Electric gate opening using mob

manus30

Well Folks,
Recently installed a genius milord sliding gate that uses keyfobs connecting to a transmitter on the control board to open.
I am thinking of installing a gsm controller to enable gate opening from mobile phone - but I do not know much about this approach.
I have priced a complete unit with sim from national gate automation ireland which is over 300 euro.
However, i see loads of cheaper units on ebay ranging from 40 GBP to 100 GBP - similar to this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GSM-ELECTRIC-GATE-OPENER-DOUBLE-RELAY-VERSION-/221670542341?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item339c980c05

How do I go about getting a cheap sim, and how do i know if an irish sim will fit? Anyone who has done this or knows this stuff their advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
John.

sgds

John, most of irish sim will work on gsm units bought on eBay although one of the major networks here will not work on this system. Check the signal in the area where you are going to use the unit and use a pay as you go from the network with the strongest signal. For some reason Three network won't activate these units. Just make sure it sends a text now and again to keep the sim active.

manus30

Thanks sgds.
So a O2 or Vodafone sim should do the job hopefully?
Also, is there a minimum top up per year on a pay as you go sim, or is it totally free apart from a few texts now and then as you say to keep it active?
Thanks

KoolKid

Vodafone have a sim package now, I believe, designed for alarms and the likes. No regular top up required. They don't really promote it. You have to find a sales guy who knows their stuff.

altor

manus30 wrote: »

Thanks sgds.
So a O2 or Vodafone sim should do the job hopefully?
Also, is there a minimum top up per year on a pay as you go sim, or is it totally free apart from a few texts now and then as you say to keep it active?
Thanks

I would also recommend setting this sim up on line so you can have access for checking credit plus topping up without the need for taking out the sim to do same.

manus30

Thanks for the help

ShanE90

I have this unit below, find it easy to use and setup you can sms the unit with the numbers of people you want to allow the gate to open for, it rejects the identified numbers and pulses the relay, unknown numbers "ring out". You can also text "open" the relay latches until you text "close" which is handy for keeping gates open for deliveries ect! I have an 02 sim and I've never topped it up and it's been active for about 5 years, I think never making a call from the sim from new keeps it from going offline after a few months. I've had other gsm units double the price that failed after a year or two!

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=221670834353

manus30

ShanE90 wrote: »

I have this unit below, find it easy to use and setup you can sms the unit with the numbers of people you want to allow the gate to open for, it rejects the identified numbers and pulses the relay, unknown numbers "ring out". You can also text "open" the relay latches until you text "close" which is handy for keeping gates open for deliveries ect! I have an 02 sim and I've never topped it up and it's been active for about 5 years, I think never making a call from the sim from new keeps it from going offline after a few months. I've had other gsm units double the price that failed after a year or two!

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=221670834353

Looks good, thanks for that.