Gate opener or gate motor: the same part
Gate opener and gate motor are two names for the unit that drives the gate. On a sliding gate it sits beside the gate at ground level; on a swing gate an arm is fixed to each leaf. It takes its orders from your remote, keypad or phone.
Makers keep the two kinds apart. CENTSYS lists the D5-Evo and D10 SMART for sliding gates, and the V-Series SMART, V300, V400, V500 and VERT-X for swing gates. Merlin's range covers slide, swing and rural solar gates, and ATA sells sliding and swing openers too, so the first question is always which way your gate moves.
Match the opener to the gate's weight
A motor is chosen for the heaviest gate it will have to move, and each model has its own published limit. At the heavy end, ATA builds its Neoslider for sliding gates weighing as much as 800kg.
Few makers publish limits for gate length or leaf width, and only for some models. Ask the door specialist to show you the figures for the motor they suggest, side by side with your gate's size and material.
Power, and how often the gate runs
Some motors run on mains, some on solar and some on low voltage. Merlin says its Slide 600 can use any of the three, which helps when the gate sits a long way from the house.
Use counts as well as weight. Merlin says its gate openers are built for more than 150,000 cycles over their life, one cycle being an open and a close. A gate used by a whole household, visitors and deliveries runs through cycles far faster than a farm gate opened twice a day, so say how busy yours is.
Wiring and power to the gate
The door specialist fits the motor; the electrical side is separate. Running mains to the gate, adding a circuit or hard wiring a motor is electrical work, and in Australia that needs the correct electrical licence, so a licensed electrician takes care of that part.
Licence names and the paperwork you get afterwards differ from state to state, because each state and territory runs its own electrical safety laws.
Safety features worth asking about
- Collision sensing: CENTSYS says its V-Series swing motors have electronic collision sensing.
- Safety beams: CENTSYS says the D5-Evo's alarm functions need gate safety beams installed, and ATA sells beams as an add-on.
- App control with beams: Merlin ties running a gate from its myQ app to Safety IR Beams being fitted.
- The standard: AS/NZS 60335.2.103:2024 sets the safety rules for household drives for gates, doors and windows, battery and DC drives included.
A moving gate is not a toy
Gate motors are strong enough to move hundreds of kilos of steel. Never let children ride a gate, race it or play in its path, keep the remotes on a hook rather than in a toy box, and wait until the gate has fully stopped before walking or driving through.
What you can do, and what to leave
You can
- Keep the gate's path and any track clear of stones and leaves
- Try every remote and the keypad now and then, so a fault shows early
- Note how many times a day the gate runs before anyone quotes
Leave to a door specialist
- Choosing the motor and setting its open and close limits
- Setting how hard it pushes before it senses an obstruction
- Mains power to the gate: a licensed electrician's part of the job
What we would do
Before the door specialist leaves, ask them to show you how to unhook the gate from its motor and move it yourself. A gate nobody knows how to release can keep the car locked in during a blackout or a breakdown.