Ghost Controls D Series Single Smart Ready Automatic Gate Kit with Tube Gate Brackets- DS1U for Swing Gates Up to 1000 lbs. or 20 Feet (ft.) in Length

I have had a Mighty Mule 1000 gate opener on my gate for 18 years. It had various problems, including needing a replacement board, and working constantly on the closure position, but still it worked for 18 years! The new Mighty Mule openers now look much cheaper, so I went with this Ghost Controls DS1U unit, which appears very solidly built. But there were some issues in getting it installed and setup. To find out what, read further.The Good: Solidly built; Decent Instructions to Install but could be a bit clearer; excellent telephone support if needed; excellent ability to fine-tune the closure stop pointThe Bad: Can't program cars Homelink to this System (but there is a workaround - read further); holes in architectural gate brackets are too small for bolts supplied (You will need to purchase 5/16" bolts and nuts, or drill out the holes in the parts they send to use the 3/8" bolts provided; the single pushbutton transmitter will not work from inside my home to open and close the gate (read further), NO BATTERY INCLUDED (I knew this, but wasn't prepared to spend another $100 for one with a case); Takes easily 4 hours even for an experienced handy-man to install; Additional pushbutton transmitters are expensive ($34 each -- how many cars do you have?)TIPS: 1. Secure your gatepost; otherwise, over the years your post WILL MOVE and your gate will not be balanced. If your gate is not balanced (post perfectly vertical and plumb, with gate horizontal in all positions) it will put a big strain on the opener. Note that embedding the post in concrete will not suffice for support in the long run. I had to guy-wire mine to correct it before starting my installation of the new opener. 2. Buy your battery and container BEFORE you install the gate opener. Otherwise you will have to unhook the opener from the gate until you go buy and install a battery. If you live in a cold climate (I live in Ohio) buy a deep-cycle marine battery and an inexpensive battery box to put it in. Make sure the marine battery you buy already has the smaller posts installed on it with the tightening bolts so the supplied battery wiring harness will hook up effortlessly. 3. Don't start your install too late in the day because it WILL take about 4 hours to get it done correctly. 4. Option to get Homelink to work so you can open and close the gate from each of your cars: Buy a Mighty Mule Universal Receiver (Model RB709U-NB on Amazon for $35 used), and one 318 MHz Transmitter (can get them used on Ebay). Connect it to your new Ghost Controls control board as follows: Ghost Controls Receiver: Black wire to Channel 1 COM connector, Red Wire to Lock+, Blue Wire to CYC, Green Wire to COM, Yellow and Brown Wires are not used for a DS1U Ghost Controls unit. Then follow the instructions with the Mighty Mule RB709U-NB to pair the Transmitter to it. Then follow your car manufacturers instructions on how to pair your cars Homelink to the Mighty Mule 318 MHz Transmitter. You can pair any number of cars to the same Transmitter. The Mighty Mule Transmitter will open/close your gate from a longer distance than the Ghost Controls Transmitter. You do not need both Receivers connected to the Ghost Controls Control Board, but it does not hurt to do so. 5. If your gate has much surface area, be aware that high winds will put a huge strain on the gate opener. I installed a separate cheap hook and eye at the end of the gate to my post at the closed position so I could hook it in a "locked" position during high wind storms. Just remember to unlock it before trying to use the opener again. I do not know yet how this new opener will last over the years, but I will try to remember to update my review in the future. I do know that with the new marine battery and gate opener the opener works even in temperatures down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit, as we have already had temps that low for several days now. A marine battery has many more amps available than the much smaller Mighty Mule batteries I had been using! Lesson: just buy a deep-cycle marine battery to use with it; especially if you live in a cold weather area. Good luck!

I have a non-optimal / non-recommended gate... Wood panel (7.5 ft width per leaf), with a wheel on one leaf to limit sag (I've already replaced the post; long frustrating story there). Ghost Controls, like most manufacturers, wisely advises against both of these things and I'm aware that I'm probably voiding my warranty, but ultimately I still needed a solution, so I chose to take the risk. Turns out it actually works really well!With a full panel gate, the concern is that wind will catch it. I try to avoid using it when windy, but it does work. I'm more concerned with wind pushing on it while closed, so I installed the Zombie Lock to limit movement and keep things secure. Seems to work great!As for the wheel on the gate leaf, that's temporary and I expect to eliminate it very soon, but I still got it to work as it is because of a few things in my favor: 1) there's not actually much weight on the wheel (only correcting a small amount of gate sag), 2) it has a spring so there's some give, and 3) it's a larger diameter wheel so it rolls over bumps and cracks more easily. If I was missing any one of these things, I would not expect it to work. I do have the gate's force setting on maximum until I'm able to ditch the wheel.As for the opener itself, it was very easy and straight-forward to install, everything appears to be high quality, and the keypads and remotes work well. As noted on Ghost Controls' website, HomeLink compatibility is hit or miss, but I got it to work with my 2014 Corvette, although no luck with a Porsche of the same year.My gate is a push-to-open, so I bought the appropriate brackets for that, but found that I didn't need/want that on the side where I was attaching to a fence instead of a post (see picture). I braced it up really well on the back side of the fence, then used a 2x4 and the standard brackets, and was able to achieve better fitment and angles/leverage than I did with the push-to-open brackets. That's a unusual case, though... When you're able to attach to a post, the push-to-open brackets are the perfect solution.

It works but took a while to work out bugs. I did the install myself. First I pulled out the old post since it was loose and wobbled. Put in a new laminated post made of four 2x6's 8 foot long and buried it in 2 bags of concrete with extra rock at 42 inches deep. I had to do this because I have a 16 foot tube gate. So then after gate opener was in for 2 days, it would not close all the way. Figured out the gate clamps had came loose that attach the arm to the gate, this effects distance. Tightened them and they came loose again. So I drilled a hole thru gate tube, the clamps have a predrilled hole already. Now the clamps will not move. My complaint is the remotes. They are really weak. I contacted Amazon support and they had no ideas. So now I am contacting Ghost Controls support. Will update later to 5 stars if remotes get resolved.. Jim

I bought this 5 months ago. It will take a few hours to install but once it's up it's solid.I mounted the control box, batteries and solar power panel on a pole. Florida sun keeps it well charged. Once that was done, mounted the arm on the gate and mounted the zombie lock. Yes, the zombie lock can be opened by someone sticking a screwdriver in there to push open the latch, but so can a normal door with the credit card trick. If you're really good with metal, you can always weld a plate over the lock so it's harder to get access to the latch.Make sure the arm's aligned well and I grease it every 2 months. No complaints at all.Two weeks ago I also bought the dual-gate opener for my other house and that installation is a little more involved. I had to cut the driveway, put a pvc pipe in and cement over it so i have something to fish wire from the other arm to the control unit without having a cord laying on the driveway. Once I did that, the same steps were involved in mounting the arm, control board, power and just hooking up the wires. The instructions are easy to handle.