Gate Power with 1700 Foot Driveway

[Mr. Spinosa]

Hi,
We have a customer who has a gate that is 1700 feet away from her house. We need 20A at the gate. What is the best way to accomplish this? I think there is a conduit from the house to the gate already installed. The local authority having jurisdiction will not let us place a separate service, other than 200A, at the gate.

[kwired]

Hi,
We have a customer who has a gate that is 1700 feet away from her house. We need 20A at the gate. What is the best way to accomplish this? I think there is a conduit from the house to the gate already installed. The local authority having jurisdiction will not let us place a separate service, other than 200A, at the gate.

AHJ wont allow anything but 200 amp or POCO will not supply anything but 200 amp?

We have POCO here that will pull conductors for service laterals but owner is responsible for installing raceway. They only pull minimum 4/0 aluminum conductors, so you need 200 amp meter socket and 2 inch raceway even if you are only going to supply 60 amp service.

Most gate controllers AFAIK are only 12 VDC. Can you install battery supply and solar source for recharging? - Just an idea.

[texie]

I think this is one of those rare cases where solar is just the ticket. There are packaged systems available for this kind of application. I've some in rural installations around here. It's the perfect kind of load for this as it is very intermittent.

[Npstewart]

I think you have one of two choices.

1. Solar Power

2. Utilize hamster power at the gate. Provide 12" diameter hamster wheel as close to the gate as possible. Install a bell to wake the hamster up when a car pulls in.

[A/A Fuel GTX]

Hi,
We have a customer who has a gate that is 1700 feet away from her house. We need 20A at the gate. What is the best way to accomplish this? I think there is a conduit from the house to the gate already installed. The local authority having jurisdiction will not let us place a separate service, other than 200A, at the gate.

1700 foot driveway, gated entry....I think the customer could afford the service installation

[ron]

I think this is one of those rare cases where solar is just the ticket. There are packaged systems available for this kind of application. I've some in rural installations around here. It's the perfect kind of load for this as it is very intermittent.

Over time, someone with that type of home, is not going to want the constant replacement headache of batteries that are left outside in the weather extremes. Batteries fail every 3 years and they can't get in = bad installation in their eyes.

[Besoeker]

Most gate controllers AFAIK are only 12 VDC. Can you install battery supply and solar source for recharging? - Just an idea.

Or a conventional trickle charger from the house?
That wouldn't then require a 20 A supply to be run the 1700 feet.

[petersonra]

what is in the conduit that is already there?

why do you need 20A? most gate motors are pretty small.

kick it up to 600V at the house and back down to 120V out at the gate. transformers are a lot cheaper than 3400 feet of wire.

[GeorgeB]

I think you need to better define the requirements. The gates with which I'm familiar need less than 0.2A to the smart charger for the DC powered motors.

Perhaps they want to run lights ... or plug in a tool ... or run a pump ... but you need to know. If the load is ALWAYS 20A or zero, an appropriate transformer pair will likely work ... 240:480 at the house, use #12 and live with the approx 30V loss, 450:120 at the gate.

Next they are going to want to control the gates, security camera, lights, and intercom ...

You GOTTA have facts.

[bob]

Solution

http://www.gateoperator.net/Products/Elite/roboswing.html
http://gatecrafters.com/gate_openers.aspx
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GZAZ_enUS396US396&q=electric+gate+opene r