I had to admit defeat with this electric-fence unit, which was showing no signs of life in spite of having had a new battery fitted. Having tested the battery and the solar panel which is meant to charge it, I was forced to conclude that the electronic control board was faulty – way beyond my capabilities!
Incidentally, as a battery-powered unit this item cannot be given a PAT test. PAT tests only apply to mains-powered devices. However, when working it would generate 10,000 volts, so there was a danger of it coming to life while I was tinkering and delivering a nasty shock. I therefore took a couple of simple precautions:
- Removing the trailing leads from the output terminals; and
- Disconnecting the primary supply to the output transformer (on the bottom circuit board in the photo)
It is a general rule that repairers must assess such risks before attempting repairs.