Its the kind that pulsates vs constantly being on. I have my eletric fence wires seperate/independent from the garden fence. They're about a foot away on 24" rebar posts so there's sort of a "mote" around the garden. On the garden fence it self, I grow pole beans and also let the cukes grow up it so an ocassional vine inevitably gets to the electric wire...I guess I will have to change the way I use the fence in the future - not grow pole beans on it...We were thinking that our garden might have been spared last year because the coons were busy eating corn out of the farmer's field directly behind us. This year its soy bean and far from mature at this point...Maybe next year I'll make some free standing fence/trellis panels well inside the garden...Btw, I caught a second coon the following night but nada last night.