Electric Drive Gates opener

[MARK.B.]

Good luck with the install. I don't think you will have issues and will save yourself hundreds by doing yourself.


Thank's Peter, don't mind doing all the donkey work and saving a few bob also if it does go wrong later on i will at least have the knoweldge of what goes where and why, making a fix easier to remedy

 

[Peterm1000]

Good luck with the install. I don't think you will have issues and will save yourself hundreds by doing yourself.


Thank's Peter, don't mind doing all the donkey work and saving a few bob also if it does go wrong later on i will at least have the knoweldge of what goes where and why, making a fix easier to remedy

Exactly - things like adding a new remote become an easy £20 job rather than paying someone to come in and do it for you.

 

[Beanwood]

Thank's Peter, don't mind doing all the donkey work and saving a few bob also if it does go wrong later on i will at least have the knoweldge of what goes where and why, making a fix easier to remedy

AND you get the satisfaction of knowing you installed it every time you push the button to open the gates

 

[Dabop]

I am in the process of homebrewing my own here, solar charging a battery to run the opener and remote system (plus a camera/intercom for the drive)- its a 500m driveway, so running a cable is obviously out... plus its an offgrid home anyway so running mains would be a bit pointless in my case lol
My mate has had one on his driveway for decades- he converted it from mains to battery power (rural area, so outages were frequent) and biggest advantage with the battery he found was that voltage drop and slow speeds because of it became a thing of the past- the battery took the brunt of the load, and the charger had plenty of time inbetween to refill the battery, dramatically reducing the cable specs
(he replaced it several times which was becoming expensive- mostly because it was run along a fenceline in a rocky area, and the sheep kept nibbling at the cable)- now its just a light duty 'extension cord' cable in polypipe instead of the 4mm stuff he needed before to run the actual motor...

 

[Peterm1000]

I am in the process of homebrewing my own here, solar charging a battery to run the opener and remote system (plus a camera/intercom for the drive)- its a 500m driveway, so running a cable is obviously out... plus its an offgrid home anyway so running mains would be a bit pointless in my case lol
My mate has had one on his driveway for decades- he converted it from mains to battery power (rural area, so outages were frequent) and biggest advantage with the battery he found was that voltage drop and slow speeds because of it became a thing of the past- the battery took the brunt of the load, and the charger had plenty of time inbetween to refill the battery, dramatically reducing the cable specs
(he replaced it several times which was becoming expensive- mostly because it was run along a fenceline in a rocky area, and the sheep kept nibbling at the cable)- now its just a light duty 'extension cord' cable in polypipe instead of the 4mm stuff he needed before to run the actual motor...

Great plan! That should be very possible as many of the systems are set up to have a battery backup. I guess you just remove the mains feed and put a battery feed in instead.

 

[NetBlindPaul]

Well I have to say that if the gates weren’t working well due to volt drop then the person that designed the circuit is incompetent and if it was paid for then it was fraudulent.
The other worry is achieving ADS for prevention of electric shock and death.
If the volt drop is too high then it is likely that the fault loop impedance is out of spec too.
This could easily result in electric shock or overheating/fire.
If the sheep were nibbling the cable then it wasn’t installed correctly.

 

[Dabop]

Well I have to say that if the gates weren’t working well due to volt drop then the person that designed the circuit is incompetent and if it was paid for then it was fraudulent.
The other worry is achieving ADS for prevention of electric shock and death.
If the volt drop is too high then it is likely that the fault loop impedance is out of spec too.
This could easily result in electric shock or overheating/fire.
If the sheep were nibbling the cable then it wasn’t installed correctly.

It was originally speced for one gate opener and a driveway light only, they then replaced the original gate opener (after several decades) with a different one that was mains only, rather than the battery with mains charger of the previous one, and that was when troubles started
It was all done legally and to code in Australia- above ground cabling is fine in conduit, unfortunately sheep seem to love chewing on it when they got some to mix in with the cattle, which never touched the stuff

 

[Dabop]

Great plan! That should be very possible as many of the systems are set up to have a battery backup. I guess you just remove the mains feed and put a battery feed in instead.

Yup- although I plan on a complete DIY system rather than a prebuilt as a basis...
Ive built several systems in the past (one at my sisters, another at a rellies farm) using linear actuators and a simple remote system with reversing relays- hardest part was 'finetuning' the emergency 'stop and reverse' switching system, one was done with rubber tubing and a pressure switch, the other with rubber 'bumpers' on springs and microswitches... (that actually worked far better)

This one is a bit (lol, just 'a bit') bigger as the gate has to accommodate my truck and trailer turning in from the road- plus the occasional wide load going in or out... so its over 5m long... 'gunna need a bigger motor'....

 

[NetBlindPaul]

It was originally speced for one gate opener and a driveway light only, they then replaced the original gate opener (after several decades) with a different one that was mains only, rather than the battery with mains charger of the previous one, and that was when troubles started
It was all done legally and to code in Australia- above ground cabling is fine in conduit, unfortunately sheep seem to love chewing on it when they got some to mix in with the cattle, which never touched the stuff

Ok so when the modifications were done, no thought was given to the change of load on the existing installation. So I doubt that it was actually “to code”.
The AsNz 3000 standard “code” has the same IEC parent standard as BS7671, so they are not that different in general terms.
Also Ohms law is the same worldwide.
I believe that my comment stands.

As far as wire in conduit, yes, it is acceptable externally in the UK snd many other countries.
That doesn’t mean it’s suitable for the installation. External influences must be considered. These include the potential for the affect of flora and fauna.
I don’t have a copy of ASNZ 3000 to hand to be specific, but the last time I checked it was definitely not that different in its general requirements than BS 7671.
So I believe that my second comment on the unsuitable cable also stands.
The installation method might have “met code” for some installations, but not when certain external influences are present, such as chewing sheep!

 

[Dabop]

Ok so when the modifications were done, no thought was given to the change of load on the existing installation. So I doubt that it was actually “to code”.
The AsNz 3000 standard “code” has the same IEC parent standard as BS7671, so they are not that different in general terms.
Also Ohms law is the same worldwide.
I believe that my comment stands.

As far as wire in conduit, yes, it is acceptable externally in the UK snd many other countries.
That doesn’t mean it’s suitable for the installation. External influences must be considered. These include the potential for the affect of flora and fauna.
I don’t have a copy of ASNZ 3000 to hand to be specific, but the last time I checked it was definitely not that different in its general requirements than BS 7671.
So I believe that my second comment on the unsuitable cable also stands.
The installation method might have “met code” for some installations, but not when certain external influences are present, such as chewing sheep!

Firstly, the issue was masked by the battery in the first installation, and when it was installed, the sheep weren't even thought of (indeed they didn't make an appearance until several decades later)

The original installation was done by an electrician (now retired) known to me, and he was always meticulous in his work- indeed the volt drop issue is only because of the extremely high (but also extremely brief) starting surge, indeed I ran the test results myself when they fitted the new opener (no electrics rewired as it is a plug in device), and they are still even after all this time and several repairs within spec- at the outer edges yes, but within voltage drop specs for the load quoted, this particular brand gate opener just had a very high instantaneous surge at startup that causes a much heavier loading than most-and indeed its own specs have no mention of this, just the run current and standby current- any electrician who relied on the installation manual and running a long distance would strike the exact same issue (even you I suspect)

I only found it by running it on my bench and watching what was happening on an oscilloscope... This one uses a linear transformer style powersupply, rather than a switchmode, and when the motor current surges, it pulls the internal rails low, which the circuit design registers as a 'jammed gate' condition (it monitors the motor current for rises in current across a high wattage, low ohms resistor and if the gate is 'blocked' the current rises and the gate stops...) The lowering of the supply rails in this case has the same effect- gate stops...