I'm not sure that there are many pots of any type that can withstand a few thousand volts, not that many 10k resistors either, come to think of it. Perhaps putting lower value resistors in series to make up the final value.
On balance though, I think the best and easiest idea is to buy the one Mattstat posted above.
On balance though, I think the best and easiest idea is to buy the one Mattstat posted above.
I rememeber as a kid with other kids playing and seeing who could pee the closest to the fence. I'd just use it as is, it isn't going to harm the cats, at least not more than once.
An electric fence unit has a positive electric wire that is "sent down the line" on a wire, isolated on each fencepost by a plastic insulator...so as to not to "short-out". The unit has another wire that is to be driven into the ground attached to metal rod of some sort. The idea is for an animal of your choice "completes the circuit", or bridges the two wires by simultaneously standing on the ground & touching the fence-wire....the electricity traveling down the length of the fence-wire, thru your body down to the ground & traveling back to that steel post you previously drove into the ground. By adding a string of resistors, one after the other, you are effectively lowering the voltage output.
Try stringing some 1000 Ohm 1/2 watt resistors together, 1,2, 4, 6 until you get a respectable voltage you find doable...it won't hurt, just don't test it with barefeet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick...
Try stringing some 1000 Ohm 1/2 watt resistors together, 1,2, 4, 6 until you get a respectable voltage you find doable...it won't hurt, just don't test it with barefeet.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rick...
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I built one about 30 years ago.
I selected the power by selecting the value of the capacitor on the primary side of the output transformer.
The transformer ratio sets the output voltage and the capacitor multiplied by the primary voltage gives the shock energy.
The one I built used the flash driver from a disposable film camera powered from 5V to charge the capacitor and a VDR out of a filtered power strip to trigger the thyristor that sends the pulse to the output transformer.
Cat fir was once used as an electrical insulator when electricity was first discovered and capacitance was measured in jars.
You certainly need the output voltage. Cat fir will do a perfectly good job without adding any resistors.
I use mine to stop cats digging up food plant seedlings and leaving there pencil sharpener output there to rub salt into the wounds.
Cats take several days to work out that there is no way of defeating the shocks. Farm animals learn much more quickly.
They stopped making the mechanical ones that clicked in the 1970s.
I selected the power by selecting the value of the capacitor on the primary side of the output transformer.
The transformer ratio sets the output voltage and the capacitor multiplied by the primary voltage gives the shock energy.
The one I built used the flash driver from a disposable film camera powered from 5V to charge the capacitor and a VDR out of a filtered power strip to trigger the thyristor that sends the pulse to the output transformer.
Cat fir was once used as an electrical insulator when electricity was first discovered and capacitance was measured in jars.
You certainly need the output voltage. Cat fir will do a perfectly good job without adding any resistors.
I use mine to stop cats digging up food plant seedlings and leaving there pencil sharpener output there to rub salt into the wounds.
Cats take several days to work out that there is no way of defeating the shocks. Farm animals learn much more quickly.
They stopped making the mechanical ones that clicked in the 1970s.