Electric gate opener being magically triggered by road construction 2-way radios? Cell phones? Walkie-talkies?

[Color_of_Light]

Has this happened to anyone else? What’s the point of having an electric gate opener if it gets triggered randomly by I’m-not-sure-what? I have an Arlo camera out at the gate, so I know when it opens and when it closes. It magically happened 3 times this morning. This morning there was a construction crew working out on the main road within 2-300 feet of my gate. At first, I panicked because I was not expecting anyone and I was in the middle of running on my treadmill. Then I saw that no one came in. Weird! 45 minutes later, the gate was triggered open again. Even weirder! It was then that I realized that the road crew must have somehow triggered the gate through some sort of technology that they were using. An hour later the gate opened a third time. At least the gate closed each time after it opened and it did not get stuck open. It has a timer and there is also a loop in the ground on the inside so that a vehicle can make the gate opened when they are leaving.

This electric gate opener is only 1.5 years old. Before that, we did not have the gate electrified. The gate was always locked manually. We never had a problem with the gate opening on its own, getting stuck open, or not opening when we needed to leave. For 16 years everyone got out of our vehicles to unlock the gate to get in or out, and then everyone got out of our vehicles to lock it behind us. No magical gate opening without a person opening it. Ever.

Last spring was the first time the electric gate magically opened on its own one morning. Then last summer a pest control guy came in via keypad and 1/2 hour later I realized the gate never closed behind him, panicked, and quickly drove to the gate to try to fix it. I couldn’t get it to close. It was stuck open, so I had to park a vehicle blocking the driveway. I called the company that installed the gate controller, told them about the pest control guy coming in and the gate getting stuck open. They said that it’s rare, but gate openers can be triggered by the use of a cell phone or 2-way radio while the gate is opening. I told them about the first magical opening that occurred in the spring and asked if someone on the road could have it their gate opener, and they said yes, it was possible that someone else’s opener could open my gate. GREAT. So far this gate opener has been a bit of a lemon by having a few other problems since we got it. Now, this is for sure a very big problem. The gate opener was what I believe is considered mid-priced (in the $5,000-$6,000 range; double gates, so two connected openers, post and keypad outside the gate, post and keypad inside the gate, and buried loop on the inside), so it’s not a super cheap model, I don’t think.

Tomorrow I’m going to see if the road crew is out there again. I want to find out what kind of radios, what frequency or channel, and what other technology they were using that could have possibly interfered with my gate. If I can’t find the road crew, I’ll contact DOT and see what they can tell me. Then I’ll call the gate company and ask them to come to fix the gate.

[Chall]

@clanter paging @clanter
He has electric gate experience.

[Denali6298]

@Chall

@clanter paging @clanter
He has electric gate experience.

I came here to tag clanter too :yes:

[Color_of_Light]

Thanks @Chall and @Denali6298. “Paging @clanter. Come in, @clanter!”.

[Scribbler]

Why not contact the gate manufacturers or distributors? Maybe there is a simple adjustment in to another radio band you could try.

[clanter]

OP…

there is also a loop in the ground on the inside so that a vehicle can make the gate opened when they are leaving.

are you positive you have a vehicle loop detector? is there a ground loop in the drive (it normally is a rectangle field that could have been direct buried or saw cut into the drive.)?

An an exit probe for free exit are notorious for false signals in the same conditions you have describe

Ground vibrant or some Cell Phone signals can trigger an exit probe (I am pretty sure the recommendation is never use one close to a busy highway or Railroad

Yes CBs can be used to open a gate but a special receiver is used to acknowledge the signal is correct (Click to Enter I believe is the device)

It was stuck open

cycle the primary power, the system should reset

Can you provide a little more detail about the system? I am not an engineer but but have spend decades reviewing problem sites that have had mysterious issues. The systems are pretty dumb so they need an impute or device failure to run. And some devices can detect false singles (a free exit probe that is buried next to an electric fence can trip when the electric fence charger pulses)

One of the tests for UL Certification is the unit does not spontaneously start… I used to attend the testing sessions of our equipment and was shocked to see one catch fire after the lab hit it with 50,000 volts… they laughed saying it passed since it did not start running, it could catch fire but not start

[Chall]

:encouragement: thank you Clanter.

[clanter]

Then last summer a pest control guy came in via keypad and 1/2 hour later I realized the gate never closed behind him, panicked, and quickly drove to the gate to try to fix it.

many digital keypads can have two different types of codes entered, one is the standard cycle the relay to open a gate, normally the length of time the cycle relay is held can be adjusted between 1/2 second to up to five minutes) (some people use this feature to ensure a gate that is also using an automatic timer to closed that it does not start closing before they get a truck and trailer through an opening as the timer to close will not start its timing until all open commands have been released …including safety imputes)

the other Entry Code is a Latch Code that will hold the gate open until the same code is reentered (or the primary power is cycles to release the latch relay in the keypad) I wonder if the installer miss programmed the code to be a latch code ? normally when programming a code into a keypad it has to be told it is “cycle” or “latch” code

[Color_of_Light]

@clanter

OP…

are you positive you have a vehicle loop detector? is there a ground loop in the drive (it normally is a rectangle field that could have been direct buried or saw cut into the drive.)?

An an exit probe for free exit are notorious for false signals in the same conditions you have describe

Ground vibrant or some Cell Phone signals can trigger an exit probe (I am pretty sure the recommendation is never use one close to a busy highway or Railroad

Yes CBs can be used to open a gate but a special receiver is used to acknowledge the signal is correct (Click to Enter I believe is the device)

cycle the primary power, the system should reset

Can you provide a little more detail about the system? I am not an engineer but but have spend decades reviewing problem sites that have had mysterious issues. The systems are pretty dumb so they need an impute or device failure to run. And some devices can detect false singles (a free exit probe that is buried next to an electric fence can trip when the electric fence charger pulses)

One of the tests for UL Certification is the unit does not spontaneously start… I used to attend the testing sessions of our equipment and was shocked to see one catch fire after the lab hit it with 50,000 volts… they laughed saying it passed since it did not start running, it could catch fire but not start

Thank you clanter.

Yes. There absolutely is a buried loop. Once open, the closing of the gate is on an adjustable electronic timer. There is no exit probe. I almost wish that it one because what you’ve said makes sense considering the logistics.

There is no electric fence or electric fence charger near the gate. The made power for the entire property comes in from the power lines outside the gate. Once the power lines come onto the property, there is an electrical vault about 30’ from the gate. From there the electric lines split into two electrical services on the property: one for the house and nearby barns, and the other for the indoor arena and it’s nearby barns. I would be shocked if that electrical service had anything to do with the problem, but who knows. I would think that if that was the problem the gate would magically open very frequently. The gate is on the same meter as the one that operates the indoor arena. There have been no electrical problems with the indoor arena electrical service.

I’ll have to get back to you with more information about the electric gate system. I know it’s 110, has an electronic control box on one side, the 110 runs from that box, and under the driveway to the other gate opener. The loop, of course, comes off of the control box and is placed under the ground on the inside of the gate.

[Color_of_Light]

@clanter

many digital keypads can have two different types of codes entered, one is the standard cycle the relay to open a gate, normally the length of time the cycle relay is held can be adjusted between 1/2 second to up to five minutes) (some people use this feature to ensure a gate that is also using an automatic timer to closed that it does not start closing before they get a truck and trailer through an opening as the timer to close will not start its timing until all open commands have been released …including safety imputes)

the other Entry Code is a Latch Code that will hold the gate open until the same code is reentered (or the primary power is cycles to release the latch relay in the keypad) I wonder if the installer miss programmed the code to be a latch code ? normally when programming a code into a keypad it has to be told it is “cycle” or “latch” code

My gate uses one keypad code and gate openers. The gate openers look like a garage door opener. As for the gate code used upon the keypad, there is only one code. One to open, same code to stop it open anywhere in the open or closing phases, and the same code to close it. You can use the gate opener or the code to leave the gate open as long as necessary by either pushing the gate opener button or the gate code once the gate is in the position you want to leave it open. (wide open, or just opened a crack).

If this strange and random magical opening happened all of the time, I’d also wonder if it was miss programmed.

[Color_of_Light]

@Scribbler

Why not contact the gate manufacturers or distributors? Maybe there is a simple adjustment in to another radio band you could try.

The distributor is the company who installed it. They blew off the problem the first time, all nonchalant, like it’s a normal occurrence for gates. The installing company/distributor was less than helpful. I haven’t ever heard of this happening to anyone else, so figured I’d ask here. I need to get the manufacturer and model number before I can investigate further.

[clanter]

@Color of Light

The distributor is the company who installed it. They blew off the problem the first time, all nonchalant, like it’s a normal occurrence for gates. The installing company/distributor was less than helpful. I haven’t ever heard of this happening to anyone else, so figured I’d ask here. I need to get the manufacturer and model number before I can investigate further.

there should be an identification label with model and serial on the exterior of the housing, this label is a required item for UL/ETL Listings

[clanter]

@Color of Light

The distributor is the company who installed it. They blew off the problem the first time, all nonchalant, like it’s a normal occurrence for gates. The installing company/distributor was less than helpful. I haven’t ever heard of this happening to anyone else, so figured I’d ask here. I need to get the manufacturer and model number before I can investigate further.

well it is also Normal for customers to not pay LOL

Actually no it is Not Normal for a system to Malfunction

Did the installer give you the product manuals? READ the manuals… within these will be basic maintenance that should/must be preformed … like monthly test the entrapment systems to make sure the system is working correctly.

There will be an itemized check list of service, note that failing to do so Could Void the product warranty… the Could is rarely heard of as rarely will a manufacturer fall back to that claim…

But where I have seen this as a fall back is in court cases involving injury

When the court is assigning percentages of liability they can assign the owner a percentage due to failure of maintenance of the system

Also normally a true distributor of access control products is not also an installation company … in the old days when the systems required knowledge of just how everything needed to put together, yes then some distributors were required by the equipment manufacturer to provide field assistance Today, few installers know anything about what makes a system tick…it is all plug and play. The installer has little idea as to what/why/how the things work…and it sounds like you have found one of those