USAutomatic 020320 Sentry 300 Commercial Grade Automatic Gate Opener

My wife claims me to be a research fanatic so needless to say I researched this purchase for weeks before committing. I was not disappointed.A few comments about this installation project:- I installed the fencing and gate myself. The driveway gate is 10 ft wide, 6 ft tall and made of aluminum. At most it weights 100lbs.- I have electrical power within 10' but had to run the cord underground (16') for a walk gate so had to splice the power cable.- My driveway curves in so I required the gate to open more than 90 degrees (approximately 110 degrees) to clear driveway.The Product - While researching online I came to the conclusion that this opener was made by a very reputable company who takes pride in their product. I did not want a high end commercial opener but at the same time I did not want to spend $600-$800 on junk. This opener did not disappoint. The motor/opener is solid and is encased in rigid steel. When I pick it up it feels like a nice, sturdy piece of equipment. The protective box is also well laid out and the circuit board is covered in plastic coating to protect the electrical components from weathering (nice added feature). Last, it was easy to set up with my wife's built in car remotes.Service - As I researched the product I was unable to determine if the opener would be able to open to the 110 degrees that I required. It was Sunday afternoon and I sent an email off to USAutomatic expecting a response the next day. Within 30 minutes one of the employees had responded by indicating that it would open to this amount and explained what steps I would need to take during the installation. More on that below. The employee did not have to respond to me on a Sunday night but not only did he respond but he did so in a courteous way. This was a big selling point for me.Installation - Installation was super easy. I have some pointers below for getting the gate to open more than 90 degrees but other than that the rest of the installation was quite simple. It required a few holes for the actuator mounting bracket, a few holes for the gate bracket, bolting it all together, securing the control box to the fence and pulling the power cable through some conduit that I had already run. I installed the battery, plugged in a few cables, set the open and close limits, set the sensitivity and it was done. Overall it was about 4 hours not including some the extra steps I took which are described below.I would very much buy and install another one of these gate openers. My only two issues with this opener is:- The opener is the DIY version of the USAutomatic Ranger. The Patriot is for heavier duty gates and reaches out approximately 50 inches on the gate as opposed to 30. I would have preferred to get the 50 inch arm although I know the 30 inch arm is more than sufficient for my light weight aluminum gate.- The opener is strong and does not have a soft start/finish. This causes the gate to jump when first opening/closing which causes the opener to sense a restriction and stop. This can be cured by lowering the sensitivity but I would prefer to set the sensitivity as low as possible.Other than these two issues, I love this gate opener.I've attached some extra things I learned for those wanting to read more:- The mounting brackets come zinc/galvanized coated. I have a black ornamental gate and did not want this silver look on my new fencing. I soaked the parts in vinegar for 24 hours to remove the zinc. Muratic acid works quicker but I preferred vinegar for obvious reasons. After removing the zinc I sanded, primed and epoxy coated black. It came out much nicer than the zinc coloring.- My gate must open 110 degrees to clear the driveway. However, when I mounted the actuator bracket directly to the gate post it became an obstruction past 95 or so degrees. I had to remove the bracket, cut the corner and then repaint to get the 110 degrees.- The opener comes with zinc coated hardware. I opted to replace this with stainless.- The instructions recommend to set/install the gate bracket with the opener full retracted and the gate in the fully opened position. The gate close position is then adjusted using the open/close limits. Because my gate needs to open well past 90 degrees I found it better/easier to set the close limit to max and then install the gate bracket. After opening the gate I was able to adjust the open limit from 10 down to 9. That said, I have squeezed as much travel as I can out of this opener (approximately 110 degrees) as both the open and close limits are near their max. My point is to check max open/close limits at both positions before drilling/attaching the gate bracket.- I purchased the US automatic splice kit for the power cable but did not use it. It comes with a make and female plug and electrical box but my splice was underground. All that is needed is 2 wires of appropriate length and suitable wire connectors for the environment.- I had a covered electrical outlet nearby. I was able to remove the existing cover and install a protective/weatherproof box that covered the outlet and allowed the transformer to fit completely in. I purchased a box made by r*ddot which was a perfect fit for the transformer to fit in and have the protective cover completely close. Note that this transformer is quite large.- I ran pvc conduit underground during my fence installation to run the power cable through. This box has holes to accept 1/2" pvc conduit directly which is nice. My only issue was that I ran the conduit to come up on the left side and the holes in the box are on the right side when facing the front of the box. I used a few elbows but it would have looked better to go straight in.- I ordered this battery from Amazon and it is a perfect fit: UPG 85980/D5722 Sealed Lead Acid Battery (12V; 35 AH; UB12350)- The motor does not have a soft start so when starting to open/close the gate may jump and cause the gate to stop. I had to adjust the sensitivity up to around a 4 out of 10 to ensure this did not stop the gate.- I purchased a USAutomatic Sentry Push to Operate Button Wireless Transmitter and installed it inside the house on the wall looking out at the gate. I love being able to open the gate remotely from inside the house without having to hunt down a remote.Again, this is a very nice product and I am pleased with this purchase. It is sturdy and installation was a breeze.

I was a little apprehensive about taking this DIY project on, especially since the existing gates were badly installed and I really did not want to have to rip out the gate posts and install new ones. However, I was able to replace the two 5' chain link gates with a single 10' meshed farm gate and shimmed it so that the gate itself was completely level (the post was a bit off kilter). Yes, it would have been better to set a new gate post, but I figured that was going to be a huge amount of effort (the old gate post was set at the end of a concrete kneewall.Installation of the gate opener went without a hitch (I did view the CD and read the installation instructions twice before proceeding). The manual was good and in less than 2hrs it was all up and running. Adjustment was easy. The gate opens very consistently (within an inch) and the remotes have a long range (I can click the opener at the start of the driveway which is some 250' from the inner driveway gate. It has been operating flawlessly for a week and given the quality of construction I expect it should run for some time. I did get a silicon sealant to ensure the control panel was well sealed (I have had issues before with ants getting into control units like that). I am glad I opted for a neighbor's advice to avoid an inexpensive unit and thereby avoid the problems he had (he gave up trying to install it and finally paid a gate company to fix it). Assuming it continues to operate well into the future, I will rate this as a very fine purchase.UPDATE: the range of the remote is quite surprising: I can consistently open and close the gate from the corner of my property which lies over 600' away from the Control box on the gate. And this is not direct line of sight either - at least 200' of the property is covered with oak trees and small shrubs! I especially like the fact that I can sit at my desk inside the house, some 150' from the control box (again going through trees and three walls of the house) and still reliably open and close the gate (which is useful since this is an inside gate, and I have a driveway sensor at the outer entrance which gives me plenty of time to see who is coming and open the gate for them). The driveway gate itself continues to operate flawlessly without a single hiccough - in fact I purchased another remote and also got the wireless keypad and plan to tie in a remote relay so that I can open and close the gate over the internet.2nd update: has worked flawlessly now for 4+ years.3rd update: worked flawlessly for 5+ years now. When AC power failed during recent ICEmageddon, the gate was one of the few things that continued to work on battery power.4th update: 8 years, still working flawlessly, did have to clean corrosion on battery terminals, but original battery still seems ok (probably need to replace it soon though).

Prior to this operator I had a GTO Mighty Mule, one of the old 500 series. It made it 15 years, I had rebushed the ends of the actuator, taken the gear box apart and cleaned & re-lubed it numerous times, the plastic shell was rotting from the sun. The motor finally burned up, if I could have gotten a replacement motor or actuator it would still be going to this day.I went with the US Automatic 300S aka Patriot because it was US made and it had positive reviews. Thank goodness it has a 10 year warranty, I've had to send the main controller card back three times in the first year at my cost of course, now it's died again. It's always several days to get a reply & RMA and another couple of weeks to get the repaired card back, not the best looking repair either. The relays are the weak component though now there is a problem with the open/close limit setting. Beware, when it dies tech support will tell you to move the operator connector to the Gate 2 position which they consider an acceptable solution. All it does is delay the repair until the other set of relays burn out.For reference, the operator is used on a plain, perfectly square & level 14' farm gate that doesn't weigh 100# and it opens 4 times a day.Jan. 2014 update. The Gate 1 relays have died again. Running it in the Gate 2 position. I've had to have the actuator replaced under warranty as well, the limiting system failed and the gate would stop in random positions or go past the set limit. The plastic enclosure for the battery & electronics is aging bad from the sun, It's going to need a coat of paint to protect it, If I'd known that, I'd painted it at installation.One other note for prospective buyers, there isn't any way to install a wired open/close switch. You can install a manual OPEN switch but you can't close the gate, you left with the delay close setting. You can use the remote to manually close it. If you happen to be on foot without a remote and want to bump the gate open to get out and close it behind you, you can't do it. This is a pain when you have livestock and animals.

I bought this to replace my 1 year old double gate Lockmaster opener that was purchased from Wholesale Gates. The Lockmaster was junk from the begining. I bought this unit with the 300 D opener and the 5 watt solar panel. I spent over $1200.00 for the package but it is well worth it. The USAutomatic Sentry is heavy and heavy duty. I am only using them on a pair of aluminum driveway swing gates so its certainly no chore for the openers. I had to modify a few things to get the openers to fit since the Sentry is a little longer than the Lockmaster.The control box is different than pictured, for the better. Plenty of room to work for wiring everything. Programing was easy - that includes the programing of the remotes.I used a different battery than they recommended. I purchased a sealed small tractor battery. Only problem with that is that it needs more amps to charge and the intelligent charger (solar or DC transformer) trips on error. It seems that if the battery doesn't "top off" in voltage in a calculated time, the intelligent charger attempts to protect itself by shutting the charge circuit off. It took a while to figure why I was having this problem. The Sentry manual gives a formula for the battery charging cycle. Once I read this I figured there was a reason for this to be in the manual and then realized my battery amp size was a bit higher than the scale of the chart. I fixed the problem by using a trickle charger to the battery directly. This defeats having the solar panel but I do often allow the solar to do the charging by just disconnecting the trickle charger power. I already had AC power at the gate for the Lockmaster gates so I plug the trickle charger into the old gate power supply. I got about 6 weeks off the battery and solar charging before the gate opening speed changed dramatically slower. I found the battery at 10 volts and the charge controller with all lights blinking (when I used the included DC transformer for charging). Its been over 8 weeks since I change to the direct battery trickle charger and everything is working great.The range of the remote is great. Opening and closing speed is pretty fast. The motors are a little more noisey than the Lockmaster but my neighbors garage door opener is even louder than my two Sentry gate openers.It was a good bit more money but I was throwing money away with the Lockmaster and from what I found, I would be doing the same with the Mighty Mule (which I heavily considered). I am very happy with the USAutomatic Sentry. A very durable opener.

My comments concern a 14' swinging gate installation.- Has been installed and operating for two months. Build quality of equipment is excellant.-VERY IMPORTANT if you live in a windy area then you must get the automatic latch as well. If you don't you will find yourself with a gatethat 'worries': i.e. blows open and shut a few inches constantly when there is wind. Also, if you don't you will find yourself makingadjustments every 40 cycles or so. The constant motion loosens and can actually wear a grove in the bolts and holes. The gate thengoes into more extreme motion which this sets off the sensitivity detector which leads to false alarms and a need to reset. Boreing.It is suggested you weld the brackets to the post and the 2 brackets together. I am prepared to do this but with the installation of the latchmy gate is now motionless when closed and I think motion/wear/alarm problem solved.They supply mild coated steel hardware, I would suggest replacing all of it with Stainless Steel. Don't just duplicate what theyprovide get specific bolts and nuts that suit your project. This will add about $40 to the project but in five years time you will begrateful you did especially if you live on a salt water coast as I do.I also think it is also worth a few bucks ($60) to have a Sunbrella weather cover made for the Control Box. Although it is sturdy and the circuit boards inside moisture proof I think in 5 years time you will be glad to for this extra protection; e.g. there isn't a rubber gasket on the lid.The installation guide book is pretty good;.i.e. the layout diagrams could be better. Also be aware that the adjusting rheostatsare very sensitive; even the adjustment as minor as width of screw driver blade will make a difference.It is very impractical to mount the control box so it is blocked by an open gate. Although you can disconnect the arm from the gateto work on the box critical adjustments require you to cycle the gate open and shut to try various adjustments. SO the box has tohave access when the gate is open.Order at lease 25% more remotes than you think you need. Everyone will want one. Note batteries need replacing at 18 months.Yes I would highly reccomend this equipment to the better than average handyman. Also, the factory was very helpful when Ia few questions. Good company.