Resistance, baling twine and suspensions

I put a multimeter on the fence where there is a gate.  That way, I was able to measure the resistance of the wire and connections for the system for the entire perimeter.

My multimeter measured 2,260,000 ohms.  For a frame of reference, I measured the resistance of my body from thumb-to-thumb and came up with 1,500,000 ohms. This information is useful because it tells me that even if no power is lost to shorts-to-ground via vegetation, less than 40% of the energy the charger puts out (using a constant current model) is available to excite the body touching the wire.  Using a constant voltage model the available energy is much, much lower.

Then I did some math to calculate the theoretical resistance of a 2.0mm diameter, steel wire that is 1000 meters long. That came to about 50 ohms.  That tells me that the problem is not the wire. The problem involves the connections between the various strands.

This line problem-solving will be continued with pictures at a later date.

Mistakes were made
Have you ever left a wee, bitty length of twine hanging over the tailgate of your pickup?

That is over a 1/4 mile of baling twine.  And yes, it was mine.  Fortunately it patiently waited in the center of Canal Road until I came back that way.

My arms got tired pulling it back in.

Suspensions
The minivan is in the shop.  New struts, shocks and stab-bar hardware are going to run about $1100.  Then a new set of tires for the winter.

I was moping around the house thinking about how much that was going to cost when Mrs ERJ suggested we go to the store to buy a few groceries.

I stopped for gas on the way back home and the fellow pumping gas next to us had a new truck.  New as-in two weeks old.

The tires did not look stock.  I asked how much they cost and he said $400....per tire.

He spent more on replacing perfectly good "factory" tires, $1600, than I spent for my truck.  I paid $1350. My eyebrows must have gone up because he commented, "They have some great rebates out right now."

I don't feel so bad about dropping $1600 on the minivan to get another three or four years out of it.  Imagine, $1600 for tires!  The "factory" tires did not have tread that wrapped up the sidewalls and did not look "cool" enough.