Sliding gate WiFi trigger

[housedweller]

I bought a Meross garage opener which is essentially a WiFi trigger to open my sliding gate. It’s a simple device- it sends a signal into the gate motor to open or close.

Meross Smart Garage Door Opener Remote Control - MSG100

Meross smart garage door opener remote control is a small but powerful companion device to your existing garage door opener.

www.meross.com

My gate is not near my electrical power, so I’d like to use solar to power it.

For the last few months I have used a small power bank battery, and plugged the gate opener into this with its usb cable. It works- but of course this battery needs to be brought into the house to be recharged every 4-5 days.

can anyone recommend a solar panel / battery to power this device? The Meross opener is 5W 1A with a USB cable.

many thanks.

 

[pouncepounce]

What powers your gate motor?

 

[housedweller]

The solar panel would not be for the gate motor- the motor itself has a cable under the ground to power it.

Its power for the trigger for opening and closing- this Meross gate opener. It is a 5w 1A box which plugs into the gate motor and is powered through a USB cable. It connects over WiFi to my iPhone and I can open/control the gate in the Apple Home app. The Q here is how to power this Meross device. The gate motor does not have a USB port, so I need a small battery and solar panel to charge the battery to power the Meross....

 

[pouncepounce]

The solar panel would not be for the gate motor- the motor itself has a cable under the ground to power it.

I assume the wifi relay is close to it. If the motor has AC power it would be more reliable and probably cheaper and less complex to simply connect to that power. Is there some other aspect to this story?

 

[housedweller]

My electrician said no to using the power cable from the motor as he wants a dedicated power line for opening/closing the gate, and this was why I'm exploring the separate battery. I have it working great right now- I have a small Morphie power bank plugged into the Meross and the house WiFi signal reaches the gate. It's just how I make this self-sufficient where that battery gets charged up by the sun so I don't have to bring the battery in each week to recharge it. Thanks,

 

[GSXR1000]

your electrician is dumb... this would be part of the gate control which is powered by the same circuit... it is a waste.

harbor freight panel would work.. 20-5pah agm battery

 

[pouncepounce]

Your electrician says no to drawing enough power to power a a 5v 1a wifi adapter? That doesn't make any sense at all. What if you had the typical RF relay there? Same issue. You need to give it power. I think there must be some disconnect in that communication.

Did your gate come with an RF remote that is powered by the AC? Maybe you want to use an RF bridge with HomeBridge instead of a wifi relay. Wifi for this kind of thing is flaky. RF always works.

 

[GSXR1000]

 

[Supervstech]

I bought a Meross garage opener which is essentially a WiFi trigger to open my sliding gate. It’s a simple device- it sends a signal into the gate motor to open or close.

Meross Smart Garage Door Opener Remote Control - MSG100

Meross smart garage door opener remote control is a small but powerful companion device to your existing garage door opener.

www.meross.com

My gate is not near my electrical power, so I’d like to use solar to power it.

For the last few months I have used a small power bank battery, and plugged the gate opener into this with its usb cable. It works- but of course this battery needs to be brought into the house to be recharged every 4-5 days.

can anyone recommend a solar panel / battery to power this device? The Meross opener is 5W 1A with a USB cable.

many thanks.

I’m not sure why he is showing you a bigger battery... it would last longer, but still need to be carried in for charging...
Any solar charger would work for that... I have several 15 watt panels with charge controllers built in that would do it.
I have seen several small panel chargers on eBay... a small harbor freight panel with a small charge controller would do it... but be careful, their charge controllers are NOT weather safe... need to be indoors, or inside a sealed enclosure.

 

[Supervstech]

My electrician said no to using the power cable from the motor as he wants a dedicated power line for opening/closing the gate, and this was why I'm exploring the separate battery. I have it working great right now- I have a small Morphie power bank plugged into the Meross and the house WiFi signal reaches the gate. It's just how I make this self-sufficient where that battery gets charged up by the sun so I don't have to bring the battery in each week to recharge it. Thanks,

I would like to see how the motor is powered... is there a controller at the gate ? Easy enough to tie the WiFi into that...

 

[pouncepounce]

Need a new electrician.

 

[Supervstech]

Need a new electrician.

Not necessarily... if the motor is controlled remotely, the power could be at the residence, and only motor wiring is present.

 

[pouncepounce]

If the relay is at the motor the motor has power.

 

[pouncepounce]

@housedweller is the gate motor low voltage and the power running to the motor not AC power? Maybe its 24v?

 

[GSXR1000]

I’m not sure why he is showing you a bigger battery... it would last longer, but still need to be carried in for charging...
Any solar charger would work for that... I have several 15 watt panels with charge controllers built in that would do it.
I have seen several small panel chargers on eBay... a small harbor freight panel with a small charge controller would do it... but be careful, their charge controllers are NOT weather safe... need to be indoors, or inside a sealed enclosure.

the battery is 35ah so 18ah usable..
18ah x 12v = 216wh available..
10w x 24 hours is 240wh... that battery prolly to small... for a few days of no sun....

 

[Woody]

Just FYI but Mule brand gate opener uses one 12v 7ah seal battery to run the gate controller, actuator, and rf controller all supplied by an ac/dc transformer or via a 5-10w solar panel. The solar set up works fine and can cycle the gate numerous times per day. I’m using two currently and have used them in the past. The only issue I‘ve had was in freezing sud zero temps the batteries need a plate heater to keep them operational. As you can see in my set up pictures below, I went with the 10w huge panels.? Small but powerful.

My suggestion is to get a 10w solar panel, a 12v 7ah battery, a simple charge controller, and an outdoor weather proof box to put the hardware in. Should be good to go.

 

[pouncepounce]

The question is how much power does that Wifi relay in the first post actually draw in this setup. Wifi is a power suck and if its on the outer range of the AP then it may consume more power to keep connected. Its input is 5v 1a.

 

[Woody]

5v 1A is noted on the spec sheet for this product.

 

[Woody]

10watt solar panel w/charge controller set up would most likely keep his battery charged up. Perhaps something like this one or similar. Just need an enclosure too.

Amazon.com : ECO-WORTHY 10W 12V Off Grid Small Solar Panel Kit - Waterproof 10 Watt Solar Panel with Charge Controller and Battery Clips Adapter : Electronics

Amazon.com : ECO-WORTHY 10W 12V Off Grid Small Solar Panel Kit - Waterproof 10 Watt Solar Panel with Charge Controller and Battery Clips Adapter : Electronics

www.amazon.com

 

[housedweller]

I’m not sure why he is showing you a bigger battery... it would last longer, but still need to be carried in for charging...
Any solar charger would work for that... I have several 15 watt panels with charge controllers built in that would do it.
I have seen several small panel chargers on eBay... a small harbor freight panel with a small charge controller would do it... but be careful, their charge controllers are NOT weather safe... need to be indoors, or inside a sealed enclosure.

Yes this could work. At the moment i have a small credit card sized battery housed inside the gate casing. This powers the Meross for about 4 days, before I have to take it into the house to charge. So yes if i knew the solar panel and controller to buy i think i would go for that. Given that this small battery does power the Meross for so long, the power drain must be small.