Instructions / Assembly

E-S 1000D Series Instruction Manual
Troubleshooting
5.9
Possibilities for obstruction detection:
 Wind resistance. Wind is the number one reason the gate will stop and reverse with nothing
in the way. Even a relatively open picket style gate still gets pushed fairly significantly by
wind.
 Incorrect setting on P3 force setting for size gate and/or current weather conditions. The
force setting is adjustable from 0 to 32 and the setting may need to be changed over time
to a higher setting depending on the temperature, age of the motor and size of the gate.
 Leverage not being fully utilized by operator. The piston of the gate opener should move
from nearly fully extended to nearly fully retracted when opening and closing. If it is not
then this means that the gate opener is positioned closer to the gate hinge than it needs to
be and thus it does not have as much leverage as it could or should.
 Mechanical issues with gate or brackets. The gate must swing on the same level plane as
the motor. If they are not traveling on the same plane eventually they will be pulling differ-
ent directions and cause a bind. This can happen from the gate sagging or from the brack-
ets sagging. Also the swing path must be level to earth; if the swing path is uphill gravity will
work against the system and cause obstruction. Another mechanical issue is lubrication of
the gate hinges and pivot points.
 Low battery combined with resistance. As a battery gets lower in voltage the amperage
spike from resistance will be greater than with a fully charged battery. So as a battery ages
or has low voltage less amounts of resistance can result in obstructions.
 Internal lubrication of piston needs to be done or gear housing needs to be tightened. The
screw drive of the gate opener should get light lubrication over time and if a grinding noise
is being heard in conjunction with the obstructions then the gear box bolts may need tight-
ening.
Fixes for obstruction detection:
 For wind resistance the fix could be to decrease the coverage on the gate if it is a solid
face gate. Unfortunately this situation is one that is difficult with swing gate openers. All
brands of gate openers that have safety contend with this issue. No matter how powerful
the motor is in a gate opener, none are built to push hard enough to hurt a person. And
there is no way to differentiate between a person in the path of the gate vs wind in the
path of the gate. So the sensors on any gate opener, no matter how large or powerful, will
always react to this issue. One important note however in regard to wind causing an ob-
struction: if any of the other issues listed here as causes of obstruction (P3, leverage, lubrica-
tion, etc.) are not investigated and corrected they could be a contributing factor. And if
eliminated the wind issue could lessen or go away.
Continue on next page.