Yet another Electric Gate Query...but not the usual questions.

?Cee?view

Hi All,

First off, apologies if my questions have been asked and answered before. I've been lurking around here a good while and not seen anything similar.

I want to get automated gates installed to my house. Nothing unusual in that, but a few questions arising from it.

1. I want to run the cable myself. I don't want to pay an electrician for manual work which I can do myself. The cable run will be about 150m from the entrance to the house. I want to provide for powering the gate motor, an intercom, a camera, and lighting (am I missing anything?). What sort of cables should I run and what sort of cost am I looking at (approx.)

2. I would like to have multiple entry "methods" i.e. a keypad, intercom from house, GSM opener and headlight "flasher". Is this possible, or are you limited to one or two? Before anyone asks, we have quite a few people coming and going every day who need access and I want to limit access to some of these people while making it very flexible for others (family).

3. As well as having access control, can a gate be timed to open and close at certain times? In other words, I might want it to open at 10am and close again at 1pm.

4. Can or should a gate be linked into a house alarm system. Eventually I want to have perimeter protection around the property. Should I be considering this in installing the gate? Is there anything I should install to "future proof" it?

Many thanks for your help and guidance.

Paul24

Churchview,

1) SWA cable is ideal for the power 3 x 2.5 will be more than adequate however you may need 2 cables if you want the ability to switch the lighting from the house. If you are using PIR only on the lights then 1 will suffice.
For the intercom an outdoor CAT5 from the gate to the handset location. Another outdoor CAT 5 will also be required for the camera. Run the power and the CAT5 separately to ensure that you dont get any interference with the intercom/CCTV and the power cables.

2) You can have as many ways of opening the gate as possible. The GSM unit is the best as you can simply add and delete people to the system via a text message. No limit to the amount of access control systems you can add to the system however it makes it mre difficult to trace any problems the more devices you have in it.

3) A standard timer unit can be fitted to hold the gates open at various intervals but some of the GSM units also have built in time frames that will do the same job.

4) I am sure that the gate could be linked to the house alarm but I think that you may have to fit some sort of limit switch that is only activated when the gate is forced. You will need to disable the limit during normal gate operations. Will have to check the control panel functions if this can be done. Some of the control panels may not have this alarm/forced function.


Hope this helps,

Paul24

?Cee?view

Paul,

Thanks a million. That's incredibly useful. I really appreciate it. Just a few supplementary questions if you don't mind.

1. If I wanted to add a socket (just to have "in case"), could it go on one of those 3 X 2.5 cables, or should I run another for that?

2. Actually what does 3 X 2.5 mean? Will a supplier know what I'm talking about if I ask for this?

3. Is there some kind of approved conduit that the cable should be run through? Does this need to be buried, or can/should it be left on the surface?

4. You talked about an alarm/forced function. Would the Siemens 5320 (mentioned by KoolKid on post 6 of "Upgrading my alarm, comparison of different models"), work for this?

Thanks again!

Paul24

Churchview.

The cable thats feeding the gate panel could have a socket on it as its a permanent feed.

Any electrical supplier will know what 3 x 2.5 SWA is. 3 = 3 core, 2.5 = cross section area of each of the cables and SWA = steel wire armoured

If your burying the cable it can go in any type of ducting/ piping.
If your going surface you can just clip it if you want - the cables are protected by the steel wire around them.

There is no issue with any intruder alarm panel on a gate system - the issue would be at the gate control panel and whether it has the alarm forced function.

Paul24

?Cee?view

Paul24,

You're one in a million! Thanks very much!

C'view