What is Fencyboy?

This page describes what Fencyboy is, how it works and how you may benefit from one.

Fencyboy is a LoRaWAN-based IoT sensor for monitoring electric fences. Fencyboy attaches to an ordinary electric fence as used by many farmers worldwide by connecting a single wire to the fence and another wire to the ground. After the initial setup, Fencyboy analyses every single energy impulse on the electric fence for peak voltage. The results are stored locally until they are transmitted into the cloud periodically.

A Fencyboy sensor only has two connections on the bottom side. One for the fence (positive red wire) and one for the earthing rod (ground black wire).

How Does an Electric Fence Work?

Electric fencing is used in agriculture to prevent animals from leaving a pasture area and in some cases also to protect them from other animals (e.g. wolves). The fence is not permanently energized, as is often assumed, but only for very short periodic impulses. These pulses usually have a voltage of 5 kV to 20 kV and limited energy of 1 J, for example.

Electric Fence Measurements

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for animals to escape from the grazing area despite the fence and cause considerable (financial) damage. Therefore, the electric fence must always function correctly and be regularly checked and maintained. In particular, the environment is a major disruptive factor in the operation of an electric fence, as grasses and bushes grow up to the electrical wires of the fence and reduce the shock effect. In addition, it can happen that a fence is damaged by a fallen branch or tree after a storm. Regular checking of the fence is a tedious task, which is therefore often neglected by farmers.

Benefits of Fencyoby

Thanks to Fencyboy, a large part of these manual, annoying control tasks are no longer necessary. Because Fencyboy monitors the fence around the clock, it is immediately noticeable when the fence voltage changes. Supplemented by smart notifications and well-designed dashboards, farmers are always up-to-date on the condition of their fence. In addition to monitoring the fence voltage, Fencyboy also measures the ambient temperature and many other parameters.

Measured Values