Automatic Gates: Electric Swing and Sliding Gates for Drives and Entrances

An operator is a motor that pushes a gate. If the gate moves easily by hand, the operator has an easy life. If the gate drags, sags or binds, the operator fights it on every cycle and wears out early. Most complaints about automatic gates trace back to the gate, the posts or the hinges, not the motor.

QC Fence Contractors installs automatic gates across the Charlotte metro. We build the gate, set the posts and install the operator, so one crew is responsible for the whole entrance.

• Single swing gate: one leaf, one operator. Simple, and suited to narrower residential driveways.
• Double swing gate: two leaves that meet in the middle. Each leaf is lighter and needs less room to open.
• Sliding gate: rolls sideways on a ground track. Works on sloped drives where a swing gate would hit the pavement.
• Cantilever gate: slides on rollers mounted to posts, with nothing on the ground across the opening. The standard for commercial and industrial entrances.

Operators are rated by the length and weight of gate they can move and by how often they can cycle. A solid wood privacy gate catches far more wind than an open aluminum one of the same size and needs a stronger operator. A gate at a home that opens a handful of times a day needs less than one at an apartment community or a distribution yard.

Swing gates use an arm that pushes the leaf from the post or from a pad set beside it. Slide gates use a chain or a rack driven by an operator sitting on a concrete pad next to the opening. Either way the mounting has to be rigid, which is why posts and pads for automated gates are larger than for manual ones.

1. 1. Site check. We measure the opening, check the slope, the clear space for the gate to open, and where power can come from.
2. 2. Gate and posts. The gate is built with a frame stiff enough for an operator and hung on posts set for the load. See driveway gates.
3. 3. Power and conduit. An electrician brings power to the operator location. Conduit for sensors and entry devices goes in before any paving is patched.
4. 4. Operator. The operator is mounted, connected to the gate and set for travel limits and force.
5. 5. Safety devices. Photo eyes and sensing edges are installed and tested so the gate stops and reverses on contact or when the beam is broken.
6. 6. Entry devices and handover. Remotes, keypads and any other controls are programmed, and we show you the manual release.

Sloped driveways are common here, and slope rules out many swing gates. Clay soil moves with moisture, so operator pads and gate posts need footings that stay put. Summer thunderstorms bring power blips and lightning, which makes surge protection and battery backup worth considering. Leaves and pine straw fill ground tracks in the fall, which is one reason cantilever gates are popular.