Fence Help – PetSafe® Collars and Transmitters

PetSafe® Professional Receivers

Also please also refer to “General Troubleshooting” under the “Fence Help” Tab.

I think my PetSafe® Professional receiver is dead.

Take the batteries out of the receiver for at least half a day. Leave the battery door off.
Set the receiver in a sunny place (away from where the dog can get it and chew it). Make sure it gets warm so any moisture that is in the receiver can evaporate. (DO NOT PUT YOUR RECEIVER IN A MICROWAVE or USE A HAIRDRYER to attempt to dry out the receiver.) Some folks say putting your receiver in a bag of dry rice for a day will work too.)
After a day or longer put the batteries back in. Watch for the flashing light on the collar. Does it flash? How many times?
If drying the receiver does not work, try it again and again. Two days of drying without positive results indicate your receiver is dead.
Check the batteries: Are they CR2032? If they are 2025 or 2016 or anything other than 2032, they will NOT work.
If your batteries were completely dead, or if your batteries were removed from your receiver for at least 30 minutes, when you put fresh batteries back into your P3 or P4 receiver, the indicator light on your receiver will flash. If you count the flashes, you can determine the shock at which your receiver is presently set. Note: If you remove the batteries and put them back in before they have been out for at least 30 minutes, THE INDICATOR LIGHT WILL NOT BLINK. This is normal. If you feel the need to see the lights flash again, wait 30 minutes before you re-do the test.

Testing the collar
(To answer the question: “Is the shock working?”)

There are several ways to test the collar. Please try all methods that apply to your receiver model.

Method 1: PetSafe® Professional P4 Receiver

The fact that the LED illuminated shows that the batteries are good or the light would not have activated.
The number of flashes that follow the illumination tells you the current shock level of the collar.
The magnet is good.
Note: If this test fails to illuminate the LED on your collar, try another strong magnet and change the batteries then try the method again. If after changing batteries (and inserting them properly) there is no red LED illumination, then your collar may be bad. Before you call for a replacement, please verify you are using the right batteries and watch the video below further down this page.

Method 2: PetSafe® Professional P4 Receiver

Gently but firmly press the points of the receiver collar into two slots of the TEST STATION on the horizontal top right side of the wall-mounted PRO TX1 transmitter (usually found on the wall of the garage by an electrical outlet.) The red “Test” Light on the transmitter should flicker and if your hearing is good, you will hear a corresponding “Tick, Tick, Tick” sound from your receiver with every flash. This result tells you:

The batteries are good or the light would not have illuminated
The receiver collar works
The transmitter works
Note: A result that indicates the collar works is definitive about the collar. However, in some instances, the test fails and the collar can still be good. A failed test with this method may simply mean there is signal interference from the sprinkler control box or other electrical components very near the test station.

Method 3: All Receiver Models Method

Take the collar into the yard. Close the strap so it is as though your dog is wearing it. Hold the back of the strap, with the receiver hanging at the bottom of the collar loop, at 6 o’clock, and the points pointing up to 12 o’clock. Now walk into the yard holding the collar in this position, stooping over so you are holding the collar at the same level above the ground as it is when your dog is walking in the yard. Please do NOT hold the collar up as high as your own ears and try to hear it beep. It will not work since the signal is not adjusted to activate the collar much above your dog’s neck level (Caution, you might shock your ear if you are holding it too close. We have heard some amusing anecdotes about this. While we find the stories amusing, we hope it does not happen to you.) As you approach the edge of the yard, you should hear the collar begin to “beep” or “tick”. This result will tell you:

1. The receiver is working.
2. The batteries are good.
3. The wall-mounted transmitter is working.
4. The dog should be getting shocked if it goes too far.
  Note: If you do not hear the collar beeping, please consider testing it on your own fingers. Touch both points on the collar while it is ticking or beeping. If you do not feel a shock, then there may be a problem with the receiver collar. Make sure you touch both points on the receiver at the same time when you hear the collar beeping. It will tell you definitively that the fence is or is not working. It is a good thing If when you test your collar at the signal field and it makes a continuous “Tic-Tic-Tic-Tic-Tic” or “Beep-Beep-Beep” sound. However, just because the collar makes noise, it does not mean that the shock is turned up high enough to get the attention of your dog. Therefore, you may need to change the shock level OR tighten the collar or shorten the neck hair or adjust where the collar is worn to a higher position on the neck or ALL THE ABOVE.

However, it is not good if when you test your collar and the sound it makes is Tic-Tic then pauses before it goes Tic-Tic again. Ie. two tics, then a pause, then two tics then a pause, or maybe you hear a tiny barely audible “Beep”, etc. CHANGE THE BATTERY AND TEST IT AGAIN.

Also, sometimes the beep or tic sound is too soft for you to hear. This does not indicate that your collar is not working, only that you do not hear it. Chances are, your dog hears it just fine.

We have gotten calls that the collar is not working because the dog is not crying or whimpering when he gets too near the fence. This is not fool-proof evidence that the fence is not working. Test it yourself.

How do I change the shock level on a PetSafe® Professional receiver?

There are two styles of PetSafe® Professional receiver collars. Most people have style P4. (Receiver collars purchased before 2005 are Style P3. Receiver collars replaced or purchased after 2005 are mostly Style P4.

Note: The P3 receiver has 5 shock levels. The P4 has ten shock levels. Level one (1) only beeps without a shock. The lowest shock is level two (2); the highest is level five (5) or ten (10).

You will need the receiver and the magnet to change the shock level. A small magnet is built into the left side of the copper-colored transmitter. It is positioned behind the small white dot on the left vertical side of the box.
When we installed your fence, we probably left an extra magnet on a black key fob. It may be in a plastic bag next to your transmitter in the garage.

Find the small bump or dot on the back side of the receiver. (Note: the back side is the most smooth side. The dot or bump is about 5 mm, about the size of a mosquito bite.)
Swipe or touch the magnet to the bump or dot. Note that the red LED inside the receiver on the model P4 or on the front side of the P3 receiver will briefly illuminate and then flash off and THEN it will flash from 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 times. Count the flashes. However, do not count the first flash that occurs as you touch the magnet to the spot. That flash is meant to show you that the battery is good in the receiver. The number of flashes indicates the shock level. Ex: 5 flashes means the collar is set to level 5.
Touch the magnet to the dot again, then remove it again.
The light will flash again, once more than before.
Continue this process until your collar is at the desired shock level.
Note: If you mistakenly turn the collar shock up too high, you must continue the process all the way to the highest level (5 or 10), then the collar will return to level one.

PetSafe® Receiver Battery Resources:

Your Dog’s Collar Requires Two CR2032 or DL2032 or equivalent Batteries: Battery Info

Battery Change Video: Official video from PetSafe Professional.

This video is supplied by Jane Budnick at Canine Containment. Thank you Jane!

New Batteries and Service Parts: Parts Store

PetSafe® Wall-Mounted Transmitter Troubleshooting

Should there be more than 2 RED lights lit on my PetSafe® wall-mounted Transmitter because Loop 2 is not lit! What’s wrong?

Nothing is wrong. 99% of our customers do not use LOOP 2, probably you fall into this majority. It is understandable that you probably think there is a problem because your yard has 2 zones, and it is only logical that Loop 1 is for the front and therefore loop 2 is for the back. However, your two zones are connected into the same Loop 1. They are not independent of each other. “LOOP 2” is reserved for special scenarios, so in most cases, LOOP 2 is NOT lit unless we installed a separate loop inside your home, pond, pool, or garden. And in the case of gardens, we often still did not use Loop 2. The bottom line: Your wall-mounted Transmitter is operating normally if your wall-mounted Transmitter is NOT beeping.

There are no lights lit on my PetSafe wall-mounted transmitter. What’s wrong?

Try the following:

Is there an ON/OFF switch on the side of the wall-mounted transmitter? If so, is it flipped to the ON position?
Is the transmitter plugged into the outlet?
Is the other end of the power cord plugged in and well seated into the receptor plug of the transmitter?
Is the outlet working? Please don’t assume that it is. Go get another small electrical appliance and plug it in. If you find that other appliance is not working, then consider getting an extension cord and plug it in somewhere else, and then re-test our transmitter. If it now works, then certainly your outlet was to blame.
If you skip the extension cord step, you can go straight to looking for the GFCI that tripped and cut off the electricity to the transmitter. Note: the outlet that we are plugged into may have a built-in GFCI plug. Check it first. It could also be part of a series of outlets wired into a GFCI that is located on the other side of the garage, or on the other side of the house. Look around. Maybe it is in the garage or on the front porch, at the workbench, on the back porch, in the basement by the breaker box, or in the bathrooms, laundry room, kitchen, storage room, or anywhere else you can think of. Note: GFCI’s do not last forever, so you may find the one that is at fault, but it may not reset. If that is the case, replace your GFCI and try again.
Note: After a power supply is plugged in for an hour or so, it warms up to over 99 degrees. Press your palm against it. Is it warmer than the air and other objects around it? (This can be an inconclusive test inside a hot garage.) However, if you can tell that it is warmer than the transmitter itself and other objects and air around it, then the power supply seems to be operating normally. If this is the case, then double-check that it is also plugged well into the wall-mounted transmitter. If it is cold, then your outlet is not working, or the power supply may have failed. Hot or Cold? Cold = bad outlet or bad power supply. Hot = good outlet and probably good power supply and your problem probably at the transmitter.

Note: If you open the PetSafe Pro TX1 or RF-105D you may find there are two fuses on the circuit board. You can replace the fuse but my experience100% of the time has been that the fuses re-blow immediately. If you try this test, and it blows, then your transmitter requires a replacement.

I am an independent Pet Stop Professional hidden fence expert and installer in the greater Kansas City area. If you are in this geographic area and need additional help, please feel free to call 913-345-3533 to schedule a service call. Otherwise, if you need help with your PetSafe fence, contact a dealer at: Find a Dealer Near Me and click on the “Find A Dealer” tab. If you are looking for help from the manufacturer, click on this link: Contact PetSafe Customer Support