Gate motor not working, or a gate that won't move?
An opener can only drive a gate that runs well on its own. Dominator's NeoSlider manual sets the bar before any opener goes on: the gate must be in good working order and well balanced, light enough that one person can move it with no more than 15kg of force, and a faulty gate gets repaired first.
So when an electric gate stops, work out which half has failed. A gate that has sagged on its hinges, come off its track or begun to drag needs the gate itself put right. A gate that sits still while everything around it looks normal points to the motor, its power, its safety beams or its remotes, and those are the checks below.
Keep everyone clear while you test it
Stand where you can see the whole gateway, and keep children, pets and cars out of the gate's path before you press anything. Dominator's NeoSlider manual strongly recommends safety beams, and wants a keypad or key switch at least 1.5m high, out of children's reach, in sight of the gateway. Don't open the motor cover or the control box to look inside.
First checks, from the easy end
Check the power reaching the motor
If the gate gives no lights and no sound, see whether the house has power and whether anything has tripped at the switchboard. Dominator's NeoSlider manual calls for a weatherproof 240V 10 amp outlet within 1 metre of the opener, so look that outlet over from the outside and leave its wiring alone.
Try every control you have
Press the remote, the keypad and the app if you use one. If one control works and another doesn't, the fault sits with the one that failed rather than the motor.
Change the remote's battery
Gate remotes take different cells. BFT's MITTO COOL C4 takes 1 CR2032 and its older MITTO B RCB04 takes a single 23A, while FAAC says its XT 433 SLH LR takes 2 CR2032 cells and its XT4 433 RC a 23A. Check the back of yours, or its manual, before you buy.
Clear the track and the beams
Move bins, branches, stones and toys away from the gateway, from between the beam posts, and out of a sliding gate's track or a swing gate's arc.
Listen for beeps and watch for flashes
Many controllers signal what is wrong. Write the pattern down before you touch anything else, then match it to your own manual, because the table below covers one model only.
What a CENTURION Systems D5-Evo buzzer is telling you
| Gate motor | What its manual says it means | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 beeps, repeated over 30 seconds | CENTURION Systems D5-Evo | Battery low |
| 2 beeps, repeated over 30 seconds | CENTURION Systems D5-Evo | Mains power failure |
| 1 beep, repeated over 30 seconds | CENTURION Systems D5-Evo | Holiday lockout on, or safety beams broken |
| 3 short beeps for 5 seconds | CENTURION Systems D5-Evo | No limits set |
Your gate motor's own manual comes first
Those patterns come from CENTURION Systems' D5-Evo sliding gate motor manual. Another motor, or another CENTURION model, may signal differently, so check yours against its own manual. CENTURION Systems motors are sold here through Aero NZ, a FAAC Technologies company, which says end users usually work through its installer network.
Dominator's New Zealand site lists owners manuals for its SGO-1v4 Elite swing gate opener and its NeoSlider NES-500 and 800 sliding gate openers, and tells owners to check the model number for the correct manual.
Gate motor not opening after a power cut
A motor with battery backup keeps going on its battery when the mains drops out, and Dominator offers battery backup and SmartSolar packages for its NeoSlider openers. On the D5-Evo, 2 repeating beeps mean the mains has failed and 3 mean the battery is low. If the low battery warning keeps coming back once the power has returned, the battery or its charging needs a door specialist to test it.
Need the car out while the gate is shut? Freeing the gate from its motor is covered in that motor's manual, and the steps differ by model. Don't force a gate against a motor that is still engaged.
Electric gate solar panel: a solar gate that slows or stops
Merlin sells a solar powered rural gate opener in New Zealand, and Dominator offers SmartSolar packages for remote spots. A solar gate runs off a battery that the panel keeps charged, so when one slows down or stops, the battery and how well the panel is charging it come first.
The kit manuals set out what a panel needs. The NeoSlider manual calls the opener the Automatic Technology NeoSlider, and Automatic Technology's SmartSolar v2 kit manual pairs a 30 watt panel with a 2 x 12 Ah battery pack, keeps the cable from the panel to the charger to 5m or less, and says the panel should face north at a tilt of the local latitude plus 15 degrees.
From the ground, look at whether the panel still faces north and whether a tree or a new shed now shades it. Leave the battery, the charger and the cabling to the door specialist.
Gate opens but won't close
A gate that opens and then stays open is often the safety beams at work. On the D5-Evo, a single beep repeating over 30 seconds means holiday lockout is on or the beams are broken, so make sure nothing stands between the beam posts and that neither post has been bumped out of line.
Remotes stopped, but the keypad still works
One remote failing while the rest work is usually that remote's battery. If every remote quits at once, ask about the receiver's memory. CENTURION Systems' D5-Evo manual says its built-in NOVA receiver holds up to 500 transmitter buttons and that its Delete all Remotes option clears the lot. BFT's MERAK BT A control board manual says the board saves 128 remotes, and that its canc all option and a factory reset each delete every saved remote.
Coding a remote back in depends on the model: see the guides for CENTURION remotes, BFT remotes and FAAC remotes, and button batteries for the cells.
Running the gate from an app? Merlin says its gate openers need an internet gateway and monitored safety infrared beams for myQ, so a beam fault can stop the app too. Merlin's myQ FAQ adds that if the home internet goes down, the remotes and keypads supplied with the opener still work at home.
Stop and send the job if you see
- A gate that has dropped on its hinges or left its track
- A gate that is hard to move once the motor is released
- A cracked, wet or scorched outlet, or damaged cabling
- A beam post that has been hit by a car
- A low battery warning that keeps coming back
Power and wiring at the gate
Dominator's NeoSlider manual says a qualified electrician must do the installation wherever 240V power is used. The EWRB says only registered and licensed electrical workers can carry out or supervise prescribed electrical work, and that a Certificate of Compliance must be issued for fixed wiring work, new power points included, no later than 20 days after the work is finished.
The EWRB also warns that when the work isn't done by a licensed worker, the risk can stay hidden until it causes electric shock, fire or serious damage, and that it can cause problems with an insurance claim.
Warranty, model and who to ask
Check the warranty before paying for a repair. Merlin says its gate openers carry a 3 year warranty. Note the brand and model too: Merlin's gate openers here are the Slide 600, Swing L300, Swing A200 and Swing LR 500 plus a solar rural opener, and Dominator's are the NeoSlider and the Elite SGO-1. BFT has a New Zealand office in Albany, Auckland, and a locator for its points of sale.
For what a repair usually involves, see electric gate repairs, and for choosing a new motor, start at electric gates.
Details that help the door specialist
- The motor's brand and model, and whether the gate slides or swings
- What it does on a press: nothing, a click, a buzz, or part of its travel
- Any beeps or flashes, and how many
- Whether it runs on mains power, battery backup or solar
- Whether the fault began after a power cut, a storm or a knock
- Whether the gate is stuck shut or stuck open right now
What you can do, and what to leave
You can
- Check the house power and look the outlet over from outside
- Change a remote battery
- Clear the track, the swing path and the beams
- Note the beeps or flashes and match them to your manual
- Check the solar panel still faces north and has nothing shading it
Leave to a door specialist
- Anything inside the motor cover or control box
- The battery, charger and solar cabling
- Realigning or rewiring safety beams
- A gate that sags, drags or has left its track
- New wiring or a new outlet, by a licensed electrical worker with a Certificate of Compliance
What we would do
Before you send the job, stand by the motor and press the remote once while someone films it on a phone with the sound on. A few seconds of video show whether the gate tries to move, which beeps or lights it gives and where it stops, and that tells the door specialist which part to bring.