Automatic solar opener for field gate

[SonnysMom]

Has anyone used a solar powered automatic opener for a pipe gate between fields. Single gate either 10 or 12 foot long? Need a remote to hang on the fence maybe 800 feet away.

There are two pastures where the horses cross through a paddock into a bigger pasture. Every morning the horses get chased across the creek and into the paddock. The gate is closed until we can bring the horses in. 5 horses 1 field and 4 horses in the other. This keeps them from going back across the creek before we get them in.
It would be very convenient to close the gate behind them remotely and once they are in,
open it remotely.
The problem is there is no electricity down at those gates.
So I was thinking solar powered.
Anyone do anything similar or have remote open/close ideas? If you used solar hate opener, what brand and how much?

[LCDR]

@clanter used to be in the gate business and has posted a bunch.

Around here Mighty Mule seems to be most commonly used. The gates open and close quite slowly by design so if you are not physically there to supervise the horses, you might end up with one or more deciding to trot back through to the wrong side as it closes.

I don’t know about range, though. 800 feet is a stretch. Mine on a fresh battery can barely make 300 feet. Maybe there is a way to ramp up the remote signal. My experience with Mighty Mule is that most people do not reprogram the out-of-the-box setting, so a really high power remote might open every gate on a nearby farm.

[clanter]

800 feet is doable as there have been commonly available radio equipment that is actually inexpensive (around $100) that is rated to nearly 2000 feet (we did have radios that were rated to 21 Miles) … this would be an add on to the standard radios (if a radio is included with the operator)

Solar, if the property is your residence, should qualify for the 30% Federal tax credit for the gate operator, its related equipment and its installation—does not include the gate itself or the gate’s installation

If the gate is being used to contain livestock I would suggest installing a slide gate rather than a swing gate and make the slide gate several feet longer than the opening to insure the gate can not be pushed open (make latch side just two posts having the gate slide in between the posts rather than dead end into a latch). If a slide gate operator is to be used build a mounting stand that has the operator at about mid height of the gate primarily to get it off the ground (in the south fire ants can and will eat it apart) The gate speed would be faster for a 12 foot slide verses a 12 foot swing, the slide would be about 12 seconds where as the swing would be between 15 to 24 seconds depending upon the manufacturer

Depending on the location the batteries should be the largest you can get, most DC operators if that come with factory supplied batteries the batteries will be small 7Amph types that were never intended to be exposed to the temperature changes of the outdoors, those batteries were intended for security panel back up power intended to be installed in a climate control room.

Either GTO or Ghost would be equals, both were designed to be marketed as low cost operators. (If you go GTO, I see that Tractor System has the option of purchasing a secondary extended warranty that if reasonably priced would be a very worthwhile investment as often the failure rates for either is higher than most other more expensive systems)

There are many manufacturers available, several will sell manufacturer direct

[SonnysMom]

Thank you

[Bluey]

Slinging gates here fail regularly because of the wind.
We have a solar operated sliding gate at 1 mile from the house, is our main entrance.
It operates thru an app from anywhere in the world.
You can be in China and click on the app on your phone and gate in TX will open or close.
It doesn’t cost that much more than the cheaper ones that do fail often.

Much of the cost is in the installation, the operating panel and small yearly fee for the app are not that much.
Commercial gate installers will give you quotes, may try that before buying the cheap ones.

Important with any automatic gate is monitoring, something or other can fail and you need to know if it did or didn’t close/open.

Could you reconfigure the fields so the fences are vertical, not horizontal to where you go in each pasture?
Just one more thought, as changing fencing to make work flow easier may make more sense in some situations.

[clanter]

Bluey is correct about wind load that can overcome the safety devices mandated into the current gate operators as the system can mistake wind load as an entrapment

IF a swing is used something like the GTO FM144 auto gate latch should be used to make sure the gate remains latched. This latch can be adapted to many systems, and is fairly inexpensive (in the $140 range)

Most of the accessory lines of all manufacturers are no made by them but private labeled under their name of record, thus the products can be used in many products.

[SonnysMom]

It sounds like way more money than is feasible. At this point we can manually close the gates.
@Bluey these are 3 board- post and board with electric fencing. Very expensive to move. Plus how it is set up works for other things.
Sometimes we run the horses through the paddock, shut the gate, use the paddock for another horse or two.
We shut the gate and use the paddock to introduce new turnout buddies to each other during the day. We can see those paddocks from the ring and barn.
Sometimes we let them hang in just the paddock for part of the day until we decide if they need to come in to be ridden. If it nice there is no point wasting hay and shavings in a stall if they can stay out.
The configuration works for the farm. But if it was cheap enough and easy enough then having remote open/close gates would be a bonus.

[MsM]

Here is a clever DIY gate:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1758725002092761575

[SonnysMom]

@MsM

Here is a clever DIY gate:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1758725002092761575

That is hysterical.

[Weezer]

I use this solar opener with the slinky gate. For the first few days, some horses would spook when it released, but then they learned the noise indicated that the grass was accessible. The slinky snaps straight back so nobody ever gets hit with it. There are some videos about how to set it up to open a gate. I’ve had this for a few years and I LOVE it. Totally worth the cost because I can manage limited grazing while at the office.

Batt-Latch Gate Kit