For customers looking to close off their driveway openings to keep deer off the property, in conjunction with appropriate fencing, AutoGate Systems is offering an automatic gate solution priced lower than our custom wood-clad, custom aluminum and ornamental iron gates. Our production steel gates are superior to mass produced fence products, designed for and integrated with our gate operators and integrated support posts.
The gates are fabricated in-house from steel formed rails, steel tube square pickets and steel tube frames. These are substantial, all welded construction. Finish is satin black powder coat over flame sprayed zinc. A durable, well-thought out product designed and built for gate automation with rear offset hinges, adjustable positive stops and integrated gate operator front and rear brackets. The gate operators offered start with the piston type SEA Half tank, but can be ordered set up for SEA 1600 in-ground. The top of gates is a 12” transition curved rail. Standard size gates are for 14ft clear opening width (with gates open) and 7’ 6” high at the arch, 6’ 6” high at the hinge side. Height can be shortened to 6’ for installation in towns and villages with 6’ height restrictions.
Some question whether a 6ft high gate will keep deer out. My answer is yes. In many installations where deer are a persistent problem, and the code limits are 6ft, we have never had a customer tell us deer were coming over the gates. There will be the occasional animal who is so charged up that it will try to leap anything, but it is rare.
- Deer Facts: Animals remain local. They reside in and around your property and do not venture very far from home territory. Deer will walk along fence lines and browse grasses, plants and lower evergreens and will push along fences looking for weak spots. The bottom of deer fencing is the most important part and must be secured (tight) with tension wire fastened to the fabric or, using SolidLock or other steel wildlife fence products that have integrated tension wires at the bottom.
- Deer will attempt a jump when they can easily reach their head over the top of the fence or gate. A gate 4ft high will keep out many deer, but mature animals can jump over. We have had excellent results with gates starting at 5’ 6” high.
Gate Automation: Most important is that gates remain closed, especially overnight. In order to keep costs down, we offer a simple system of “free entry/exit” for vehicles. This is accomplished by installing magnetic vehicle detector ground loops under the driveway surface. Three loops are sufficient, with a loop on either side of the gates, and the exit loop back about 45ft up the driveway. Any vehicle passing over the ground loop will cause the detector to open the gates momentarily until vehicle is clear of the inside or outside loops. A timer in the control panel will close the gates after a pause period. This is the only way to be sure gates will remain closed, and not have to distribute $30.00 radio transmitters to everyone who needs access to your property. (example: landscapers, pool maintenance, fuel oil or gas delivery, etc.) A pedestrian button installed on a black aluminum post works to open the gates from inside the property while on foot. You may consider an additional button on a post on the outside as well. The button must be installed in an area clear of the swing of the gates. An ideal gate operator for this system, in terms of cost and reliability, is the SEA half-tank linear hydraulic operator.
Autogate Systems has been directly and exclusively focused on automatic entry systems since 1984. That’s over 25 years of experience! We know what it takes to make sure you’re happy with your driveway security gates!
