A Mighty Mule Question

[Gairth]

Hello,

I am wondering if it would be possible/ advisable to either directly run or alternately charge the battery for, a Mighty Mule gate opener from a car battery charger.

I have about three of them lying around and was given a MM ram, but no other parts.

I was hoping to test it out with the battery charger for a while before buying a bunch of peripherals and then discovering that I was given the ram because it doesn't work well or receive signals from peripherals.

Thank you for any and all input,

Gairth

 

[Torque&Recoil]

I have had two gate openers, but neither of them was MM brand, so my advice is going to be kind of "weak". First off, most modern battery chargers won't work unless a battery is attached. They sense battery voltage, check that it isn't hooked up backwards, etc. Only the old ones will work like a power supply with no battery required. Secondly, I _think_ that you are only going to be able to test part of the ram with a 12 volt supply. You might be able to make the ram move out, and move back, but there are methods of setting the open and close position. My opener uses encoders to set the limits. You just jog the gate to where you want it, press learn, and it remembers how far to open the thing. I don't know how to test that with a power supply, so even if the ram moves it might still be bad.

I know you don't want to hear this, but my best advice is to buy a whole new system, and get a good one. My first system was kinda cheap and boy did I spend a lot of time screwing around with it. It only lasted about a year until it was hit by lighting (or just died, I am not sure which). Second time around, I spent a few bucks more for a Nice-brand opener with the Titan ram. It is easy to set up, works great, and the remotes have long range.

 

[Blakepa]

Torque is right, you can seriously damage the ram if you over retract or extend it. The control board inside provides feedback to prevent this. There are some MM Rams that are self contained with control board inside.