Power Gate

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Kdog76

Senior Member
Location
The Dairyland State
I have a customer who wants me to wire a power gate for a residential driveway. He wants all the bells & whistles: a camera, an activated voice system, the power gate, and lights on top of the columns on each side of the driveway. I've told him it would be best to have him pick out a company or product line that he is interested in. He hasn't even looked at anything yet & keeps asking me about how to wire this up...:-? BTW: the driveway is about 700' from the house. Question is conduit vs. UF cable, wiring requirements and has anyone out there wired any of these units? Any comments appreciated.
 
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220/221

Senior Member
Location
AZ
Question is conduit vs. UF cable,
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No brainer....conduit. ALWAYS conduit. One for power, one for low voltage. The bigger, the better. 700"??? Put flush pull boxes half way (no splices)


wiring requirements
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Install a small sub panel and you will be covered. The openers I have installed were 120V, appx 5 amps. I have seen 240V systems.
 
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satcom

Senior Member
It may a good idea to check with your insurance agent, gate installations are not covered many times, gates are risky business, that is why the contractors doing a lot of gate work have out of this world pricing.
 
brantmacga

brantmacga

Señor Member
Location
Georgia
Occupation
Former Child
satcom said:
It may a good idea to check with your insurance agent, gate installations are not covered many times, gates are risky business, that is why the contractors doing a lot of gate work have out of this world pricing.
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thanks for the heads up.

i'll check.

i haven't heard that before.
 
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Doug S.

Senior Member
Location
West Michigan
The insurance thing is interesting?

Run the conduits, you'll hopefully never know the problems you'll save yourself.

My experiences with gates have mostly been on the LV end, and I'd suggest you ground it well. An oversize ground from the source and a ground rod or a separate service.
Do your VD calc's. Running 14-2 UF ain't gonna get it.

My 2?
Doug S.
 
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wireguru

Senior Member
Lots of opportunity for upsell on these. probably want more than one camera, if you want to get fancy you can also mount a special camera to grab license plates. They could also want a couple large floods as 'panic' lights in addition to the lights on the columns. A strobe tied into their burglar alarm so the cops / fire dept can find the place...etc.....etc....
 
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Kdog76

Senior Member
Location
The Dairyland State
Thanks for all the info here guys. I was considering two conduits, one for the low volt-stuff, and one for the line voltage. The Viking Access web page is a good start. I wonder if I should have him contact a gate installer, and work one on one with the installer?
 
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Kdog76

Senior Member
Location
The Dairyland State
active1 said:
A power outlet for seasonal lighting and post lighting on a timmer may also come up or be an up sell.
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Post lighting for sure, power outlet for sure... WP sub panel ? I could do a seperate service... The utility pole is right there, but we already have two services here for the house and a shop... I don't know if he will want another electrical bill (+ meter charge). Also, we will still need to get a switch leg back to the house for the post lights, & low-volt for the communications and gate control. Again, thanks for all the info, and I will suggest he find a gate installer and start from there. AS for 2 conduits, I'd probably go at minimum 1 1/4" PVC... Maybe run #6's to a WP panel...Gate installer should be able to get me the exact info on loads...
 
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active1

Senior Member
Location
Las Vegas
I have not done one 700'. But on longer runs the conductors were upsized so much that it was not much diference to just go with a 3R sub panel with a few extra spaces. I thought I remembering some gate places wanting 2 conduits for video, control, intercom, or what ever. It was always the gate installers specing what was run where.
 
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dbuckley

Senior Member
Location
Canterbury, New Zealand
Every day I pass a gate that is a goodly distance from a house, and the gate appears to be solar powered. I have no idea if the comms back to the house is wireless or cabled, but my assumption is that the panel; and battery cost a shedload less than mains copper over quite some distance.
 
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ike5547

Senior Member
Location
Chico, CA
Occupation
Electrician
700 feet out means 700 feet back in for a circuit length of fourteen hundred feet. Whatever gate you go with it makes sense that it should be driven by a battery and trickle charged, sub panel or not. And that high efficiency lighting be used.

It seems that the conductors for the 120 volt receptacle would necessarily be so large that you would be just as well installing a small panel out there.

Solar is looking better and better. The receptacle is a problem, though.
 
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Kdog76

Senior Member
Location
The Dairyland State
Thanks again for all the replies. I will be talking to the customer tomorrow morning and now have some info based on what I've gathered here. Voltage drop certainly is the big issue. Solar power is a good idea, and would look for that as an option... Maybe talk him out of the outlet (In fact he only mentioned post lights, not a power outlet...Maybe solar post lights as an option). More details to hash out on my end. (And his :grin:)
 
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macmikeman

Senior Member
Location
Planet macmikeman
I would try to get a licensed gate guy to prime the whole thing, and then bring you back in for the wiring of it. Try to get ahold of UL 325 standards for motor gate operators before commiting your price and bid. There are safety issues = reverse opening safety issues, so it is more than just doing electrical and l.V. hookups. Shift your risk to the gate installing company that way.
 
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