There are several different ways to make wire connections in your electric fence system. And although many will work, there are some advantages to using crimps and split bolts with Hi-Tensile wire.
If you know where your jumpers are going to be and have the foresight to slide on a couple (or number required) of C23 short crimp sleeves prior to hooking up to your end strain insulators – then you are set to add a jumper just by inserting a wire end and crimping it closed. Thats the least expensive way. Below are a few other options.
Probably the most solid and permanent connection for a jumper wire is to use a #CT4 Open Tap. This tap has one closed barrel and one open barrel, so it can be added onto the fence wire after it is closed off, or connected on the ends. The CT4 tap fits in the 3-4 slot of your crimp tool. It is not a strength crimp – it is for electrical connections only.
Illustrated above is the CT4 open tap. Your jumper wire is loaded into the closed barrel and then the open barrel is slide over the fence wire, then crimped securely. It is the most conductive of all the choices. It is, however, permanent and can not be removed or reused.
Split bolt line taps are another option and a good one should you want to remove or reuse it latter. Being that the bold is actually split, you should not over tighten it as you may break it. Just a snug tightening is all you need. Another benefit for these is that you can connect several wires at once.
Pictured above is the # SBLT, Split Bolt Line Tap. Its a pretty universal component and comes in handy for many connections. It is not a strength connection – only for electrical purposes.
There are many more products out there in the market place. The ones above do the job for us, so why cloud the issue with so many choices. We often see connections made by merely twisting the jumper wire around the fence wire and although this does work, it may also add some resistance to your system. A couple here and there is not an issue, but many of them with probably show up on a fault finder when you are looking for shorts.
For lead out wires that we use for jumpers, we prefer to use insulated wire rather than just bare wire. This is our preference for handling purposes as well as by not having hot wires protruding out from the fence line. It just makes it easier to work with and around. The wire itself in insulated wire is a class III coated wire, but is of a softer nature than hi-tensile, so therefore it is easier to bend it into terminals and fittings.