automatic gates

leoch

does anyone know anything about electric gates i am thinking about putting them in, what are good and bad makes and were do u get them and is there much setting up in them and the cost also.....cheers

Jnealon

FAAC, Came, Sea, nice are some good makes. If it cheap, there's a reason

Underground or over

grousedogtom

There is a good 24 v nice underground system on ebay.ie same system as i put in my own house, wiring and programming is pretty straight forward

MARIA O

Hi,

I had a new electric sliding gate installed last year absolutely delighted with it. They guy who installed it says the sliding ones have a lot less problems than a double opening one. If you have the space at the front ie. double the opening I couldn't recommend these enough I don't know how we managed without it.

leoch

its an underground opening out type

Jnealon

You'll have to lay your ducts from your house to the gates, then another two between the piers. The tins will need to be bolted to the piers and set in concrete.
Have you built piers, if not you can set an rsj in to the foundation and built around it then get a bracket welded to it for the gate.
Also if you go for low voltage motors they will open and close quicker than mains ones and they can have a battery backup

Stoner

I have a sliding gate in for 6 years now without an issue, there was some civil works required, the motor unit is FAAC and I'm happy with it, i have a part open and complete open button on the intercom phone in my hall, its the only way into my house on foot or in a car so its handy to only have it open a little but to let people in.

thebigb

I'd advise against installing your own gates. unless you are an experienced installer they will give you problems down the line and it can end up turning out more expensive then it has to be. theres alot of cowboys doing automatic gates. yes they are relatively easy to install if you know what your doing but people who are not experienced have been installing them for years and when things go wrong you cant get them back to fufill warranty etc. also if you do them yourself and they are not commisioned properly by a brand agent your gates wont be gauranteed. If you recommendation for a set of gates I can give you one. You will get a very good price from most installers these days, the gates will be fully garaunteed and fit properly. Let me know how you get on.

leoch

thats ok bigb send me ur recommendation and quotes and stuff how long is the guarantee and where u from i am in donegal and i got a quote from a crowd in cookstown and theres were guaranteed for four years

Autoentry

Hi

You would need to check the terms and conditions of the 4 year warranty. You may require a service contract which could be expensive?

Anthonyk2010

Have ditec system myself. Find it a great system. Pm me if you want to know more.

Thunderbird2

hi im thinking about automating my wooden open panel gates . one of the gates is mounted straight onto the gable end of the house so i think the ram system is out of the question. i think the articulated arm is a good option.... any advice have a budget of about 600 - 700 euro

Autoentry

The articulated arm system needs more room than the ram system. The only option that you have is to use an underground system.

Buford T Justice

If its in the middle of the gable wall, then the articulated arm is no good.

If its two gates, then there's very little hope for anything around the price you're looking at.

Thunderbird2

what way does the articulated arm need to be when the gate is open?? can u have it fold linear to the wall??underground wont work because the gate is wooden

Thunderbird2

found a website gatesauto.ie

BFT Automation

Thunderbird2 wrote: »

what way does the articulated arm need to be when the gate is open?? can u have it fold linear to the wall??underground wont work because the gate is wooden

The gate begin wooden may not be an issue depending on the weight and size of the gate, you may just need to use a lock on the open and close. If and underground is out of the question because of the civil works involved then the ram option may be the best as the rams would be to a certain extent hidden and not compromise the aesthetics of the gate.

Thunderbird2

il try post a pic of the problem..not sure how to tho!

Thunderbird2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H_m3rtM8P0&NR=1 this is kinda the way the gate is mounted ....except the hindges are attached straight onto the brickwork....would u be able to use an articulted arm or a ram operator? the gate does not open fully onto the wall

irishh_bob

thebigb wrote: »

I'd advise against installing your own gates. unless you are an experienced installer they will give you problems down the line and it can end up turning out more expensive then it has to be. theres alot of cowboys doing automatic gates. yes they are relatively easy to install if you know what your doing but people who are not experienced have been installing them for years and when things go wrong you cant get them back to fufill warranty etc. also if you do them yourself and they are not commisioned properly by a brand agent your gates wont be gauranteed. If you recommendation for a set of gates I can give you one. You will get a very good price from most installers these days, the gates will be fully garaunteed and fit properly. Let me know how you get on.

hello there

im currently in the process of arranging to have electric gates fitted and while the consensus seems to be that having the arms underground ( in cans ) is better , it costs up on 500 euro more than going for the over ground arms which are fitted to the piers

any ideas would be most welcome

Gate Automation

underground is hidden, overground is visible. If you don't want any arm on the gate, cable, etc take underground. If You have a dag on the yard, You must take underground because dog hit and damage cable from overground motors Overground sometimes can't be fitted because pillar is to fat and arm don't open full gate because is to short, underground can be used on any type of pillar. Both system is great way to have electric gate.

2011

The most difficult part is getting the mechanical part done properly. Electrically automated gates are not that complicated. If gates are properly hung with the axis of both hinges correctly aligned it requires very little effort to open or close the gates. This means less wear and tear on the motor. The same applies to sliding gates, the slide itself must be level. It is also essential to ensure that the correct stops are installed so that the gates open and close at the correct points. I have seen many electric gates where the motors are fighting gravity! Guess what, they don't last. The other pet hate I have are junction boxes. These should be kept to a minimum. Nearly every time a cable fails it is at a junction box. Less cable joins = less failures = more reliability + it looks much tidier

I have found that many of the control units are simply too small to connect properly and not waterproof enough particularly when several cables are glanced into it and intercom gear and perhaps camera PSUs are installed. For this reason when I did this I installed all of this equipment in a polycarbonate surface meter box (IP65). This could be built into the pillar or otherwise hidden from view. I would often install a socket in this also that comes in handy when servicing/working on the gate. This is a nice neat way of ensuring that everything electronic is kept dry and can be easily serviced/worked on.

When using underground motors proper drainage is very important. Otherwise the box containing the motor will fill with water and motor failure is only a matter of time. Although the motors are IP rated they are not designed to be submerged indefinitely.

Personally I believe that the best design is the sliding gate. There are beauty is their simplicity (and only motor), with so much less to go wrong. That is not to say that there are not excellent alternatives.

My least favorite are the overground rams.

BMD

Does anyone have a ballpark price for supply and fit of a decent underground system (not including the price of the gates) in 2012?

I got a few quotes that were around 2000 euro which seems steep to me

Any advice or PM prices appreciated.

Jnealon

2k could be great value, then again it may not. It all depends on what you are getting for your 2k.
What type of kit is being quoted

BMD

Two types of kit;

1. FACC 770 Kit
2. Roger Technology Kit

Jnealon

Faac 770 24VDC (battery backup included) with an e124 board, 2 pairs of photo cells and a half decent intercom and keypad (comelit 8241s)
2k would be a good price for this

paddymick

BMD wrote: »

Does anyone have a ballpark price for supply and fit of a decent underground system (not including the price of the gates) in 2012?

I got a few quotes that were around 2000 euro which seems steep to me

Any advice or PM prices appreciated.

2K sounds about right for an underground system sometimes it could be a bit lower and sometimes a bit higher.

Any underground systems ive done over the last few months seem to average around €1800/€1900 +vat.

It all depends on the work involved and what gear is used,
Plus every gate set up is differant...

Thunderbird2

I know of someone who paid €3000 for an over ground articulated arm kit for a set of small gates .that price is very good for an underground kit

Woodie77

Hey,

have FAAC underground system. Can you advise how to adjust swing on gate, new kerbs put in and are wider than old kerbs, the gate is pushing against the kerbs and I am fearful that it will damage the motor
Thanks
Woodie

Thunderbird2

If its not reversing when it hits the kerb it will be fine . Most of them operate this way ie when it hits the close stop the panel detects the surge and turns off the motor .
You probably have the limits set in the foundation cases ..( little bolts the arm hits off in the case )

Woodie77

When the gate swings open and hits the kerb you still feel the motor vibrating and keeps pushing for about 15 sec's and then stops, is this normal or does that need adjusting

Thanks

Thunderbird2

Are they hydraulic or mechanical ?
I've seen some gates set up this way .
If its hydraulic it should be fine but you could change the max operating setting slightly and it will stop them hitting the kerb

Woodie77

Its a FAAC 770, not sure if electric or hydraulic, thanks

Jnealon

770 is just the motors, it's on the board where the adjustment is done.
The e124 board can be programmed with a laptop or using the buttons on the board.
other boards are adjusted using adjustable pots and dips

Woodie77

I've attached a copy of the panel. Can you see on the pic where the adjustments are to be one ??

Thanks again

Needles73

Agree with the post from "2011". I have worked on a lot of automatic gates and in general the panels supplied are difficult to connect to and dont handle irish weather. I always install them in a slightly larger enclosure with a higher ip rating. Drainage for underground motors is very important and good electrical connections will save nuisance problems later. However a word of caution to anyone installing auto gates. They can pose a crushing hazard to small children as they easily develop 300nm + of torque. i would never fit a gate with just one set of photcell sensors and gates which have torque limiters are safer. There is an EU limit on torque (i cannot remember value of top of the head. ) In my opinion gates brackets shoud be always installed close to corner of gate pillar and open away to reduce chance for child getting crushed. If possible i always prefer to install steel in the pillar construction rather than anchor bolts. Gates are also supposed to be CE marked and comply with the EU machinery directive. If you have gates which physically touch the kerb and exert aforce for 10-15 secs how do you think they would handle a childs foot between the gate and kerb ? My recomendation is fit a gate setup with gate "slow dow" as it reaches end of stoke and have the torque limited. Hard stops should be conatined, typically within underground enclosure to avoid pich point. Fit two sets of photcells and if you can live with it disable automatic closing and have them only close with fob.

brinks_18476

Hi guys, i am building piers and running wires for future auto sliding gate.
I have a question about photocells and stuff

When im driving out do photocells detect this and open gate? If so should i wire these photocells back as far as poss from piers so that gate is almost open when i get to it?

What wire is used from photocell back to piers/gate motor?

Are photocells positioned outside the gate also for safety if gate closing as person/car drives towards closing gate? If so what stops these opening thr gates for everyone that break beam (programming presumably?).

Thanks

Thunderbird2

You'd be better off using a magnetic loop detector inside the drive that senses the vehicle rather then using photocells as any small kids running up to the gate will break the beam and cause it to open .. Photocells would be used between the posts to detect obstacles and reverse the gate or stop it from closing .when the gate is fully closed the photocells won't open it

Jnealon

Photo cells are there for your safety, you will use a remote to open the gates

brinks_18476

should i pre-wire for photocells inside and outside gate? what type photocell wire should i leave for sparks?

Would like photocells to be flush mounted into pier. Can anyone recommend a good type which would be compatible with most gate openers and where i can buy the flush mount backbox for them. I would like to build the backboxes into pier as i'm building it.

Thanks

Needles73

Yes you should pre-wire for photocells. Better to run all the cables if possible. Run an armoured cable for power to the best location for main control panel. If its a typical set up you will also need telephone cable to location of control panel to location of intercom and also to house. This can be "poly poly" type cable which is more robust. Otherwise the phone cable needs to be in a duct.
If you want you can also get wireless systems which remove need for phone cables but you still need power and photocells. Also think about at least laying a duct for the motor cables to the contol panel. Dont mix mains and low voltage in same duct.
The photocells can be got small and neat so not sure if i'd be over concerned with them being built in to pier buts its nice to have cable hid. If its a stone pier they can be a bit awkaward to align but its usually not an issue. One set of photcells will typically be on the pier but dont forget the other set will probably be on their own supports (depends on your exact arrangement).
The photocell cable should be 4 core 0.75mm.

brinks_18476

Thanks everyone.

Do i need to run a wire from intercom keypad location to gate opener to allow keypad to open gate?

Needles73

Yes you need to run a cable from intercom to gate contol

BMD

Any tips for attaching photocells to round piers?

Irish Steve

What sort of diameter of a pier are you looking at mounting on?

Outsidethebox

Hi folks,

Does anyone know of a good, established, reputable company who install automatic gates in Tipperary/Munster area?

GRMA,
OTB

nultyd

Hi, i have recently installed the FAAC 700N motors with E124 control board. 2 x sets of photocells (Bus 2Easy XP30B). i believe everything is connected correctly. However, there is an alarm (LED constant) and when trying to complete setup i receive error code 05 (repeat setup). Any idea what i am doing wrong?

thanks