Just installed my GC opener this week replacing a Weak Mule brand. Unimpressed with the range of the new GC remote, at about 50 ft or less. So I did the antenna mod. Works great now! I installed the coax jumper into a 2 ft piece of pipe and clamped to the gate post so it's about 6ft to bottom of the antenna.
Thank you! I’ve had my Ghost for about three months and having issues with keypads. Found out the antenna had been bent downward. But still plan to extend as well as would be nice to have the gate fully opened when approaching a distance back. This was easy to understand and straight to it. Thx!
@@SixthDayRanch No adapter needed. The antenna was screwed to the side of the control box. I just unscrewed it and put a 3 foot piece of coax on the connector and re-mounted the antenna to a piece of angle iron 3' higher.
That is Awesome ! Thanks for sharing that info. I'm gonna make that change to ours asap. Great video my friend. I may make a video on one of our TH-cam channels, if I do I will reference your channel to show who showed me this great hack.
@@SixthDayRanch --- I raised my antenna about 2-3' higher per your suggestion and WOW, my range with HomeLink & Ghost controllers is about double what it was. THANK YOU!!!
Interesting. I wonder if it's possible to split off the antenna, keep one end at the gate then run 100 feet of coaxial through trees, etc. so the remote reaches it there?
Thanks for the video. I need to be right at the gate in order to open with the remote control. I did extend the coax wire and am still not able to open the gate using multiple remotes or the car integrated remote for more than 50 feet. I will install a wired button by the gate that will replace my remote controls since I'm getting frustrated with this... LOL
I installed our opener this weekend (actually it is the wife's opener). Bought two remotes and both seem to work fine. The wife tested both remotes on the front porch (320ft line of sight-no trees in the way) and they worked (open, pause, close). She went to the garage (380+ft line of sight-no trees) and they worked. she closed the garage doors and, with her inside at at 380+ft, they still worked. For some reason she went into the house and to the back bedroom (about 400ft-multiple walls) and they still worked. Went out to the back yard (450 to 500ft could not see the gate because of the lay of the land) and they still worked. I did not expect them to work beyond 300ft line of sight. Some facts that may or may not make a difference: ghost controls gear is new. Arrived last week and hung this past Sunday. New 12v deep cycle marine battery was bought this past Saturday. everything was mounted just as the manual said. Single arm, 30w solar panel, deep cycle marine battery. Solar panel is 12ft off the ground to keep it above the ROP on the tractor. Control panel is not in a box like yours but it is mounted about 6ft off the ground. The antenna is still on the panel as it came out of the box. Sitting at my desk in my home office (350+/-ft) I can see the gate out the window and was able to open it yesterday, to let a delivery in, using a remote. I still have to hang the zombie lock on the gate and key pad outside the gate and the push button inside the gate (need to get the posts). Today (Vets Day) I am going to get some conduit for the cables, posts for the mounted openers, and look for a box for the control panel. I have newly planted sapling but no trees that would interfere with the signal. Less than a week into it and everything works better than I had hoped. My wife is more than happy with the opener. Happy wife, happy life. Emailed ghost controls support with a non-emergency question and received a call back pretty quickly. Very friendly and the support person was a Vet. My only problem is how to handle deliveries (UPS, FEDEX, etc.). A steel box mounted outside the gate seems to be the only option. Any ideas?
That's really awesome to hear! We have had nothing but great experiences with their support team as well. Very friendly and quick with responses. With all of our packages, the delivery guys put it on the inside of the gate and it seems to be working great. If your comfortable enough with it, you can install a pin pad on the outside of the gate and give that code to the delivery companies and they can use it to come to the front door and drop off packages at the house.
We have a box outside the gate usually. Your idea of a steel one is spot on. We'd recommend that you reach out to FEDEX and UPS to ensure they have documented delivery instructions so you don't get any non-delivery notices owing to lack of access. As a former army guy, glad we have gates up.
@@FastEddy396 I have talked to several fedex/ups drivers and they said it is very common to have a box and it has become more popular since there are so many porch pirates.
@@robbiejk9613 sorry, I don't log in often and just saw your question. No, no upgrades. We can use the remotes from the kitchen as the kitchen is just off the porch. Even though there is a brick wall to go through it still works after a year on the same battery. the house is 300+ ft from the receiver with no trees or bushes in the way and we are slightly uphill from the gate. Maybe, it gathers momentum on the way down to the gate (HAHAHA). I don't know why it works so well. Just luck I guess. As a side note I mounted a button on a pole inside the fence so delivery people could get out without waiting for me to open the gate. Recently a cable guy did some work on the cable with out us being home to open the gate. Turns out he climbed the fence and pushed the button. Nothing was damaged or missing but it really opened my eyes.
I have the same gate, the installation says put the arm in the center, did you have any issues installing it higher like you did? I'm thinking of just doing that or using a couple of planks to sandwich the wire and put it where it's supposed to be
It's worked great like this for several years now. Only real issue we ever have is this Texas ground shifting and I have to tweak the hinges occasionally.
I have that same type of gate. I was told since I can't connect the opener to a center tube it wouldn't work. That i needed to purchase a new gate. How well does the opener work on your gate? I didn't go with the install company and decided to install myself. I am glad i saw your video prior to buying a new gate. If it works ok with that type of gate. Is there anything i need to look out for using that type of gate?
You'll be just fine brother. We've had it going for several years now. The only issues we've have are related to the lock/latch add on. It has low tolerance so anytime the ground moves - and that's a lot around here- I have to adjust the hinges. Not a hard fix but it's a pain. The opener itself we've had zero issues with. After about a year the controller board went out. Called support and after a 15 minute conversation I had a replacement within a week. Great folks!
The antenna extension is still working much better than stock for us. I still wish it went a little farther but I'm much happier with it than before so I'm glad we did it!
I ordered the exact connector and 15’ RG6 cable from Amazon that you referenced in description. Received today and made the extension connection...simple 3-5 minute process. It definitely made an improvement. We can now trigger the gate from far enough away to where it has plenty of time to open before we arrive. Thanks for the video brother 👍👍👏👏
You're welcome. Happy to help! The only other thing I would also suggest is to keep the batteries in the remote changed out frequently. In our main vehicles we find that after about 2 months of use the range seems to drop significantly. Pop in a new battery and range is back.
Do you know how to speed up the gate opener? I have two gates , one is pretty fast but the other is about half speed opening and closing . Any idea how to speed it up?
Unfortunately no I don't. I doubt there is a setting for it. Probably all internal. Id recommend calling them. I get through to a person every time I call and super helpful.
My sliding gate motor came with a 5 inch wire inside the housing..bought an aerial but its a coax type with copper inside and a sheild type on outside..so i wired the one wire from motor to all the wires on coax still garbage..any thoughts ? Thxs
@@SixthDayRanch I checked with tech support. They said they didn't have an upgrade option. I also opened up one of the Ghost WiFi modules. It uses an Expressif ESP32 WROOM chip for bluetooth and WiFi connection. That chip is an extremely popular chip for smarthome devices. (I programmed one with Tasmota firmware to control my chicken coop). The ESP32 has a built-in antenna that's about 1" in length, and isn't upgradeable to an external antenna. (I've seen mods online where you can scratch the printed circuit board and solder on a RP-SMA antenna). What's interesting is that the Ghost housing for the WiFi module actually has a rubber plug on the side where an antenna port could go. It's blank, and isn't removeable. Looks like they had thought about doing it at one time and changed their minds ..or plan to do it in the future. IMHO, Ghost Controls should have used the ESP32 chip that has a u.fl antenna port, that way the antenna could be upgradeable to a 13dB panel antenna and the range increased substantially. It would have added about $1 in manufacturing costs. But I digress...
Thanks for the detailed info! I did some digging and it looks like they are rebranding this product: www.remootio.com/products/remootio-3 that uses a ESP32-WROOM-32E . You are correct there is no way to extend the antenna on this unit without manual intervention (I found this video with the basics: ESP32 External Antenna Attachment Tutorial th-cam.com/video/o4mtrueU6eM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=GoX8P2UH-NCWngwc). I'm with you - I think they absolutely dropped the ball on that setup. Only thing I can think of is they were concerned about space and perhaps "difficulty" of install having to run an external antenna. Still they could have used a board that offered both options for minimal cost. For now the only options I see are: 1. Add a wifi hotspot/range extender between your source wifi and the gate controller 2. solder an external antenna 3. Add an IOT 4G/LTE hotspot to that location if you can meet the power requirements, but this option would incur a monthly fee. (remootio has an option on their site as an example) After all this digging, I just ordered a remootio 3 to add that functionality to my gate controller. My wifi is ~300ft from the gate, but nearly line of site. We will see if I can get a good connection. If not, I plan to begrudgingly solder an antenna onto the ESP32 board.
@@SixthDayRanch [I typed a freakin' book here, only to have YT refresh the screen before I could post it. Ugh! This is now the revised/smaller edition.] Personally, I'd hold off on the antenna hack in that video. It will work if you do it right, but if you botch it or get the solder too close to ground, you run the risk of shorting out the antenna and decreasing the range. If you do the soldering hack, don't solder the antenna directly to the printed circuit board: instead, solder an RP-SMA connector so that way you can plug in whatever sized antenna you want: 2dB, 3dB or a 15dB panel. This antenna includes the RPSMA connectors you would need. and with 15dB, your range can be 2-3 miles, but you've got to have a strong AP at the house, and one (or both) end needs to be 50' above the ground with unobstructed line-of-sight. Been there, done that! www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B386PY5N/ - - Instead of soldering the PCB, a better option would be to add an outdoor AP at your home and aim it at the gate. I just finished up a client's Ghost gate by adding a TPLink N300 at his home. I configured it in "Access Point" mode and mounted it outdoors on his porch roof in a discrete spot with good line-of-sight to his gate. At the gate, his home's WiFi was in the -85dB range: unusable. With the TPLink N300 aimed at his gate, I was able to get -65dB [Good enough for video!]. I'd say his gate is about 400' from his house. The big advantage of using something like the TPLink N300 is that it is a directional antenna. You HAVE to aim it in the direction you want the signal to go, and thus, it handily beats an omnidirectional antenna, delivering more signal at the desired location. (NOTE: There are other outdoor Access points available, but all of them are almost always 5ghz and the Ghost gate, like most smarthome devices, requires a 2.4ghz signal. The TPLink N300 is one of the last 2.4GHz transmitters readily available. [I used to use the Ubiquity 2GHz NanoStation, but they're EOL'd now]. An advantage that the TPLink has over the Ubiquiti is that it has more operational modes than the UB. Both can run as an AP or a CPE/Station. But the TPLink can also run as a wifi repeater, as well as an RP-SMA antenna connector. And that gives us more options. * If you have medium trees, you could still do the wireless link, but you might need a 2nd TPLink N300 at the gate, running in "WiFi Repeater" mode. That way, the Ghost unit is pulling a signal from the unit at the gate, not the signal coming from the house. Of course, to do this, you'll need 110v at the gate, or a solar rig that can deliver 12v .5A 24x7. I've not tested the TPLkin N300's full length, but if the math is right, you should be able to get 1/2 mile out of it, with both units standing 20' above the ground and no trees. Raise it to 50', and you'll get probably a mile. Use a 15dB external antenna on the RP-SMA port on both units, raise both units to 50', remove all trees, and you can get 5 miles. Seriously. (IE, shooting a beam across a valley, or from a 100' tower to a remote station) * The advantage to boosting the wifi at the house and aiming it at the gate is that you can now add a wireless security camera at the gate. You'll need that strong wifi link to do video. I don't know how much Ghost's camera costs, but you can find any number of outdoor WiFi cameras that will do the job. Just make sure the unit has an external antenna. You won't get much distance from a camera with an internal antenna. ReoLink is my favorite brand. The advantage to using Ghost's camera is that it (hopefully!) is integrated with their gate control app. But the downside is that you probably won't be able to integrate it with your home camera system. If you go with ReoLink, make sure you're using an ONVIF compliant camera so you can integrate it with your home camera network and add it to your NVR. More could be said, but hopefully that'll give interested readers some thoughts about options.
Appreciate the tips my friend and thanks for taking the time to let folks know the details. I agree the N300 is not bad at all and very reasonably priced. We use an enterprise mesh here on our property with a few external APs. I think the Reolinks might work with their system, but the only brand I saw referenced are Foscam. They aren't bad cameras, as long as you are knowledgeable enough to keep them isolated and from phoning home. We take security here seriously for obvious reasons! Thanks for taking the time to share your experience!
@@SixthDayRanch The antenna was only about 4 inches long, so I ordered a telescopic one off of Amazon but in the meantime, I rigged some tinfoil from the top of it and got a few 100 feet and that was more than I wanted.
Any one have a tip or solution to allow emergency access for fire department or HEMSI (medics?. Without the gate lock, they could just pull a pin on the arm and push it open but with the lock this will not work. I could give them a code to open the gate but it is a volunteer fire department and whoever responds may not know to look for the code before they respond. There are openers that respond to the fire department sirens but (1) they are about $500 and (2) an emergency vehicle passes by almost every day with the siren a full volume. There may be no easy solution. Even if they had to destroy the gate to get to the house, this would take time and the house would be burnt to the ground by the time they got access. I may have to just suck it up and by the gadget that responds to sirens but I thought I would put out the question before I spent the money.
That's a great thought. I've thought about this as well. I called my local Sheriff's office and gave them the gate code, but we are in the same boat as you. Volunteer only fire dept and they likely wouldn't know to call sheriff to ask for code. I suppose if we're lucky sherrif will respond as well and they'd know to check. The only other thing I can think about is possibly something like a knox box at the front gate. Fire depts are more likely to be trained on those than any other method. Otherwise their very first instinct is going to be to either cut a fence or just push the gate over and get to the fire.
@@SixthDayRanch I am probably over thinking this. If your house is on fire or your wife has an accident, I don't destroying the gate to get to the house is even an issue. Both my son's were with the VFD before they went in the Army. I guess I need to go talk to the Chief. If they already have procedures in place to breach a gate then I will probably just let them do their job. The water meter reader and the UPS have damaged the gate more than a few times. Maybe I need to work on the non-emergency vehicles and leave the first responders to what they need to do.
I think that is solid thinking. First responders are going to cut the fence or wreck the gate if needed every time in a real emergency. But like you said - Who cares at that point? Bigger fish to fry! lol
You say they answered the phone??? What number do you have ? Can you please send me that number because no body answers my call. The recording keeps telling me to go on line and schedule a call with a tech over and over and over. All I need is answers so I can buy the right model! I just need an explanation of what all the different model numbers mean. I have questions!
They may have changed their method to schedule a call back. They usually want you to be infront of your gate controller when they call to troubleshoot. They have great customer service and go the extra mile to keep customers happy and gates working. You probably need sales instead of tech support.
American company. Chinese parts and manufacturing. It's a great product and Ghost Controls CS is good, but it's not really an "American Product". Great vid btw
![[FASTEST] PROGRAMMING GHOST REMOTE CONTROL TRANSMITTER](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vs3O7wD9E8M/mqdefault.jpg)
THANK YOU! Doubled my range!
Awesome! You're welcome!
Just installed my GC opener this week replacing a Weak Mule brand.
Unimpressed with the range of the new GC remote, at about 50 ft or less. So I did the antenna mod. Works great now!
I installed the coax jumper into a 2 ft piece of pipe and clamped to the gate post so it's about 6ft to bottom of the antenna.
Glad to hear it's working better for you!
Thank you! I’ve had my Ghost for about three months and having issues with keypads. Found out the antenna had been bent downward. But still plan to extend as well as would be nice to have the gate fully opened when approaching a distance back. This was easy to understand and straight to it. Thx!
Glad we could help! Let us know if you have any questions! So far it's still working great for us!
Did the same on my LIftmaster gate opener. Worked great!
That's great to hear! Did it have the same connector or did you need a different adapter?
@@SixthDayRanch No adapter needed. The antenna was screwed to the side of the control box. I just unscrewed it and put a 3 foot piece of coax on the connector and re-mounted the antenna to a piece of angle iron 3' higher.
@@terryjones8360 Awesome! Thanks for letting everyone know. Glad it's better for you. Have a great weekend!
Awesome. Installing mine next week
Super simple! Hope it works well for you!
That is Awesome ! Thanks for sharing that info. I'm gonna make that change to ours asap. Great video my friend. I may make a video on one of our TH-cam channels, if I do I will reference your channel to show who showed me this great hack.
All good brother no need for a shout out but you are welcome to if you like. Happy to help out. It was a frustrating problem for us!
Oh boy! Something else to add to my "to do" list. Thanks a lot. 😉
haha I understand!
@@SixthDayRanch --- I raised my antenna about 2-3' higher per your suggestion and WOW, my range with HomeLink & Ghost controllers is about double what it was. THANK YOU!!!
That's great to hear!
Interesting. I wonder if it's possible to split off the antenna, keep one end at the gate then run 100 feet of coaxial through trees, etc. so the remote reaches it there?
I'd love to see the result of this kind of test!
Thanks for sharing this mod! Works like a charm now for us 🍻
Happy it helped yall! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the video. I need to be right at the gate in order to open with the remote control. I did extend the coax wire and am still not able to open the gate using multiple remotes or the car integrated remote for more than 50 feet. I will install a wired button by the gate that will replace my remote controls since I'm getting frustrated with this... LOL
oh man that's not fun. Yes I would definitely try this out. Hope it works for you!
I'm having same issue as you. 50' max.
Great Job Brother.
Thanks Chris!
I installed our opener this weekend (actually it is the wife's opener). Bought two remotes and both seem to work fine. The wife tested both remotes on the front porch (320ft line of sight-no trees in the way) and they worked (open, pause, close). She went to the garage (380+ft line of sight-no trees) and they worked. she closed the garage doors and, with her inside at at 380+ft, they still worked. For some reason she went into the house and to the back bedroom (about 400ft-multiple walls) and they still worked. Went out to the back yard (450 to 500ft could not see the gate because of the lay of the land) and they still worked. I did not expect them to work beyond 300ft line of sight. Some facts that may or may not make a difference: ghost controls gear is new. Arrived last week and hung this past Sunday. New 12v deep cycle marine battery was bought this past Saturday. everything was mounted just as the manual said. Single arm, 30w solar panel, deep cycle marine battery. Solar panel is 12ft off the ground to keep it above the ROP on the tractor. Control panel is not in a box like yours but it is mounted about 6ft off the ground. The antenna is still on the panel as it came out of the box. Sitting at my desk in my home office (350+/-ft) I can see the gate out the window and was able to open it yesterday, to let a delivery in, using a remote. I still have to hang the zombie lock on the gate and key pad outside the gate and the push button inside the gate (need to get the posts). Today (Vets Day) I am going to get some conduit for the cables, posts for the mounted openers, and look for a box for the control panel. I have newly planted sapling but no trees that would interfere with the signal. Less than a week into it and everything works better than I had hoped. My wife is more than happy with the opener. Happy wife, happy life. Emailed ghost controls support with a non-emergency question and received a call back pretty quickly. Very friendly and the support person was a Vet. My only problem is how to handle deliveries (UPS, FEDEX, etc.). A steel box mounted outside the gate seems to be the only option. Any ideas?
That's really awesome to hear! We have had nothing but great experiences with their support team as well. Very friendly and quick with responses. With all of our packages, the delivery guys put it on the inside of the gate and it seems to be working great. If your comfortable enough with it, you can install a pin pad on the outside of the gate and give that code to the delivery companies and they can use it to come to the front door and drop off packages at the house.
We have a box outside the gate usually. Your idea of a steel one is spot on. We'd recommend that you reach out to FEDEX and UPS to ensure they have documented delivery instructions so you don't get any non-delivery notices owing to lack of access. As a former army guy, glad we have gates up.
@@FastEddy396 I have talked to several fedex/ups drivers and they said it is very common to have a box and it has become more popular since there are so many porch pirates.
@@robbiejk9613 sorry, I don't log in often and just saw your question. No, no upgrades. We can use the remotes from the kitchen as the kitchen is just off the porch. Even though there is a brick wall to go through it still works after a year on the same battery. the house is 300+ ft from the receiver with no trees or bushes in the way and we are slightly uphill from the gate. Maybe, it gathers momentum on the way down to the gate (HAHAHA). I don't know why it works so well. Just luck I guess. As a side note I mounted a button on a pole inside the fence so delivery people could get out without waiting for me to open the gate. Recently a cable guy did some work on the cable with out us being home to open the gate. Turns out he climbed the fence and pushed the button. Nothing was damaged or missing but it really opened my eyes.
That was simple. Thanks.
You're welcome!
I bought the Ghost extended Antenna and still cant get mine to operate from 20 ft...
I'd definitely give them a call. Something isnt right.
I have the same gate, the installation says put the arm in the center, did you have any issues installing it higher like you did? I'm thinking of just doing that or using a couple of planks to sandwich the wire and put it where it's supposed to be
It's worked great like this for several years now. Only real issue we ever have is this Texas ground shifting and I have to tweak the hinges occasionally.
great job dude! Problem fixed
Thanks!
I have that same type of gate. I was told since I can't connect the opener to a center tube it wouldn't work. That i needed to purchase a new gate. How well does the opener work on your gate? I didn't go with the install company and decided to install myself. I am glad i saw your video prior to buying a new gate. If it works ok with that type of gate. Is there anything i need to look out for using that type of gate?
You'll be just fine brother. We've had it going for several years now. The only issues we've have are related to the lock/latch add on. It has low tolerance so anytime the ground moves - and that's a lot around here- I have to adjust the hinges. Not a hard fix but it's a pain. The opener itself we've had zero issues with. After about a year the controller board went out. Called support and after a 15 minute conversation I had a replacement within a week. Great folks!
I’m gonna do this as mine struggles at 300’...thanks for sharing.
Glad to help! If you still can't get it higher just order a replacement regulator and hose from amazon. On our smoker I can get it to about 400 max.
Ha I just realized you were referring to the gate antenna! I thought you had commented on our smoker mod video! Apologies my friend!
The antenna extension is still working much better than stock for us. I still wish it went a little farther but I'm much happier with it than before so I'm glad we did it!
I ordered the exact connector and 15’ RG6 cable from Amazon that you referenced in description. Received today and made the extension connection...simple 3-5 minute process. It definitely made an improvement. We can now trigger the gate from far enough away to where it has plenty of time to open before we arrive. Thanks for the video brother 👍👍👏👏
You're welcome. Happy to help! The only other thing I would also suggest is to keep the batteries in the remote changed out frequently. In our main vehicles we find that after about 2 months of use the range seems to drop significantly. Pop in a new battery and range is back.
I can't get mine to work regularly at 80'. No clue as to why.
I'd call em! That's frustrating.
I have the same problem with mine
Same here ready to just take it down 🤦🏻♀️
Do you know how to speed up the gate opener? I have two gates , one is pretty fast but the other is about half speed opening and closing . Any idea how to speed it up?
Unfortunately no I don't. I doubt there is a setting for it. Probably all internal. Id recommend calling them. I get through to a person every time I call and super helpful.
There is an option to have both open at the same time in the control box
My sliding gate motor came with a 5 inch wire inside the housing..bought an aerial but its a coax type with copper inside and a sheild type on outside..so i wired the one wire from motor to all the wires on coax still garbage..any thoughts ? Thxs
Sorry not sure on that one. I'd give the manufacturer a call and see if they have any advice for your situation!
Too bad they don't make something equivalent for their WiFi module. That would be helpful!
I'll look into it
@@SixthDayRanch I checked with tech support. They said they didn't have an upgrade option.
I also opened up one of the Ghost WiFi modules. It uses an Expressif ESP32 WROOM chip for bluetooth and WiFi connection. That chip is an extremely popular chip for smarthome devices. (I programmed one with Tasmota firmware to control my chicken coop). The ESP32 has a built-in antenna that's about 1" in length, and isn't upgradeable to an external antenna. (I've seen mods online where you can scratch the printed circuit board and solder on a RP-SMA antenna). What's interesting is that the Ghost housing for the WiFi module actually has a rubber plug on the side where an antenna port could go. It's blank, and isn't removeable. Looks like they had thought about doing it at one time and changed their minds ..or plan to do it in the future.
IMHO, Ghost Controls should have used the ESP32 chip that has a u.fl antenna port, that way the antenna could be upgradeable to a 13dB panel antenna and the range increased substantially. It would have added about $1 in manufacturing costs. But I digress...
Thanks for the detailed info! I did some digging and it looks like they are rebranding this product: www.remootio.com/products/remootio-3 that uses a ESP32-WROOM-32E . You are correct there is no way to extend the antenna on this unit without manual intervention (I found this video with the basics: ESP32 External Antenna Attachment Tutorial th-cam.com/video/o4mtrueU6eM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=GoX8P2UH-NCWngwc).
I'm with you - I think they absolutely dropped the ball on that setup. Only thing I can think of is they were concerned about space and perhaps "difficulty" of install having to run an external antenna. Still they could have used a board that offered both options for minimal cost.
For now the only options I see are:
1. Add a wifi hotspot/range extender between your source wifi and the gate controller
2. solder an external antenna
3. Add an IOT 4G/LTE hotspot to that location if you can meet the power requirements, but this option would incur a monthly fee. (remootio has an option on their site as an example)
After all this digging, I just ordered a remootio 3 to add that functionality to my gate controller. My wifi is ~300ft from the gate, but nearly line of site. We will see if I can get a good connection. If not, I plan to begrudgingly solder an antenna onto the ESP32 board.
@@SixthDayRanch [I typed a freakin' book here, only to have YT refresh the screen before I could post it. Ugh! This is now the revised/smaller edition.]
Personally, I'd hold off on the antenna hack in that video. It will work if you do it right, but if you botch it or get the solder too close to ground, you run the risk of shorting out the antenna and decreasing the range. If you do the soldering hack, don't solder the antenna directly to the printed circuit board: instead, solder an RP-SMA connector so that way you can plug in whatever sized antenna you want: 2dB, 3dB or a 15dB panel.
This antenna includes the RPSMA connectors you would need. and with 15dB, your range can be 2-3 miles, but you've got to have a strong AP at the house, and one (or both) end needs to be 50' above the ground with unobstructed line-of-sight. Been there, done that! www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B386PY5N/
- -
Instead of soldering the PCB, a better option would be to add an outdoor AP at your home and aim it at the gate.
I just finished up a client's Ghost gate by adding a TPLink N300 at his home. I configured it in "Access Point" mode and mounted it outdoors on his porch roof in a discrete spot with good line-of-sight to his gate. At the gate, his home's WiFi was in the -85dB range: unusable. With the TPLink N300 aimed at his gate, I was able to get -65dB [Good enough for video!]. I'd say his gate is about 400' from his house.
The big advantage of using something like the TPLink N300 is that it is a directional antenna. You HAVE to aim it in the direction you want the signal to go, and thus, it handily beats an omnidirectional antenna, delivering more signal at the desired location. (NOTE: There are other outdoor Access points available, but all of them are almost always 5ghz and the Ghost gate, like most smarthome devices, requires a 2.4ghz signal. The TPLink N300 is one of the last 2.4GHz transmitters readily available. [I used to use the Ubiquity 2GHz NanoStation, but they're EOL'd now]. An advantage that the TPLink has over the Ubiquiti is that it has more operational modes than the UB. Both can run as an AP or a CPE/Station. But the TPLink can also run as a wifi repeater, as well as an RP-SMA antenna connector. And that gives us more options.
* If you have medium trees, you could still do the wireless link, but you might need a 2nd TPLink N300 at the gate, running in "WiFi Repeater" mode. That way, the Ghost unit is pulling a signal from the unit at the gate, not the signal coming from the house. Of course, to do this, you'll need 110v at the gate, or a solar rig that can deliver 12v .5A 24x7.
I've not tested the TPLkin N300's full length, but if the math is right, you should be able to get 1/2 mile out of it, with both units standing 20' above the ground and no trees. Raise it to 50', and you'll get probably a mile. Use a 15dB external antenna on the RP-SMA port on both units, raise both units to 50', remove all trees, and you can get 5 miles. Seriously. (IE, shooting a beam across a valley, or from a 100' tower to a remote station)
* The advantage to boosting the wifi at the house and aiming it at the gate is that you can now add a wireless security camera at the gate. You'll need that strong wifi link to do video. I don't know how much Ghost's camera costs, but you can find any number of outdoor WiFi cameras that will do the job. Just make sure the unit has an external antenna. You won't get much distance from a camera with an internal antenna. ReoLink is my favorite brand. The advantage to using Ghost's camera is that it (hopefully!) is integrated with their gate control app. But the downside is that you probably won't be able to integrate it with your home camera system. If you go with ReoLink, make sure you're using an ONVIF compliant camera so you can integrate it with your home camera network and add it to your NVR.
More could be said, but hopefully that'll give interested readers some thoughts about options.
Appreciate the tips my friend and thanks for taking the time to let folks know the details. I agree the N300 is not bad at all and very reasonably priced. We use an enterprise mesh here on our property with a few external APs. I think the Reolinks might work with their system, but the only brand I saw referenced are Foscam. They aren't bad cameras, as long as you are knowledgeable enough to keep them isolated and from phoning home. We take security here seriously for obvious reasons! Thanks for taking the time to share your experience!
Did u buy a adapter to go on coaxel u did not show what u did
Everything we used is in the description with links. A simple Cable Extender F-Type.
Hell, I have a US Automatic and I have to be right on top of the gate for it to open and I would be dancing in the streets if I could get 200 feet.
Wow that's brutal! I dont know what these guys are thinking with such short range.
@@SixthDayRanch The antenna was only about 4 inches long, so I ordered a telescopic one off of Amazon but in the meantime, I rigged some tinfoil from the top of it and got a few 100 feet and that was more than I wanted.
That sounds more like it!
Any one have a tip or solution to allow emergency access for fire department or HEMSI (medics?. Without the gate lock, they could just pull a pin on the arm and push it open but with the lock this will not work. I could give them a code to open the gate but it is a volunteer fire department and whoever responds may not know to look for the code before they respond. There are openers that respond to the fire department sirens but (1) they are about $500 and (2) an emergency vehicle passes by almost every day with the siren a full volume. There may be no easy solution. Even if they had to destroy the gate to get to the house, this would take time and the house would be burnt to the ground by the time they got access. I may have to just suck it up and by the gadget that responds to sirens but I thought I would put out the question before I spent the money.
That's a great thought. I've thought about this as well. I called my local Sheriff's office and gave them the gate code, but we are in the same boat as you. Volunteer only fire dept and they likely wouldn't know to call sheriff to ask for code. I suppose if we're lucky sherrif will respond as well and they'd know to check. The only other thing I can think about is possibly something like a knox box at the front gate. Fire depts are more likely to be trained on those than any other method. Otherwise their very first instinct is going to be to either cut a fence or just push the gate over and get to the fire.
@@SixthDayRanch I am probably over thinking this. If your house is on fire or your wife has an accident, I don't destroying the gate to get to the house is even an issue. Both my son's were with the VFD before they went in the Army. I guess I need to go talk to the Chief. If they already have procedures in place to breach a gate then I will probably just let them do their job. The water meter reader and the UPS have damaged the gate more than a few times. Maybe I need to work on the non-emergency vehicles and leave the first responders to what they need to do.
I think that is solid thinking. First responders are going to cut the fence or wreck the gate if needed every time in a real emergency. But like you said - Who cares at that point? Bigger fish to fry! lol
You say they answered the phone???
What number do you have ?
Can you please send me that number because no body answers my call.
The recording keeps telling me to go on line and schedule a call with a tech over and over and over.
All I need is answers so I can buy the right model!
I just need an explanation of what all the different model numbers mean.
I have questions!
Oh man sorry to hear that. This is the one from their website: 850-898-1411. That's the same one I've called in the past.
They may have changed their method to schedule a call back. They usually want you to be infront of your gate controller when they call to troubleshoot. They have great customer service and go the extra mile to keep customers happy and gates working.
You probably need sales instead of tech support.
Thanks for the comment brother!
Some times they answer so.etime not
Maybe I've just been lucky! Lol
But the installation manual tells you that. No wonder why they call it the greatest book never read.
Great hack! I can operate the gate from inside my shop well over 150' away. Thanks!
You're welcome my friend!
Mine has never had more than a 75-100’ of range
I feel your pain!
@@robbiejk9613 I did add an extra antenna but it still has a very short range
American company. Chinese parts and manufacturing. It's a great product and Ghost Controls CS is good, but it's not really an "American Product". Great vid btw
Excellent and important point. Thanks for the comment friend!