A Mighty Mule question

[Gairth]

Hello,

I apologize if this is a dumb question but I will say directly my knowledge of electricity is pitiful.

I am wondering if I can use a car battery charger to; either 1) trickle charge the gate opener battery or 2) even to run the opener with the battery charger in my greenhouse and wire to the opener.

Would either setup do any harm to the mechanism? I ask because I have about three battery (car) chargers sitting around but as of yet no transformer or solar panel. I was given just the MM unit and have tested that it works, (extends and retracts) but I don’t know if the remote openers, car openers etc will work. I figured if I could use a battery charger (as above) to run the whole system, then I could test it with a wired ‘switch’ before investing in a bunch of peripherals for an only partially functioning unit.

Thank you for input on this,

Gairth

[Simkie]

@clanter is the guy you want for this!

[clanter]

Yes to both of OP’s questions… the GTO/MM supplied plug-in charger can be remoted up to 1,000 feet (use two conductor 16 ga wire) (Charger used to come with the “electric” version while a 5 Watt solar panel was included with solar versions) If using the plug in charger it is connected to logic board not directly to the battery… the logic board as a built in regulator

If you use an automotive battery charger you need to not use the battery that was included with the operator as an automotive charger will overcharge that 7 AmpH battery (by the way this small alarm panel battery was never intended to used on equipment installed outside of a climate controlled environment … really has problems with cold and heat )

you can buy any one’s 12 volt solar panel, 5 watt minimum (Harbor Freight/Northern Tools or any where on the internet…should be able to find 10W 12 Volt panels for about $25) … advantage using a solar panel is the cost of the complete gate operator system meets the requires for the Federal Tax Credit … 30% of cost is credit back to you on your Federal tax. System cost you $1,000… gov gives you back $300