Driveway Gate Install

tractchores · Feb 21, 2015

Nice clean looking job! Is the keypad wireless, or will you dig a trench to connect it to the control box?

troutsqueezer · Feb 21, 2015

Thanks for the comments, guys, and thanks for looking.

ultrarunner said:
Will you need any security measures for the opener and solar charger?

The reason I ask is my neighbor two houses away lost two before making them secure.

I would sacrifice the price of the solar panel or even the control box to know that some unsavory characters have been coming up this road. I don't know what I could do to ensure they don't get stolen short of putting in an impenetrable barrier. It is rare that anyone drives this far up the two mile gravel road that leads to my place. I am at the very end of the road and I've got game cams set up so I know who's driving up and turning around. Rarely does that even happen. The most exciting thing on those cams (besides the animals) is my neighbor walking his dogs.

troutsqueezer · Feb 21, 2015

tractchores said:
Nice clean looking job! Is the keypad wireless, or will you dig a trench to connect it to the control box?

Thank you, sir. Yep the keypad is wireless but I have to say that once I had it in my hands, I was disappointed in the quality. I really wanted the expensive, metal box with robust buttons but didn't want to pay that much. Now I think that, in the end, I will pay it but I'll wait for a few months until the plastic wireless version gives out and then buy the better one which I will trench over to the control box.

edkemper · Feb 21, 2015

ultrarunner said:
The reason I ask is my neighbor two houses away lost two before making them secure.

It's a CA thing.

ultrarunner · Feb 21, 2015

edkemper said:
It's a CA thing.

Could be be my Washington State neighbors/friends have been hit hard out on the peninsula.... seems it only takes a little bit of cover for the unsavory to take advantage...

Now, in Austria... country people don't even lock their doors... most outsiders stick out anyway...

The simplest way is to replace the clevis pin with a keyed lock and maybe nylon locking nuts for the panel bolts...

edkemper · Feb 21, 2015

Speaking only from a state level, being from CA, it's either Sacramento taking what you have or everyone else taking what you have so they can sell the booty to pay for Sacramento opulence.

A lot of wonderful people still there. But they are becoming more victimized every day.

franklin2 · Feb 21, 2015

troutsqueezer said:
Thank you, sir. Yep the keypad is wireless but I have to say that once I had it in my hands, I was disappointed in the quality. I really wanted the expensive, metal box with robust buttons but didn't want to pay that much. Now I think that, in the end, I will pay it but I'll wait for a few months until the plastic wireless version gives out and then buy the better one which I will trench over to the control box.

What do they say about grounding the unit? I don't know if it would help, but my Dad had two different gate openers and they both suffered lightning storm damage.

tractchores · Feb 21, 2015

I have a metal one (linear RE-1). The physical unit is nice, but I have been really dissapointed in the software itself. For tht kind o money they could have done a LOT better. I think the cheaper ones are likely just as good.

Are you putting up any safety devices? They don't regulate gates where I am, but there are young kids (including mine) in the area, so we did a photo eye (only operates on closing), set the close pressure to be minimal (I can stop it with one hand easily) and put a metal detecting safety loop. The downside to these are that the photo eye has been troublesome and often gives false readings if its foggy, raining, etc.

troutsqueezer · Feb 21, 2015

edkemper said:
Speaking only from a state level, being from CA, it's either Sacramento taking what you have or everyone else taking what you have so they can sell the booty to pay for Sacramento opulence.

A lot of wonderful people still there. But they are becoming more victimized every day.

"Sacramento" and "opulence" in the same sentence, hmm... never would'a put those two together.

troutsqueezer · Feb 21, 2015

franklin2 said:
What do they say about grounding the unit? I don't know if it would help, but my Dad had two different gate openers and they both suffered lightning storm damage.

Nothing in the instructions about grounding in case of lightning. I guess I'll have to take that chance. They do say not to weld with any electrical connections made in the control box.