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417 Views 2 Replies Latest reply: Feb 7, 2012 7:03 PM by visualkev RSS
visualkev Level 1
visualkev
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Currently Being Moderated

Dec 29, 2011 8:16 PM

A wireless gate control/ intercom challenge

A couple, who are friends of mine have a rod-iron, gated driveway that they want to put an automatic gate opener/closer on. Right now, everyone has to get out of their vehicle and roll the gate open and closed manually. They asked me for help setting something up and i was looking for an off-the-shelf solution, but my search was fruitless and a custom solution seemed daunting. Since watching your show, I'm certain that it can be built and be much cooler that anything in the stores.
They have city power at the gate, so power isn't a problem. The gate is about 150 feet from the house. I was thinking of a mod'ed, 2 way, long range intercom system. this site has some good candidates: http://www.intercomsonline.com/Wireless-Intercom-s/20.htm.
Here are the features that i envision:
  1. Call box at the street rings the home phone, so the home owners can respond to guests easily with a familiar device. They are non-techies. Distinctive ring maybe for intercom calls? If distinctive ring is possible, then how about a special ring indicator for when the gate reaches the closed position, starts an open cycle or faults.
  2. To open the gate, from the phone handset, the owners enter a code that the remote station can decode via modem functionality. I am a ham radio guy, so I am confident about transmitting data that way using a TNC (terminal Node Controller, a modem)
  3. For the owners to open the gate from their vehicles, a garage door type remote that sends the same modulated code as the phone handset. The same site above has handheld transcievers that could be mod'ed and shrunk to a smaller size.
  4. I think for emergency purposes a manual gate release is needed.
  5. For the gate limit sensors, i think the usual limit switches for open and close positions are needed and it will probably need an infra-red beam sensor to detect obstructions in the way of a gate close cycle like a garage door.

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Tags: challenge, mod, idea, ben_heck, show_idea, build_challenge
  • joehogan76 Level 1
    joehogan76
    Currently Being Moderated
    1. Feb 7, 2012 10:18 AM (in response to visualkev)
    Re: A wireless gate control/ intercom challenge

    The apartments I live in are gated and are very similar to what you are talking about. For residents to enter the gate, we all have RF remote fobs that we can use to open the gate. For visitors, the drive up, punch in our apartment code for our individual apartments (my wife and I have 2 separate codes, 110 and 111), and depending on which code they punch in, the gate intercom automatically calls our cell phones. We can, then, talk to them via our cell phones through the gate intercom, and then press "9" on our cell phone to open the gate. There is also a maintenance and emergency code to open the gate if the other 2 options are a no-go.

     

    When I get home today, I'll try to remember to take some pics of the control box and gate motor for some manufacturer info, then you might be able to do a bit of research on your own to come up with something.

     

    Regards,

  • visualkev Level 1
    visualkev
    Currently Being Moderated
    2. Feb 7, 2012 7:03 PM (in response to joehogan76)
    Re: A wireless gate control/ intercom challenge

    Those pics would be an awesome help! Thanks for your response.

     

    -Kevin

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