School me on solar sliding gate openers

[EarlyBroncoGuy]

16' metal rolling gate, too far away from the house to run power to, so we're going with solar/battery power. Don't need top of the line industrial quality, but I don't want to go with cheap Chinese crap either. What are good brands (good customer support, parts availability, durability), motor size, chain vs rack & pinion drive, etc.? It will get daily use, but not constant open/close cycles.

 

[CenCon]

Still waiting.

 

[[486]]

how far is 'too far'?
you can throw 220v pretty far through some shit direct bury 14ga UF if you're just running an old commercial garage door opener off it

 

[billybob_81067]

Build your own with a big marine battery, a solar panel off e-bay, trickle controller and a 12v ATV winch from HF.



Not a gate opener, but same principle as my solar fencers that I built. It will need a bigger battery and panel if you cycle it much...

I did add a charge controller after those pics were taken. I didn't want to cook my cheapo $20 Wal-mart lawn and garden battery.