Driveway gate/automatic openers, etc

[keepersmom]

We are getting ready to re-do some fencing from horseguard to no-climb wire with a top board. Love the horseguard but changing just to keep the dogs in. Anyway, while we are at it, I would like to possibly upgrade the gate at the driveway, which is 14’. We just have a metal gate that we manually open and close right now. At minimum, I would like to add an automatic gate opener. If funds allow, I would like to eventually get a nicer looking gate and perhaps do some stone columns on each side. We are pretty far away from power so would need to do solar operated.

What brand of gate opener do you have/recommend? How much was it? Did you install or have it installed? Where did you get your gate? Approximately how much would it cost to have a gate/opener installed? Nothing fancy, just basic.

[Bluey]

PM clanter, he is the expert on those.

All I know is that those here that have the ones with the arm that Mighty Mule at places like Home Depot sell are all sitting there not working after some months.

My understanding is that sliding automatic gates is the best way to go.
A neighbor has one that has been working now for a good 20 years without any trouble, with a solar panel charging a battery.

Clanter will even know which brands of those are best for your needs and money.
Depending where you are clanter may even know who to call about it.

[stb]

Don’t get a Mighty Mule. We have one that came with our farm and it is awful. It’s on the replace list.

[saje]

We have a Mighty Mule and like it a lot. It’s been up for 2 years now and while it’s not the fastest thing out there, it works. We have it on solar/battery and have yet to get the solar panel in a really good spot, which is probably part of the slowness. We’re also using it on a fairly lightweight pipe gate. I like how adjustable it is in terms of wait time for the auto-close and the pressure sensor for it to stop if it hits an obstruction. My driveway is dirt/gravel and is uneven, and the gate sits low and has fence wire on the bottom half, hanging down below the gate a bit, so occasionally it scrapes as it reaches full open. With the sensor turned to less sensitive I don’t have to worry that it will get cranky if a big rain washes stones down and into the gate’s travel channel.

I love having a gated driveway because of all the critters (keeping mine in and neighborhood’s out), and because a road T’s directly across from my driveway. I’m really glad to not be climbing in and out of the car all the time now too!

[keepersmom]

Thanks for the input Clanter! I have read good reviews of the US Automatic Patriot system. Any thoughts on that one, if you feel comfortable saying?

If we just stick with the current cheapy galvanized farm gate until we save up for a “fancy” gate, would we be able to use the Patriot unit on a heavier gate?

One final thing, is an opener worth the money? It is a huge pain to get out and open/close the gate all the time (we have to keep it closed all the time because of the dogs) so the convenience is very appealing, but if they are maintenance problems I wonder if we should just suck it up and not install one.

[Pocket_Pony]

We had a Mighty Mule for years and I loved it. It started going kaput after we sold our house, but I think it is back to working now. While we had it we had probably 5-6 good years out of it?

Now we have a Lift Master. That thing has been nothing but trouble but it is new and paid for so we just keep calling the installer when something goes wrong.

Both are gates are/were solar. The mighty mule never had a problem. The Lift Master basically stops working when it rains. We have two solar chargers and two batteries but I think we need more. We get lots of sun where we are, generally.

If I could do it over and I had the funds to do so, I would run electric out to the gate so I wouldn’t have to deal with taking the batteries out and manually charging them after a rain storm.

Our gate is far enough down our driveway (we have a long driveway) that there’s room for probably two rigs to come off the street before you’d come to the gate. It is in a position with our pastures that there are no horse gates on the street-side of the gate.

We have both a code panel for visitors and garage door openers that operate the gate from inside the car. And there’s the pad on the inside so that when you drive over it the gate opens automatically.

[TheJenners]

Bookmarked!!

Clanter, if you don’t mind, and feel free to PM me… but this is kinda on my must-list for my new farm. My Dad recommended Door King? Which is a funny story because I thought he kept saying dorking, we had a lot of who’s-on-first confusion for a few minutes before he just spelled it out… I’ve only experienced Mighty Mule, which was slow but problem-free as far as I can remember. If you want to recommend brands via PM, that’s totes cool because I’m gonna research my little butt off before I commit.

In the PNW, would you recommend solar? I mean, we get sun, sure, but we also get days of cloud. Will the gate stop working? Can the gate be unhooked and opened manually without too much fuss if I get locked in/out? I kinda want to do solar as much as possible any way…

[Jarpur]

We originally had a Mighty Mule from TSC for several years, then replaced it with a GTO Pro model which we’ve had for several years. We use electricity (low voltage wire running from the nearest outlet), rather than a solar panel. Installing the wire was easy-peasy (ran a mattock alongside the drive, through the grass, to make a tiny trench, ran the wire in the slot, kicked dirt back over the trench and packed it down with our feet). Saved us the cost of the solar panel and prevents the possible theft of a solar panel (we were warned about that possibility by a local farmer, since it would be very close to the road if we’d gotten one; we live in a quiet, safe area, so I don’t know how likely the threat of theft would have been).

Maintenance consists of occasional lubrication of moving parts and the replacement of a fuse as required (which is seldom). A couple of times the limiter has needed adjustment as far as regulating how wide the gate opens.

I’m sure that there are higher end units out there, but these have worked for us at a reasonable cost. There is a moderate amount of traffic in and out of our gate - several cycles per day, but not dozens.

LOVE having an opener, especially in bad weather - when there’s a thunderstorm, I’m very glad there is no need to get out to open/close the metal gate, which is attached to metal posts with metal fence, while lightning is striking in the vicinity.

Clanter, that is interesting about the electric horse fence interference. We have Horseguard on either side of our driveway leading from the gate, and a single strand inside our perimeter fence. What I have noticed is all of the gate remotes work best in my husband’s truck (which has a DCU topper, don’t know if that matters). I can switch remotes with him, use the spare remote, whatever, doesn’t matter, they all work better (from greater distances) when used in his truck.

[Underthebridge]

I have 2, 16’ tube gates
I will need to go under the crushed concrete driveway,
need to use electric since thieving could be a problem,
I feel I have done tons of research but still not getting anywhere,

Tried to rent a bullet mole but that seems impossible.
Still waiting on some people that do plumbing and have the
equipment to call me back,
the driveway is not wide, everybody is just super busy so
this is a good time to get all the information.

Will there be a problem going under the drive way?
I was going to at least buy the wire if I’m on the right track.
Probably will go with M.M. since money is an issue.
Any input is appreciated. My internet is at 10%

I have sympathy for people that still have dial-up:)

[TheJenners]

Clanter, thanks so much for all the (free) information you are giving! Truly!

That was just the one brand he recommended. Where my horses are now, I need to pop out of the car and peek at the brand. It has a code box outside? No remote for me (I think the owners have one). How far do the remotes work on most units? If I was at my house 150’ away from the gate but within eyesight, could I hit a remote to open the gate for someone?

I don’t mind a code box, it just seems like more parts to buy and more installation costs and labor. I find it more convenient than not, right now the code at my barn is posted on the box for package delivery and guests, but I remember that I don’t have that many friends and packages can go over the gate :lol: :lol: :lol:

Any brand, your opinion on solar for my area? Yes or not worth it?

[Underthebridge]

:tickled_pink::tickled_pink::applause:
I can have solar on one side, would that work?
The panel will be somewhat hidden.

I just love when they have lots of videos and I really should make
use of the Texas sun.
Back to mowing, it’s gona rain again:(

[Houndhill]

[QUOTE=keepersmom;8718816]
Thanks for the input Clanter! I have read good reviews of the US Automatic Patriot system. Any thoughts on that one, if you feel comfortable saying?

If we just stick with the current cheapy galvanized farm gate until we save up for a “fancy” gate, would we be able to use the Patriot unit on a heavier gate?

One final thing, is an opener worth the money? It is a huge pain to get out and open/close the gate all the time (we have to keep it closed all the time because of the dogs) so the convenience is very appealing, but if they are maintenance problems I wonder if we should just suck it up and not install one.[/QUOTE]

We have one that I think is called a Patriot, it has been OK, but has had its problems, which usually my husband could solve. Recently it had a problem he couldn’t solve, and we hired a Gate Repair Dude who has been excellent, glad we found him. I think it needed a new Mother Board or something.

We’ve had it at least 15 years. Initially, there was a sensor you would drive over that would open the gate to exit, but that hasn’t worked for many years, and we’ve not bothered to dig up the driveway to fix it, we just have a “press button to exit” sign.

I recommended this brand to a friend who bought one, and they have had quite a bit of trouble with theirs. It has not worked more than it has been operational, despite having the same gate repair folks- maybe the quality is not the same?

We used to be able to open it by phone from the house, but haven’t been able to do that for years. I’m sure the gates nowadays are much “smarter” - ours has become fairly “stupid” over the years, but it works well enough. I use the garage door button in my car to open it and my husband uses a clicker for his truck.

I do really like the convenience of it - when it is working.

[Jarpur]

Yes, clanter, we are aware that MM and GTO are the same company. However, my husband, who had several phone calls with GTO prior to replacing our MM when it finally quit on us, was convinced by the rep that the GTO Pro model was a better opener than the MM available at TSC.

Don’t know if that’s true, although it is beefier looking than the MM, but it’s lasted at least as long as the MM did, so far. For the money, we’ve been satisfied, as we had priced much more expensive models (for instance, the Apollo back in the day) when originally shopping.

Thank you kindly for your offer of assistance, should we require it.

[Underthebridge]

not sure if this was answered,
my neighbor has a MM
When I need to open the gate from my car I need to be
less 100’
when she opens it from her porch it is around 300’

[Houndhill]

Thanks, Clanter!

Yes, we knew about the two sides of the mother board, had already gone through both sides,so needed to get a new one, but now have a “spare side” when this one goes.

I think the wire was not installed in conduct, would definitely do that if we wanted to have that feature again, but feel its not worth the bother, pressing the button works just as well. I do wish we had mounted the button a little lower, we are so used to trucks and taller vehicles, friends in sports car have to get out and stand up to reach it.

Yes, we think the telephone connection feature sounds like a good idea, but may be less reliable than hoped…

Thanks very much for your responses!

[TheJenners]

I third that “thanks very much.” Clanter is giving free advice based on knowledge, I do hope no one gets snappy about anything because I am gaining a LOT of information here.

I met a fence guy yesterday for fence bids, and he also does the GTO Professional gates. Weep! I really don’t want to run wire ( even though I understand it’s fairly easy…it just skeers me a bit), but you say it doesn’t do solar all that well? Ho hum. Solar in the PNW might be hit or miss anyway. :lol:

[Jarpur]

Jenners, running the wire couldn’t have been any easier, at least for us. Are you worried about getting shocked? It’s low voltage.

Clanter, thanks again. If we ever want to upgrade, we’ll be referring to this thread!

What you described about the “getting into a bind” and breaking connections may have been what did in our original MM, as we get the occasional gusty wind here. I usually wait for the wind to die down and time my opening of the gate to avoid the strong gusts as much as I can, but of course that’s not always possible.

[starsandsun]

Great information! We have a MM, and have for at least 6 years now. Really not had any problems. We do have solar panels hooked up to trickle charge, and use a marine battery. But, I will keep this information handy when we might need to replace.

[Underthebridge]

I am shopping for wire, don’t think I can bury it until this drought is over.
so far I have found too expensive, very cheap-but people are complaining about the insulation, and lots of 500’ wire,
I need around 200’ of something descent. Thanks

[Underthebridge]

I am getting the lift master, one side electric, great idea Clanter, not sure why I didn’t think of our local el.supplier, I drive by it all the time.

I will not do conduit, it seems the comcast cable is doing just fine.
What happens if someone pokes a screwdriver in the wire:winkgrin: