Electric fence repairs in Springs, storm season included

Springs gets its rain in summer afternoon thunderstorms, and an electric fence is a long run of wire in the open, exposed to lightning. A strike nearby can send a surge down the lines into the energiser and burn its board, and the same storm can cut the mains too.

After a storm, you can safely check from the keypad and the energiser's front panel:

• Are the lights or display on at all? A dead energiser with the mains on points to storm damage.
• Is it alarming on every zone, or just one? One zone suggests a fault on that stretch of fence, such as a line brought down by a branch.
• Is a service light on? On a Nemtek Wizord, the service light can come on after a long power cut, and switching it off and on clears it once the mains is back.

Don't open the energiser: Nemtek's manuals are clear there's nothing inside for an owner to service, and it holds a dangerous charge. A lightning diverter fitted at the energiser, typically R350–R600 (Kandua) in the market, helps protect it next time.

August in Springs is windy, with dust and sand in the air, and wind can set off alarms that come and go:

• Branches and creepers swing onto the lines in a gust and off again.
• Plastic bags and wind-blown rubbish catch on the wires and short them to the brackets.
• Slack lines blow against each other.
• Leaves and debris piled against the bottom wires by the wind.

The cure is mostly maintenance: trimming back, clearing the fence line, tensioning slack wires and replacing tired insulators. Switch the fence off at the keypad before clearing anything off it, and never touch a line that might be live. Our guide to an electric fence alarm that keeps going off goes through the safe checks.

We repair Nemtek and JVA energisers on the bench or replace them, and we tell you which makes sense before starting. A newer unit with one failed part, such as a charger or a keypad, is usually worth repairing. An older one with boards burnt by lightning usually isn't, and a fence that has grown longer or gained zones is the time to step up to a bigger unit anyway. The models and their outputs are compared on energisers.

The backup battery matters as much as the box. Nemtek's energisers drop to a reduced energy level on battery, and Nemtek's figure for a good 12 V 7 Ah battery is about 24 hours, less on a fence in poor condition. A storm that cuts the power is often when a tired battery gives itself away.

• Energiser repair: R800–R2 500 (Kandua)
• Nemtek Druid 15 LCD, in shops: about R2 740–R3 540 (Takealot, NeonSales)
• JVA Z11 (1 zone), in shops: about R3 070 (Takealot)
• 12 V 7 Ah battery, in shops: R230–R450 (Takealot)

These are the market's figures, not ours. Prices checked October 2026. Your exact price is set in a free quote before any work starts. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies.

A new fence in Springs is planned for the weather as much as the boundary: an energiser sized to the length and zones, a proper earth system, a lightning diverter, and lines set at an even tension so wind doesn't knock them together. We build to the makers' rules, with warning signs, gates that open without a shock and earth spikes away from other earth systems. Certified electric fence installer, and every new fence comes with its certificate. For factory and plant boundaries, freestanding fences and more zones make a long perimeter easier to watch. If you're selling, see electric fence certificates.

All our spare parts are genuine, and every repair carries our six-month guarantee on our repairs.

The 2011 Census counted 121 610 people in Springs, over about 184 km², and we work on fences across the town: house walls in the suburbs, Bakerton and Geduld, the streets near Springs Boys' High School and PAM Brink Stadium, KwaThema to the south-west, and the factories and plants on the industrial side. For everything else we do here, see Springs.

Tell us the energiser's make and model, what its keypad or lights show, and whether the trouble started with a storm. Same-day repairs are part of the week in Springs when bookings allow, and the 24/7 emergency repairs across Gauteng cover a fence that won't stop alarming at night. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies.