conor1n
Member
- Messages
- 556
- Location
- London/Ireland
Hello all..
So.. My parents have this swing gate system for the past 12 years and it's not been running the last two.
It started to go wrong a couple of years ago and act strangely.. ultimately I would guess that perhaps the rams/arms weren't maintained (lubricated).. then they seized and possibly wrecked the motors... saying that, I believe the control unit should be stopping the motors when it detects a high current draw.
Anyway, here we are.
I have narrowed down the various components in the system and have realised that it's all very modular. We seem to have a decent brand control unit, thankfully (Key Automation)... a cheap Chinese intercom system (to be replaced). I've not yet figured out where the arms/motors are from.
Oh and just to be clear, I did unscrew the caps on the arms and was able to pull out some sleeves.. I sprayed loads of grease along the arms and manually opened/closed the gates to try and grease them.. no luck. I would have expected to see a little grease nipple, where I could attach a grease gun..
To get this up and running I have come up with the following steps to trouble shoot.. interested to hear from others what people think.. I also have some pics after the break.. everybody loves some pics, right!?
1. (Test controller) Power up the system, read the manual to figure out how to use the onboard controls to perform self test and see if controller is ok.
2. (Test swing arms) Use the controller to open / close the gates.. then while the gates are being operated check for voltage to the arms with a multimeter. If the voltage is passing out of the controller but the arms aren't opening I need to dive further into them. I tried to remove the arms but the bolts are seized in.
Main thing really is to get the gates operating via the control unit. When that works I can just re-code the fobs and test the light bridge, and install a new intercom system.
I reckon the arms are probably shot as they were never lubricated.. I'd be half temped to just cut them off and order in new ones.. in fact that is probably the best bet. Then just use thick machine grease all over the nuts/bolts and in the arm. Then set a 6 monthly reminder to grease the arms going forward.
Anybody done anything like this before?
So.. My parents have this swing gate system for the past 12 years and it's not been running the last two.
It started to go wrong a couple of years ago and act strangely.. ultimately I would guess that perhaps the rams/arms weren't maintained (lubricated).. then they seized and possibly wrecked the motors... saying that, I believe the control unit should be stopping the motors when it detects a high current draw.
Anyway, here we are.
I have narrowed down the various components in the system and have realised that it's all very modular. We seem to have a decent brand control unit, thankfully (Key Automation)... a cheap Chinese intercom system (to be replaced). I've not yet figured out where the arms/motors are from.
Oh and just to be clear, I did unscrew the caps on the arms and was able to pull out some sleeves.. I sprayed loads of grease along the arms and manually opened/closed the gates to try and grease them.. no luck. I would have expected to see a little grease nipple, where I could attach a grease gun..
To get this up and running I have come up with the following steps to trouble shoot.. interested to hear from others what people think.. I also have some pics after the break.. everybody loves some pics, right!?
1. (Test controller) Power up the system, read the manual to figure out how to use the onboard controls to perform self test and see if controller is ok.
2. (Test swing arms) Use the controller to open / close the gates.. then while the gates are being operated check for voltage to the arms with a multimeter. If the voltage is passing out of the controller but the arms aren't opening I need to dive further into them. I tried to remove the arms but the bolts are seized in.
Main thing really is to get the gates operating via the control unit. When that works I can just re-code the fobs and test the light bridge, and install a new intercom system.
I reckon the arms are probably shot as they were never lubricated.. I'd be half temped to just cut them off and order in new ones.. in fact that is probably the best bet. Then just use thick machine grease all over the nuts/bolts and in the arm. Then set a 6 monthly reminder to grease the arms going forward.
Anybody done anything like this before?