Solartronics Gate Openers

[Boots Burnside]

Ive been trying to find a brand that has some good reviews behind it, a product that if something goes wrong will be easy to get support and repair. Bmg imports in qld have come up but limited reviews, anyone used their products with success?

Their units are around the 800 mark for a swing gate and 40w solar panel and hinges etc.

I found a local company in Melbourne, letron, don't know much about these guys either. They charge about 1400. Letron said when your bmg unit fails I'm sure you will call us for our product, reckons their internals are no good and cheap.

Can anyone recommend a company with quality products or a product you have used and are happy with. If yes, could you perhaps mention how long you have had the unit or any issues, perhaps good customer service etc.

Been using the Letron gates for installs for over 7 years, bulletproof drive mechanism that will take a hiding, including teenagers driving into the gates when closed without destroying them.

Remotes are expensive @ $50 each but you can wire in cheaper units into the NO side of the board.

Only issue had is lightning strikes to rural fences in the NT causes a few control board problems, easy to replace & reasonably cheap, Asian lady at the warehouse is a bit hard to understand so i have always communicated by email to overcome that issue.

The main gates for example are placed far enough apart that you can open the first, drive a truck in and then close the first before opening the second, meaning at no point do you need to have an open path between the paddock and the road. However there was nothing stopping you from opening them both at the same time. I added interlocks to prevent this as well as indicator lights to show when a gate is open.

Fitted the first one to my rural property on a 6 meter farm gate just to save getting out of the car in the rain, then fitted a couple for neighbours and friends. Word soon got around & my mower repair business ventured out into fitting solar gate openers.

Many of my customers supplied their own gear of different brands but without a doubt the Letron was the most reliable in a reasonable price range. I would have fitted over 50 in different combinations of single & double. Bollinger was another popular unit but at a premium price.

The only issue i had with mine was excessive usage was to much for the 7ah battery & 20w panel, so an upgrade was needed, it was originally designed for 15-20 cycles per day, ours was doing at least 40-50 per day, with 5 adult children, parents, grandparents & great grandparents all at home going in & out all the time

80w panel & 100ah battery solved that even after several very overcast days.

Thanks for the detailed reply mtc, great to hear the feedback. I'm still undecided on which way to go as letron are twice the price of bmg import openers.

Do you see any common issues with different brands over the years?

Solar Kit Inclusions

1 x Stainless steel actuator arm

1 x Outdoor Control Box

1 x 20W solar panel with 10m of cable and mounting bracket

3 x Remotes with Receiver

1 x 12v 14ah X-CEL Rechargeable Battery

1 x Rubber Gate Stop

1 x Visitor Push Button FREE UPGRADE TO KEYED PUSH BUTTON

1 x Caution Sign

1 x Lengths of PVC electrical wire protector pipe

Installation manual and guide template

12 months warranty (back to base)

Full after sales customer service

UPGRADE OPTIONS

The BMG one looks as if it just closes onto the rubber stopper and is held closed by the actuator arm. The letron ones have a latch with electric solenoid that the gate closes into which catches it and locks. That way if someone were to remove the bolt holding the actuator arm the gate is still held closed by the latch. It would also stop it moving around in the wind etc.

I won't be needing the latch but I did speak with bmg and a latch system can be installed. I have wire post fencing so someone could easily get through by cutting the wire instead of detaching the arm if that's what you mean?

It's certainly well integrated though as the controller, when receiving the open signal, operates the latch and pauses before moving the actuator to ensure the latch has let go before moving. The people with the latch are very security conscious so I wouldn't be suprised if they took it up as an option. And in a very windy location so helpful from that aspect as well.

Thanks for all your input so far winter green, I'm sure I could eventually work out fitting the unit myself with lots of YouTube etc, may I ask if getting someone to fit it would be a smarter option so I don't stuff it up? They quoted 500 for install but I have 2 to fit so it's adding up. Thinking I'll try myself first and if I get stuck call the professionals lol

If it was me I would give it a go. May need to do a little welding depending on how the actuator arm attaches to the gate but other than that it's all pretty straight forward assuming the gate operates well currently and your are fairly handy

Bumping this back up as we are looking at getting electric gates too.

Gates are around 100m from the house, so would need to be solar.

I like the idea of a keypad or a keyfob remote, but the missus wants the ability to ring it from a mobile phone to unlock it.

That way if we have a delivery while at work, or one of her horseriding clients arrives, she can unlock the gate remotely.

Most of the mobile options are GSM which won't work, but there a few 3G options I've found, eg:

-Version-RTU5025-GSM-SMS-2G-3G-Gate-Door-Opener-Operator-with-Remote-Control-/322213724057

Would this integrate with one of the units from SunGate or Letronics? Or are they incompatible?

Ideally want something solid, reliable, preferably from a single vendor.

There are some cheapies on eBay for $350 but they only have 10W solar panels and don't have a brand. Then there are $650 ones on most automatic gate website (mostly imported as well with no brands) mostly with 20W solar panels and higher lift capacity. I'm more leaning towards those for now but again they don't have brands so can't see any reviews etc.

We purchased ours from the below site.

We have had in for 7 months now has not missed a beat. All came in a kit with instructions I assembled and installed. A lot of the cheaper ones only have 10w solar panel ours has 20w. We got 3 remotes, keypad for entry and a push button for exit. We have 2 swing gates 2m ea long and it was $1050.00 delivered. Very happy with the quality.

Thanks a lot! I actually spoke to a girl from BMG Imports and their product sounded like a good mid-range choice. I was going to purchase this but couldn't find any reviews other than what she had told me about the product.

Seems to be a bit better than the others I've seen on ebay, Has a 20 watt panel and two batteries

One thing I have noticed though is that a lot of them that are being promoted as solar gate openers aren't really, The battery and panel is just a backup in case the power is out

Your right, you need the 20 watt panel and 2 batteries, this one you have selected has the plastic piece at the end where the pin goes through, which apparently breaks off or wears out quickly. you need an all metal one...

Hi BMGI. I'm looking into getting a single solar powered gate opener. I have come across your website along with a few others ( is one) aswell as ebay that have what seems to be the same motor. I did notice that your control boards are different and that you use a regulator and the receiver is not built into the board like alot of the others boards. You only supply a single 12v battery. I guess this means the motor is only 12v and so would be different to the eBay ones which are 24v. Also you don't seem to state the opening/closing times or the motor speeds.

Hi,

There is another gate opener out in the market which looks similar to ours which is Simtech or Ahouse (they go by 2 names).

Please check out the reviews on google from customers regarding this opener.

You can also check out reviews of our E8 gate opener too.

I have listed some important facts below which you can compare other kits with:

So if you take a look through my thread history you would find that i've been posting questions about a solar gate system i purchased from ebay. I bought the same product twice and both systems failed. Lucky they took them back and i wasnt that much out of pocket. The second time they said the motherboard was broken so they sent another one from China and it still didnt work!

I then went with BMGI (Grant) and they have been super seriously. I'm a little clueless with electronics / solar / stuff like that but Grant has been there answering all my questions pre and post purchase. The install wasnt too difficult either.

Hi I'm about to embark upon fitting a straight solar powered lateral roll gate. I do have a solar powered worm drive / swing gate as well! The swing gate has been a total fail given the sellers from china provide substandard batteries and the controller for panel is substandard ,along with the size of the solar panel being unable to replenish the system adequately .

Moreover these systems are sold with no solar battery overcharge controller (widely available on eBay) to preserves you lead acid batteries (cant speak for deep cycle.) the solution why post without a partial one?

Buy at least 12-24 volt charge controller to link your panel to your batteries and also you main control panel.

If you have the alternative of mains power and would like to depend upon that, have a separate fall over switch for when 24 Volt batteries fail. Wire up for this but expect some complex wiring , or manual changeover, Positioning mains power until required ( potentially = less current draw if your circuit supports it) I'm yet to figure this but am told it can be done= investigation)

In my experience more often than not the current draw for the solar opener controller panel can render battery's a failure overnight.

Step back, systems that are sustainable are like a uninterrupted power supply for a computer requiring some technical extra circuitry for preservation of battery and enablement of supply when required.

We now enter a very different world to a simple solar powered gate than one that works constantly with security and keeps all the family happy!

I'm still working on this conundrum and cheers!

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