Ghost Battery Gate Opener battery took a crap tonight it refused to close gave me three beeps

[sam_sam_sam]

If I remember correctly this indicates a battery failure the other day I had to turn off the power going down the driveway to do something and forgot to turn it back on and the battery went dead but it charged back up and I thought everything was okay but apparently not because now it refuses to close and the battery power light and the line power light goes off when you give it a request to do something I have had so many devices that the battery have gone bad I am sick of it

[CapLeaker]

I have had so many devices that the battery have gone bad I am sick of it

I guess this happens with anything that one got multiples off. Cars, machines, devices etc. welcome to the club!

[sam_sam_sam]

Well I put another battery in the gate opener and it came back to life again now I have to make a Lifepo 4 battery pack for the gate opener and see how well it behaves with this battery pack more to come later

[CapLeaker]

Does it charge with a solar cell?

[sam_sam_sam]

Does it charge with a solar cell?

No however it does have a charging controller that lets you know when it is charging plus it has a power supply light to let you know that it has mains power available

However you do have an option to use a solar panel but unfortunately I cannot use one because I have to many pine trees in my yard for it to work properly so I just have mains power all the way to the street which is over 200 feet away from the house and yes the wiring is rated for underground use and it is in plastic conduit pipe but it is not glued because if for some reason I need to repair I did not want to have to cut it

Doing it this way has lasted for over 18 years now until recently I add another garage stand alone from the house and I had to redo the electrical going to the street and not have any splices in the cable in the ground all of the sections that are split for electrical outlets are above ground about 3 feet on poles in water tight electrical outlet boxes with covers

So dose the Mighty Mule as well but there is one big difference between the two devices on the Mighty Mule version the charger controller works basically the same way as the Ghost version but the motor controller does not last long before it has issues with either not responding to the remote or it faults out when trying open or close it plus it is harder to set the open limit it sometimes loose where it is programmed to stop and you have to reset set it open limit again where as the Ghost controller does not have this issue but it has it on issue with the slight thing that gets in the way of it travel to going closed and sometimes acts stupid when trying to go in reverse and going forward again but is slightly annoying but if you keep this in mind it not to bad

The Mighty Mule version last about a year or so sometimes longer before you start having issues with it and stops functioning altogether unfortunately they are not cheap to buy

Actually my wife was the one who found the Ghost version of the gate opener and if I remember correctly it about 3 or 4 years old now and I think I have had to reprogram it a couple of times if you manually open it and close it the programming button is in the same row of buttons and you do not look at the slick screen marking on the board you will have to reprogram the closing limit again but it does not loose the program limit like the Mighty Mule version does it would lose it program closing limit for no reason at all that could think of

[CapLeaker]

Aaah! Thats how it works! I just had the impression it was battery operated only?!

[sam_sam_sam]

Aaah! Thats how it works! I just had the impression it was battery operated only?!

In an indirect way it is only battery powered because the charger can not supply enough current to open and close the gate
on either version and neither of them have issues with keeping the battery charged and ready to use it is either it looses the parameters and or either motors controller failure remote control receiver end failure in one version and in the other one is very sensitive to obstructing in its travels

And in either case they are not cheap to replace if something goes horrible wrong and it will function properly anymore

[CapLeaker]

Nothing is cheap anymore. Try getting something repaired is another thing around here. We are getting taken for a ride.
So the opener uses a DC motor to open close the gate. Weird design using the battery as a power buffer to operate. Probably was a AGM battery of some sort?

[sam_sam_sam]

Nothing is cheap anymore. Try getting something repaired is another thing around here. We are getting taken for a ride.
So the opener uses a DC motor to open close the gate. Weird design using the battery as a power buffer to operate. Probably was a AGM battery of some sort?

I think the real reason is because when they first started selling these gate openers they would advertise them with the solar panels but now the solar panel is an option and running them on main power is standard for Might Mule because they include a power transformer now apparently they do not even do this anymore now you have to pay for it separately or you buy the solar panel as options

Ghost openers are the same way but one difference is that you have to purchase the battery box separately as well as the power supply or solar panel as options

Might Mule has an option where you can buy a solar panel plus the opener as a kit but it is really expensive and apparently now they have an option where you could open and close your opener anywhere I have not looked at the price of this option but I not impressed with the quality of the Might Mule openers from the issues I have had with them and other people know who have owned them because they have had these failures as well

[stj]

so it was a gell battery was it?
those only last 3-5years usually.
can LiFPo4 handle wide temp ranges though?
if not your gonna have to construct a big insulated box for it.
maybe also check the caps in the charging circuit incase the last battery got hammered by it.

[CapLeaker]

I think the real reason is because when they first started selling these gate openers they would advertise them with the solar panels but now the solar panel is an option and running them on main power is standard for Might Mule because they include a power transformer now apparently they do not even do this anymore now you have to pay for it separately or you buy the solar panel as options

Ghost openers are the same way but one difference is that you have to purchase the battery box separately as well as the power supply or solar panel as options

Might Mule has an option where you can buy a solar panel plus the opener as a kit but it is really expensive and apparently now they have an option where you could open and close your opener anywhere I have not looked at the price of this option but I not impressed with the quality of the Might Mule openers from the issues I have had with them and other people know who have owned them because they have had these failures as well

Somehow Mighty Mule is stuck in my head as a purely solar operated remote gate opener used on a ranch or something. It does have a list of issues, but most of them I think you can address no problem. The other manufacturer I never knew it actually existed as such.

[sam_sam_sam]

Somehow Mighty Mule is stuck in my head as a purely solar operated remote gate opener used on a ranch or something. It does have a list of issues, but most of them I think you can address no problem. The other manufacturer I never knew it actually existed as such.

Like I said before it was my wife who had found the Ghost brand of gate opener when our last gate opener had failed again and I was glad she had found a different brand of gate opener because I was tired of dealing with basically the same issues for the third time in a row my brother had one my mother had and they all basically had the same issues

My wife thinks that she saw a review about gate openers in the New York Times a while back when we she bought the Ghost gate opener for our gate

If you remember or it might have been in the Parallax forum where I wrote about and got technical assistance getting the system up and running I had built a gate opener with a Basic Stamp controller and a motor controller and a encoder controller and a RFD controller all from Parallax company and it lasted for about 5 or 6 years until it got struck by lightning and basically destroyed everything controller in except for battery charger circuit was the only thing that survived

This setup was also very expensive to put together and get it working properly the way I wanted it to

[CapLeaker]

so it was a gell battery was it?
those only last 3-5years usually.
can LiFPo4 handle wide temp ranges though?
if not your gonna have to construct a big insulated box for it.
maybe also check the caps in the charging circuit incase the last battery got hammered by it.

Gonna need a charging circuit hacked in. I just don’t understand why having this opener designed for remote duty with a battery to operate on AC. Unless the cable run along the driveway to the gate would be so long that even on AC the voltage drop would be that high it couldn’t operate an opener in any case. So they use that little power that they get and charge a battery with it and let the battery do the heavy lifting.

[sam_sam_sam]

So they use that little power that they get and charge a battery with it and let the battery do the heavy lifting.

Yes your assumption is correct that is they are both designed for they only maintain the voltage at the battery and when the charger see a very high current it shuts down and resets when the load is removed

This is also the same reason why you need a lot sunlight for the solar panel if you open your gate more than a couple times a day over a period of a couple of days it would start beeping that is battery is low in charge and there is an issue with it

This is also the same reason why the battery only lasts a couple of years if you are lucky enough to get a couple years use

If you are interested in the battery charger used in this these gate openers PM and I would be glad help you with it ( I will have to look for the charger controller board because I going need to use it again for an up coming project that I need a battery charger like this that can not handle high current and just shut down )

The transformer is only about 2 amp output it is not very big or very heavy one note when you open and close the gate it takes about 30 minutes for it charge the battery back up fully again one other note if you open and close the gate to many times in a row when having issues that you are trying to resolve you can have a situation where you can have the opener start beeping that it is low on battery power

One other note about the long main power supply down the driveway to the gate opener I used 10 gauge wire that is meant for underground use and no splices are underground for service reliably all connections are connected in an outdoor rate electrical outlet boxes

Here is the website link where I had used a Basic Stamp Controller with a Motor Controller and a RFD controller and Encoder controller module from Parallax website and the Charger Board Controller and the Motor Assembly from a Might Mule

https://forums.parallax.com/discussi...remote-control

One note about this project that was done on there website forum this forum has been updated several times and the original format is no longer available to see the pictures the code is still there but you have to download the Basic Stamp software to be able to read in the format style

I had done several projects over years on this website forum for a place I use to work for and another place I used to work for as well and a couple of my own projects that need a micro controller to make life easier to deal with

I do not do very much programming on micro controllers anymore unless I have a project that needs to be controlled in a certain way and I know that a Basic Stamp can do the task that needs to be done

[CapLeaker]

sam_sam_sam
interesting. I thought they would have upped the battery capacity and chemistry to be able to open and close more than a few times. I guess that is not the case. I’ve got a long driveway as well with a gate, but I just open or close it manually. That’s why I know a little bit about it because I was researching this 20 years ago and something is still stuck in my head a bit. My problem is that I don’t have any power up at the gate, so the opener would have to be solar powered. Then the gate would open and close like 10 times a day. So I tossed that idea fast.

[sam_sam_sam]

The only way you could overcome this situation is use probability 3 or 4 solar panels so that you would charge the battery back fully in less than an hour and then this might not be an issue because at mother house which was further back than 250 feet it probably was more like 500 feet from the road I used two fairly large solar panels and it probably opened and closed at least four times a day the only issue was if you had several days that were raining or very overcast then you would have battery low power conditions and would have to leave the gate open for several days or open and close it manually for a few days to get back to normal again

In the Mighty Mule opener there is room for two 12 volt 7 amp battery spaces but instead of a couple of days to recover from very overcast days or several rain days or a combination of both for a week or so would take probably two weeks or more to recover from that situation that is why did not use that option

[CapLeaker]

500ft only? Mine would be 1200ft!

[redwire]

Another factor might be the actuator/gearbox and wormshaft needs a lube job. They don't even look sealed for beans, water gets in.
That would cause the motor current to be higher than usual.

It's a way to save money - use a really undersized charger and battery. Then they both work hard and don't last long.
I wonder if a bigger battery box would work. Like 17Ah or a car battery, if the solar is enough. Here we can get a week of cloud and lately it's been no sun.
I can't see changing the battery type is gonna fix it, you still are starved for charging energy.

[sam_sam_sam]

Another factor might be the actuator/gearbox and wormshaft needs a lube job. They don't even look sealed for beans, water gets in.
That would cause the motor current to be higher than usual..

I have taken them apart before and I really see and real signs of water getting in the gear box but what I have seen before is some signs of water stain actuator case there is a weep hole in the bottom of enclosure so it seems to be draining halfway decent

It's a way to save money - use a really undersized charger and battery. Then they both work hard and don't last long.
I wonder if a bigger battery box would work. Like 17Ah or a car battery, if the solar is enough. Here we can get a week of cloud and lately it's been no sun.
I can't see changing the battery type is gonna fix it, you still are starved for charging energy.

The problem is with putting a more amp hour and using solar panels is the solar panels would have way over sized as far as current output so you could charge the battery with a higher amp charge but I am not sure how it would affect the remote and motor controllers trying to put two different chargers on the same battery unless you could isolate the two chargers from each other

The other thing to consider is what if the two chargers behave differently as what there cutoff voltage is
It is not very difficult to separate the battery charging circuit from the controllers but you would have to do some surgery on the circuit board to accommodate this

Here is how I would approach this situation use the original battery charger when the voltage is slightly low and use the faster charger when the voltage is significantly low and about to shut down the motor controller and when the fast charger is not connected to the main battery it is charging the secondary battery which would not care about how fast it is charging the battery

[CapLeaker]

I am swapping from H6 to a H8 AGM battery on my new to me truck. But that doesn't help you any. The battery could recoup all that charging over night. I think it just needs a way bigger battery. Why using solar panels if you got already power there? My instance I don't have any power there at all. I would have to use multiple solar panels and a large deep cycle AGM for all that to work. It can be crap weather here for a long time in a row, specifically in the winter time where the opener would have to work way harder and the battery is stone cold too...
Add all that together and that's where I say this isn't built for Canada duty.