I got a couple of old electric fence controllers for free, with no information about them. I don't know whether or not they are in working condition.
Both of them are marked 'Agway' - the one on the left looks like maybe it is a rebadged "Red Snap'r" brand controller.
Any advice on setting up a small electric fence using one of those? it's a small garden - I'm growing two dozen different varieties of tomatoes, a couple of zucchini plants, a couple of eggplant plants, some sweet peppers, and some strawberries, mostly in Earthbox containers. In past years I have had problems with critters eating the veggies before I was able to harvest them. Don't know for certain who the culprits were - there are deer, squirrels, chipmunks, possibly rats or mice or other rodents, birds, an occasional fox or bobcat, some raccoons, sometimes some escaped sheep come by, and there's even the possibility of a black bear visiting my property. This year I plan to put up a game camera to get a better idea of the 'traffic' in my yard.
I'm going to surround the garden with U-posts holding up some PVC-coated wire fencing and plastic poultry netting, with some anti-bird netting on top.
But I'd also like to add some electronic "encouragement" to my defense plans.
I'd probably prefer to use the one on the left, if only because it appears to be much newer than the one on the right. However maybe it would be smarter to bite the bullet and purchase a new controller - for example, there are apparently solar-powered ones on the market that would simplify installation, rather than worrying about using AC power, but those are more expensive than what I am reasonably prepared to fork out for this application.
Do I just get a spool of galvanized wire from Tractor Supply and wrap it around the fencing at several different heights, supported off of the U-posts by insulators? I guess that I may need a nearby ground rod as well. How would I handle a gate (so that I can get into and out of the garden) - I can turn off the electricity before approaching it, of course. What about concerns for spraying water on the garden? The earthboxes get their water supply through hoses, but I may have some plants that I will want to water directly.
Are older controllers such as the ones in the photo likely to give horrible radio interference?
What kind of insulated wire would you use to go from the controller to where the electrified wire starts?
Anything else that I need to know about these things?