Bought this for our Hen Pen. Instead of running hot wires alone, we alternated Hot and Grounds about 4" apart and set them about four feet up a fence that raccoons were climbing. Four wires and no more nightly invasions by masked bandits. I took off one star because there is no power switch on the unit. We have to disconnect the battery before working on it or working near it.So ive had this for a year and this spring i hooked it up to a deep cycle battery hooked up to a 10watt solar panel all placed nicely in a tool box.I put the solar panel on top of the tool box with velcro strips This unit uses very little power the 10 watt solar panel and controller keeps my battery fully charged all the time. 10 watts is over kill for this unit but better to have more then less.So i have set it and thats that.Now moisture is always a problem so i put ventilation in the box and might put a small 5v computer fan in there to keep it all cool and dry. The solar panel makes more power thru the day then the battery needs so i will use run off power for that.Any good 12v batter will work as long as you have a solar to provide recharge thru the day.I had a deep cycle sitting here that is large so i used that .I may switch to a 15 ah sla battery to lighten the box up. I have it protecting my 3000 SQ FT garden. It does great to prevent ground critters from getting it.I use wire and bait it with food to teach the animals what the fence does. I also run a ground wire right below the hot wire so the ground and hot wire will touch the animal .This unit bites and bites hard. Keep the wire clean no green on it or it will reduce it WAY DOWN . One tall piece of grass will short this out and leave your area un protected .I purchased for my backyard vegetable garden which is constantly invaded by squirrels and rabbits. Last year I was live trapping them and it seemed there were no end to the population that kept offering themselves up to be trapped. I gave up after 20 squirrels. This year I built my own electric fence using this Zareba charger. It has been very effective at keeping the pests out of my garden. I used an electric fence tester and was getting around 2.5kV which seemed low. I made sure my ground system was good and used a fully charged battery. I was able to get the no load voltage output up to around 3kV which is less than the 9 to 10kV the manufacturer specs. I was ready to send it back then I was looking at my beans sending shoots over the fence hot wire and I reach my hand down to move the tendril and got a healthy jolt! I wasn't even touching the fence wire only the plant. Ok, if it is strong enough to jolt me to surprise, I'm sure the squirrels are getting an education as well. Not needing for a 5 mile farm just my little backyard garden and it does the job.I have well over 100 lbs of seed under the bird feeder, which is right next to an oak tree. Did the squirrels eat the acorns? No, they just dumped bird seed out of the bird feeder. I've tried using grease on the pole, but they just keep at it until they clean the grease off. Rather than shooting them, and I don't eat "chicken of the tree", this is a humane, but shocking way to keep them out of the bird feeder. The only thing I don't like about it is the light indicating the fence is okay just flashing on and off rather then being o for a longer duration. I sould think a little r/c circuit could be used to keep the light on continuously if the fence is okay.Now that I have this controller hooked up and grounded correctly, it works great. The garden I'm trying to protect is only about 500 sq. ft., and I have 2 hot wires and 1 ground wire running around it. When it was first installed and I was using only the soil for a ground, it wasn't working and a raccoon and a squirrel were getting right past it. I talked to customer service and got no help at all from the first person (she answered my question with "I have no idea; I'm not an electrician, I'm a product expert"). After I basically figured out my own problem (my ground is sandy and very dry) and called back to ask another question, I got a very helpful and pleasant women who confirmed what I needed to do. I installed a ground wire a few inches above the top hot wire. My raccoon came back for a visit, and this time I think he got tangled in the wires (they were stretched out) and got a good scare because NOTHING has been back -- and I've had no damage -- since then (about 3 weeks). After the learning curve to get this thing figured out, I think it's doing the trick, and I'm now picking vegetables!I’m using only on an 8’ gate our horse kept opening. He was ruining the gate. Surprisingly, once installed, he never went near the gate again. He may shy away because he hears it, or the visual spooks him. I don’t know. Very strange, but definitely worth the I investment. One day, when we least expect it, something or somebody is going to get shocked.I am currently using two of these. I have one on my Doe pin using poly-wire and they are well contained. I use it with a 12V 8aH battery. It will run on that battery for 9 days, so that should give you some idea of how much battery it uses. I also have one on my buck pin with the same kind of wire. The doe pin is a five strand setup that is about 400 square feet and I get about 7000 volts from the energizer. The buck pin is about twice that size and I still get 5000 volts from the energizer. This product works great and I will continue to use Zeraba for all my energizer needsI've had two of these fence chargers. The first one lasted a little over two years (replaced) and the second 15 months. I've taken both apart (I'm an electrical engineer) to see what the problem was. Both had extensive rust on the step up transformer. I note that with the second one I did put it under a weather proof housing in case water got into it (it did not help).I did contact the manufacturer after the first failure, but since it was past 1 year, they did not offer anything.I won't be purchasing a third one, that's for sure. I expect more than the warranty period of a product, especially after 2 of them !used this to keep horse out of the chicken feed. My horses developed a taste for the feed for my chickens, ducks, turkeys. Barb wire would not keep them out. So Electirc shock it was. A couple of them will still try about one a week but I am not fixing fences or feeders. Runs forever on a small automotive battery. I am getting 6-7000 volts. I have not personaly tested it but judging by the horses I am ok with it.About as strong as a really strong static electrical shock , enough to make you make you move your hand away, but that is all . Was hoping for maybe a bit stronger of a shock ,But yes it is working well. 2nd review now as above mentioned ,,, it is much stronger with good ground contact I have now found out ,,, I am a rookie with wired fence ,,, works great !!!Used this around my garden, worked well enough to keep all the small animals out. I hooked to a solar panel and marine battery. That worked great for meEasy set up. Well designed. I had trouble with beavers blocking pipes every day. I used this as an alternative to trapping or relocating them. They soon learnt to keep away from the pipes and we can enjoy seeing them on our pond.My cow seems really like the electric shock that this product provided. Didn't work, the electric shock like a massage for cows.