Hi people,
OK, so I am looking for plan B. I made a gate opener (copy of Mule) from an old satellite dish actuator. It has plenty of travel and lots of grunt but the ram moves at 4" per minute. Currently it takes two minutes for the gate to open. I thought it might be Ok, but it is annoying the crap out of me.
Anyone have a trick lever idea that will double the speed and half the available grunt which will still be plenty at around 500lbs. I thought of running the motor on 24v to double the speed but I am not sure how long the motor will take that. Besides it then complicates the solar charging.
If you have suggestions for a different type of gate opener, I'd appreciate that too. I tried the garage door opener on it but it is unreliable closing on a windy day as the overload cuts in and it opens again. I can't set the overload for more than about 100lbs. That's when I went to the satellite actuator.
Thanks in advance.