A gate motor opens and closes your driveway gate from the car, so you stay inside the vehicle and the gate stays shut behind you. South African installers fit sliding motors for most driveways and swing motors for gates that open inwards or have no room to slide. Send one request with the gate type, size and weight, and installers in your area quote you for supply and installation or for a repair. It is free and there is no obligation.
Sliding or swing motor
A sliding gate motor drives a pinion along a toothed rack fixed to the gate, which rolls on a track or hangs from a cantilever. It needs a clear run beside the gate about as long as the gate itself. A swing gate motor pushes or pulls each leaf with an arm, which suits gates that open on a short driveway, but wind, sloping ground and a heavy leaf make it harder.
Whichever you pick, the gate must move freely by hand first. A stiff gate on worn wheels or a bent track kills a motor in months, so ask the installer to fix the gate before blaming the motor.
Mass ratings, batteries and surge
Every motor has a maximum gate mass rating, usually 300 kg to 1,500 kg for homes. Weigh up the gate honestly: a solid steel gate with cladding weighs far more than a palisade gate. Choose a motor rated well above the gate, and a heavier-duty one for gates used hundreds of times a day, such as a complex or factory.
The standby battery keeps the gate working through load shedding. Most last two to three years, so test it yearly and replace it before a long outage tells you it is flat. In Highveld summers, lightning damages control boards, so ask for surge protection and a proper earth.
Safety, anti-theft and remotes
A gate is a heavy machine. Safety beams across the opening stop it from closing on a car, a child or a pet, and many installers add an obstruction sensor on the motor. Both are standard good practice, not extras. An anti-theft bracket or steel cage bolted to a concrete base protects the motor and battery, which are popular items to steal.
Remotes use coded signals, and each can be deleted from the receiver if lost. Ask for extra remotes at install, a keypad for the garden worker, or a link to an intercom or access control reader. A phone app or GSM unit lets you open the gate from afar.
Prices and repairs
A supplied and installed motor, with two remotes and the basic safety gear, is roughly R3,500 to R14,000. Dearer quotes add heavier gates, solar power, extra beams, new racks or steelwork. Servicing yearly (grease, gear check, battery test) is cheaper than a breakdown call. For a repair, say what the gate does: clicks, runs one way, stops halfway or does nothing. Pair the gate with a camera and a lit approach for night use.
What to include in your request
- Sliding or swing gate and its length
- The gate's material and rough weight
- Remotes, keypad or phone control wanted
- Whether it needs a new rack or track
- Repair: what the gate does when it fails
Gate Motors for different sites
- Homeowners and families: a sliding or swing motor with remotes, safety beams and a battery for load shedding
- Estates, complexes and body corporates: heavy-duty barriers and sliding gates at resident and visitor lanes
- Offices, shops and retail centres: a motor on the yard gate, opened by remote and closed on a timer
- Factories, warehouses and yards: heavy cantilever or sliding gates with access control and safety loops
- Building sites and contractors: a lockable gate at the site entrance, opened by the guard or a keypad
- Farms and smallholdings: a swing gate motor with solar power and a phone receiver at the farm entrance
- Events, venues, hotels and lodges: guest gates opened by intercom or a code, with beams to protect cars
- Schools, clinics and churches: a school or clinic gate controlled from the office or the gatehouse
Frequently asked questions
How often should a gate motor battery be replaced?
Can I fit a motor to my existing gate?
Why does my gate stop and reverse by itself?
Can I open my gate with my phone?
Gate Motors by province and city
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria
- Centurion
- Midrand
- Sandton
- Randburg
- Roodepoort
- Krugersdorp
- Randfontein
- Germiston
- Boksburg
- Benoni
- Kempton Park
- Alberton
- Vanderbijlpark
- Vereeniging
- Durban
- Pinetown
- Pietermaritzburg
- Richards Bay
- Newcastle
- Ladysmith
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
- East London
- Kariega (Uitenhage)
- Mthatha
- Cape Town
- Bellville
- Paarl
- Stellenbosch
- George
- Worcester
- eMalahleni (Witbank)
- Middelburg
- Secunda
- Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Rustenburg
- Brits
- Klerksdorp
- Potchefstroom
- Mahikeng
- Polokwane
- Tzaneen
- Kimberley
- Upington
- Bloemfontein
- Welkom
- Sasolburg