Choosing the Ideal Automatic Gate Opener for Your Community
An automatic gate is one of the most enticing luxuries known for townhome, condo, and master-planned communities. Gated communities deliver an unrivaled degree of solitude and safety. Residents choose these neighborhoods because of their peaceful streets, the amenity of never having to worry who's in the area, and the liberation of allowing their kids to play outdoors with limited supervision.
If you handle properties for a homeowner's association, you understand the annoyance of welcoming call after call from locals when the gate won't open. However, a reliable gate operator is an essential amenity for your neighborhood. That's why it's so crucial to choose a reliable automatic gate opener installed and maintained by an associate you can count on.
Choosing Your Gate Opener
For most communities, gates and automated gate openers go hand-in-hand. Keeping one without the other isn't suitable.
A dedicated automatic gate opener delivers complete practical control over who can and can't access your community. When choosing the best automated gate opener for your neighborhood gate, it's essential to assess how your gate opens, your neighborhood security requirements, and the energy sources available to control it.
Opening Style
The kind of electric gate opener you'll need will lean on how your gate opens. In most circumstances, there are two options - swing or slide. A swing entrance moves in an arc comparable to the doors inside a home, while a sliding gate rolls horizontally across the entrance.
Swing gates are forged as both a single hinged gate and in a split, two hinged model. Swinging gates use automatic gate openers that feature automated swing arms or ram arms with jackscrew-operated or hydraulic pistons. Sliding gates are options for communities too. In some circumstances, they can be a more economical choice, with a lower price for fabrication and less expensive options for automated gate openers.
Power Source
Today's gate openers are more adaptable than ever. They can be powered through standard electrical connections or paired with solar panels and batteries for energy separate from a wired electrical connection. In addition, you can use available energy sources for energy redundancy in specific critical applications.
Wired electrical connections are the most dependable and inexpensive option for an automatic gate operator. To use hard-wired gate openers, you'll have to confirm you have an electrical energy source open at the site of your gate.
A solar-powered connection is perfect for gates in isolated locations with limited choices for electrical energy. Modern solar panels are more efficient than ever. When paired with a collection of rechargeable batteries, they can be installed to provide reliable power in even the most demanding outdoor environments.
Control Types
When evaluating your choices for automated gate openers, it's essential to consider all of the possibilities available for the unit's control. There are multiple options open to integrate visitor tracking with your neighborhood gate. There are also numerous choices for employing a community gate from the convenience of your resident's car. Communities often choose IR remote controls, bar code scanners, and EZ Tag readers. These alternatives are painless to distribute, manage, and pair with access control software that electronically documents resident identity, date, and time. As an alternative, access control card reader systems are ideal for neighborhoods managing vehicular and pedestrian entry.
Telephone access systems, callboxes, and intercom approaches are excellent choices for communities that want to automate community visitor tracking. Community visitors or delivery people can use visitor codes or request entry from specific subjects with these systems.