Solar powered gate

[hally]

We have a neighbour who lives in a house in the middle of some of our land. He has said he is sick of opening the gate this time of year into the farm track and he has asked if a solar powered gate opener is an option. I did suggest a cattle grid but there are a miriad of phone and water cables under the gateway so could be a ball ache to dig.
I see spaldings sell one but has anyone got one and are they any good?
Or any suggestions / recommendations. Tia.

 

[chaffcutter]

We had our main drive gate on a solar charged battery, but it was a very heavy gate and there was too much traffic so the battery was not up to it, we even added a second battery but it was still not enough, Just depends on the amount of traffic I suppose. Ours was a pretty big panel too.
Gave up in the end and gone back to manual.

 

[Ley253]

I think mains power would be the only way to go, Solar panels down here cant even keep a fencer battery up, so up north, I cant see them getting off the ground. Could you not put a raised grid in, with gentle access slopes? No digging then.

 

[Steevo]

Not quite the same but have a backup battery on a traffic barrier in case the power goes down. Have managed over 100 cycles with it and still not run the batteries down. Runs on a pair of 12v 1.3Ah. See no reason such a thing couldn't be solar powered.

I'm sure it's possible but as above - you don't want anything too heavy.

How expensive would it be to run an electric cable there?

 

[hally]

Not quite the same but have a backup battery on a traffic barrier in case the power goes down. Have managed over 100 cycles with it and still not run the batteries down. Runs on a pair of 12v 1.3Ah. See no reason such a thing couldn't be solar powered.

I'm sure it's possible but as above - you don't want anything too heavy.

How expensive would it be to run an electric cable there?

It’s a long way from electric and I don’t think he’s wanting to spend that kind of money. It’s only a standard 7 bar 12 foot field gate and he’s a retired guy living on his own so not a great deal of traffic.

 

[Deutzdx3]

I bought a 12v actuator from gimson robotics. They do a wireless remote and one that has a range of 300m so can open it from the house. Big ass 12v marine battery, solar panel, charger and waterproof box from eBay. It doesn’t have the safety beams but they can be added in if needed. I’ve had enough of opening my parents gate and they don’t want the drive dug up to put power to the gate.

 

[Steevo]

Might be worth a look:

http://www.gatemotors.co.uk/page-842-28-1

https://www.theelectricgateshop.co.uk/Solar-Powered-Gate-Opener/

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

We have a neighbour who lives in a house in the middle of some of our land. He has said he is sick of opening the gate this time of year into the farm track and he has asked if a solar powered gate opener is an option. I did suggest a cattle grid but there are a miriad of phone and water cables under the gateway so could be a ball ache to dig.
I see spaldings sell one but has anyone got one and are they any good?
Or any suggestions / recommendations. Tia.

The key criteria is size and weight of gates AND how many regular gate cycles per day (opening/closing) in the dead of winter?

Summer is a walk in the park - it’s in the dead of winter when the sun doesn’t shine for 4 or 5 days straight that you have to (over)size BOTH the battery and the panel(s) to cope with the power drain and no real charge. Been there got the shirt.

Also running the lot through an inverter wastes a lot of precious watts. Your better off converting the power supply in the gate controller to run on direct DC supply. The gate motors will be fine (usually) as they should run on 24 VDC.

 

[Exfarmer]

Don’t go for a cheap option, neighbour here did and had no end of issues people being barricadedin or out at inconvenient times.

 

[michael N123]

Put a cattle grid in
Edited as I didn’t read it all lol

 

[hally]

Put a cattle grid in

Tbh I’m quite liking the idea of a raised grid with longish run ups it could be doable. The guys had loads of hassle with united utilities on the water supply to his house and doesn’t want to risk the pipe being damaged

 

[milkloss]

Rail back into the field a little way so you can put a grid in but I suspect a good cattle grid is not going to be cheap when drained, reinforced etc.

 

[michael N123]

Rail back into the field a little way so you can put a grid in but I suspect a good cattle grid is not going to be cheap when drained, reinforced etc.

Might cost more to set off with but better in the long run not getting phone calls every time the electric gate decides it dosnt want to work

My new neighbour has just stuck a electric gate on a mile long lane to her house which is shared access with our farm and another because we’ve fields down it she must only go threw it twice a day but we could go threw it 4-5 times some days and my other farmer neighbour even more as he’s a lot more land down there

It’s a pain in the arse very slow and shuts behind you so if your spreading muck or moving sheep you have to faff on covering the sensors up so it dosnt shut
It solar powered and breaks every week you need a special key to open it when it runs out of electric but we havnt been given one so it just gets pushed open with a bumper and tied back you have to be careful not to break it tho because she’s got a heap of cameras pointing at the gate

Oh and she’s got the only electric key thobs to open it everyone else has to get out and press a button

Thats my point put accross electric gates are shite and the only southerner to ever move near me is annoying and weird

 

[milkloss]

Might cost more to set off with but better in the long run not getting phone calls every time the electric gate decides it dosnt want to work

My new neighbour has just stuck a electric gate on a mile long lane to her house which is shared access with our farm and another because we’ve fields down it she must only go threw it twice a day but we could go threw it 4-5 times some days and my other farmer neighbour even more as he’s a lot more land down there

It’s a pain in the arse very slow and shuts behind you so if your spreading muck or moving sheep you have to faff on covering the sensors up so it dosnt shut
It solar powered and breaks every week you need a special key to open it when it runs out of electric but we havnt been given one so it just gets pushed open with a bumper and tied back you have to be careful not to break it tho because she’s got a heap of cameras pointing at the gate

Oh and she’s got the only electric key thobs to open it everyone else has to get out and press a button

Thats my point put accross electric gates are shite and the only southerner to ever move near me is annoying and weird

With you on that one. I can’t stand the ruddy things but round here they all seem to love them.

 

[hally]

If we went with solar idea and the battery couldn’t cope in the middle of winter every now and then can you not just open the gate normally by hand or are you stuck in.

 

[michael N123]

If we went with solar idea and the battery couldn’t cope in the middle of winter every now and then can you not just open the gate normally by hand or are you stuck in.

You need a special key to unlock the mechanism
Or a bull bar

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

If we went with solar idea and the battery couldn’t cope in the middle of winter every now and then can you not just open the gate normally by hand or are you stuck in.

On a swing gate, they usually have a release built into the leaf that attaches to the bottom bar of the gate.

 

[michael N123]

Oh and a box of battery’s next to the gate looks like a obvious target for pikeys

 

[Magic7]

We had our main drive gate on a solar charged battery, but it was a very heavy gate and there was too much traffic so the battery was not up to it, we even added a second battery but it was still not enough, Just depends on the amount of traffic I suppose. Ours was a pretty big panel too.
Gave up in the end and gone back to manual.

A suitably large array of panels with a suitable charge controller would keep up with it. Adding a second battery won't help matters if the panel is not providing enough charge to the first, it will just delay it going flat a little bit.

The problem with solar panels is due to short overcast days in winter their output is a fraction of what it is on a bright sunny summers day. Frost / snow / ice on the panel reduces this further. A 50w solar panel pointing in the right direction at the right angle is just enough to power an energizer with an average draw of 1.5w without the battery going flat in winter.

Based on this I would guess (obviously depends upon the size of the gate, how many times it is operated how well sited the panels are etc) that you would need 3-5 100w panels in parallel into a decent charge controller to ensure reliable operation when you have a couple of weeks of dark days and rain in the middle of winter. A single 100w panel would probably be enough in the summer. These should be coupled to a decent deep cycle battery (>100ah).

Realistically no one wants to go to the effort of installing 4 large panels to run one gate in the middle of winter hence for regularly used gates they are not a great option. A single panel and a small wind turbine (similar to the speed warning signs) may provide a better mix.

 

[HDAV]

Before you go down the electric gate route make sure you are aware of the service and maintenance requirements not worth it

https://www.heart.co.uk/eastanglia/news/local/man-jailed-womans-death-from-faulty-electric-gate/


https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news...-crush-mechanism-court-hears-semelia-campbell

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....news/gate-crush-death-firms-fined-3680943.amp