Mighty Mule gate wiring.

[jmikalh]

I have a mighty Mule gate opener that is working great. I am running off of a deep cycle battery and using a solar panel to charge it. My question is this.

I have rum power up to my gate and if I look at the mighty Mule instructions it says to plug the adapter in and it will keep the battery charged. I am wondering why I would need the battery when I have constant power. I assume I would need to add something in between the outlet and the motor, but not sure what that is. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dcg9381]

I've done these setups. The adapter is for charging the battery. You don't need it if you've got a solar panel (and a charge controller).
If you don't have a charge controller, you're doing it wrong..

Ideally you want a charge controller that has 3 things:
1) Solar power input
2) Battery charge output
3) LOAD output (this goes to gate power)

You want a charge controller that will "protect" the battery from low voltage discharge.

 

[jmikalh]

You are correct and it is set up like that now. I was wondering how to run it off 110 and not use the battery.

 

[dcg9381]

You are correct and it is set up like that now. I was wondering how to run it off 110 and not use the battery.

Got it. I misunderstood.
If you have 120V out there and want to run it without a battery, you need a 12V "power supply" capable of putting down battery like power... I think that's about 15A @ 12V.

So you'll need a 12V power supply that puts out 200-300 watts that is powered by 120V AC. The factory power supply is probably just a trickle charger.

Something like this... You could probably get away with smaller:

 

[jmikalh]

Got it. I misunderstood.
If you have 120V out there and want to run it without a battery, you need a 12V "power supply" capable of putting down battery like power... I think that's about 15A @ 12V.

So you'll need a 12V power supply that puts out 200-300 watts that is powered by 120V AC. The factory power supply is probably just a trickle charger.

Something like this... You could probably get away with smaller:

Thank you very much!

 

[ratflinger]

No battery? How the hell do you expect it to open during a power failure? You have a power source, either line or solar, and a battery to drive the system. The power only charges the battery, it does not run the system. Battery is mandatory, unless you like sitting there behind a non-functional gate with no way to get out.

 

[dcg9381]

unless you like sitting there behind a non-functional gate with no way to get out.

Having owned a bunch of openers of this brand (all on the same gate), I'd say worrying about the occasional AC power failure probably won't be very high up in the "frequent problems" list compared to the rest of the craptastic-ness on these. I'd go commercial if I had to do it again, all in I paid for commercial....

At the end of the day, these things turn relatively small DC 12V motors. They don't need a huge power source. I dunno why the OP is ditching the battery either, but you certainly can power one with a 12V power supply.

 

[ratflinger]

Having owned a bunch of openers of this brand (all on the same gate), I'd say worrying about the occasional AC power failure probably won't be very high up in the "frequent problems" list compared to the rest of the craptastic-ness on these. I'd go commercial if I had to do it again, all in I paid for commercial....

At the end of the day, these things turn relatively small DC 12V motors. They don't need a huge power source. I dunno why the OP is ditching the battery either, but you certainly can power one with a 12V power supply.

I'm not saying you can't power one with just a power supply, as you certainly can. I'm just saying that you shouldn't. I agree that they are not the best out there but I have had very few issues with mine over the years. They are picky about the setup.

 

[jmikalh]

I'm not saying you can't power one with just a power supply, as you certainly can. I'm just saying that you shouldn't. I agree that they are not the best out there but I have had very few issues with mine over the years. They are picky about the setup.

In the last couple years I have lost power 2 time for short periods. I can open the gate myself if the power is out. I just wanted to eliminate the cost of the battery every couple years if possible. thank you for input though.

 

[walta]

The battery is not a bad idea. How long and what gage is the wire and what is the peak current needed?

Lets guess that it is 500 feet to the panel and the wire is 14 gage and the motor need 10 amps of 120 volt power. That would give you a 22% voltage loss. When the voltage drops down to 95 volts. Will the computer running the gate keep working? With a battery in the system the peak current will be lower and the battery will keep the computer up and running.

Walta