Buy Fi-Shock SS-550X AC Powered Medium Duty Fence Charger, 15 Acre RangeFi-Shock SS-550X AC Powered Medium Duty Fence Charger, 15 Acre Range Product Description:
- High-power, low-cost solid state electric fence charger. Output voltage: 1.2 KV +/- 20 -percent open circuit voltage
- Uses two 1/16 amp time-delay fuses, with fused panel for downline protection against power surges
- Weather resistant cabinet. Fence terminals are on the bottom of unit for direct rain protection. Electronically controlled timing.
- Range up to 15 acres under ideal conditions. Can be used for electric fence containment of pigs, cattle, horses, deer, cows, sheep and goats.
- One year limited warranty
Product Description
15 Acre Energizer With 2 Fuses, UL Listed.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
By Michael D. Adams
When my grandfater passed away a little over a year ago, I took over his horse boarding operation. In his last few years, he had several people "helping" him with things around the farm - including fence building & repair. What I found, unfortunately, was an absolute mess.Before reviewing this charger, let me state that NO charger will work properly if your fence is in poor condition. My grandpa had a mix of wire, poly-tape, and poly-rope. His charger was connected to thin copper wire, and it was a "continuous output" charger, which should NOT be used with the polytape or rope. It will simply burn through them, which was happening a lot. A continuous output charger also does not allow some animals to "release" from the fence, so I was finding a lot of dead birds.In learning what I needed to fix the fence properly, I had a GREAT conversation with a technician at Fi-Shock. So big points to them on customer service. This guy knew what he was talking about, and gave me some fantastic advice on the wire I needed and the proper charger to use. I replaced the copper line that fed the fence with insulated, galvanized high-voltage line. I also replaced most of the poly-rope with tape. Initially I had an older intermittant charger, but found that the insulator was burned out and it was running in a "continuous" mode, too. That charger was putting out a full 4,000v and felt like a snake bite, but it actually caused a section of my fence to catch on fire!I purchased the Fi-Shock SS-550X charger through Amazon for a great price, compared to the MSRP. The other chargers we had were Fi-Shock and had held up well. Plus I appreciated their customer support and the information on their web site. Hooking up the charger was easy. I really like the green and red connector screws because they are easy to identify, and easy to use with gloves on. The charger also has a light which is easy to spot and which flashes to indicate the intermittant function.I have now had this charger in use for a couple of months, and it seems to be working pretty well. My only concern is that for @8 acres of fence, I'm only testing out at about 2 lights (2,000v) on my tester. Per the manual, that's the expected number I should see. The charger is rated for "1.2 KV +/- 20% open circuit voltage" output to cover 15 acres, so it seems to be putting out the expected charge. It seems to be turning the horses for now, but I have NOT yet touched it yet (thankfully) to see how it feels. We just had an ice storm, and the SS-550X has hummed away while the fence was coated in ice - definitely a good thing! But for the keeping of four horses on 5 acres, I would like to have seen this charger be a little stronger (around 3k volts). When I would unhook my old charger, I'd get a little spark and the horses would jump. I liked that! They do not seem to register this one as much. I have my charger connected to two grounding rods to ensure I have a good ground.That said, my only real complaint - and the reason I have removed one star from my rating - is that recently the charger STOPPED working. Initially I could not figure out why. I checked the fuses, checked the fence, and checked the power source, but could not figure out the issue. Eventually I decided to just replace BOTH fuses (1/16 amp time-delay) with the extras from the package, which resulted in the charger working again. We had not had any storms in the area, so I can't imagine what might have caused the fuse(s) to burn out. Oddly, NEITHER one looks to be blown, so I could not tell on visual inspection which one was bad. So it was a little disconcerting to see that my fence could go down all the way without some failsafe. I understand that the fuses are there to protect the charger in the event of a surge, but SOME indication they were blow - such as a failure light, a beep, or having the charger light turn red or something - would have helped tremendously. Fortunately I had the extra fuses, so I was back up and running quickly. But I have NOT been able to find the "Time Delay Fuse, 1/16 Amp" at my local farm supply stores. If you are ordering the charger online, I would advise ordering extras.One final note: As a word of caution, this charger is intended for the keeping of livestock - not children. While a charged fence putting out @1500 volts may indeed keep unwanted animals and people off your property, it should NOT be implemented to keep children ON your property (as noted by the other reviewer). This charger has enough output to stop a human heart if the conditions are right.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
By Al
I hate giving bad reviews, but unfortunately, this charger didn't work out for me as well as others. I had an older Zareba 10 acre charger that worked fantastic, but recently quit due to a part of the wire shorting against the fence. My fault for not checking the lines as often as I should. Anyway, thought I'd give this 15 acre Fi-Shock a try to replace the Zeraba I had ... same company now, right?As it so happens, after basically rewiring everything in my yard from troubleshooting, it finally started to work. I'm not sure what I did in order to get it working, but my assumption here is that it's not as "forgiving" with weeds and tall grass in those situations where you have to wait a few days before you can trim. The Zareba had NO issues zapping through weeds.Advertised is 1200V but I managed to only measure 800V even at the box. The furthest point from the charger measured 800V so my wiring is pretty good now I'd say. Still, the dogs dug under the wire and got out the next day. One is a longer haired dog and the other is short ... either stupid or it wasn't enough voltage - probably a combination of both.So, I'm hoping that even though that Fi-Shock owns Zareba, that it doesn't affect how Zareba makes their fence chargers. I ended up returning the SS-550X and going with the 20 acre Zareba charger - a couple bucks cheaper but hoping it works at least as good as the 10 acre I had.Because it isn't putting out it's advertised voltage of 1200V, I assume either it's not working 100% or the description is slightly off. Regardless, Amazon's return system is painless and fast. Love shopping here!
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
By GERALD L WATSON
Didn't know how good it would work until I got into it by accident. It will definitely light up your life.
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