solar gate issues

[Builder]

Installed solar gate for customer 2 years ago. Replaced original batteries 2 months ago. Customer went on vacation this week and disconnected gate from closer by unlocking the arm from the closer and left gate swung open. BTW: it's a Liftmaster unit with 2) 5-watt solar panels, auto detector in the driveway, keypad at mailbox, electric lock and remotes on their vehicle visors.
A tenant who lives in a cottage on the Customer's property just came home 5pm today to find the gate swung shut and locked with the electric lock (the tenant called me to tell me). I went over and gate was in fact dead, but electric lock was locked. Turns out oil delivery truck driver pulled it shut and latched it. Yesterday, the landscapers crew was there driving up/down driveway in their gator many times cleaning up leaves. I believe all the driving up/down driveway tripped the gate and lock dozens of times causing reserve power in the batteries to be completely drained. On top of that, it's been cloudy & rainy since Christmas, so no solar trickle charging is happening. Gate owners manual says gate is good for 10-20 cycles in normal conditions. We havent had sun for 3 days.
My question is: Will batteries recharge if sun comes out, or are the 2) 5 watt panels too weak to get them going again?
If not, can these gel-type batteries be recharged? Or are they junk?
If they can be recharged, what charger should I use? My little motorcycle battery charger wouldn't recharge the ones that went dead last time, but those were much older. These were just put in service 2 months ago.

 

[Soundguy]

why abuse that very limited 'top off' charge circuit in that gate controller.

do it a HUGE favor and charge the bats with a voltage limited charger. IE.. no charge voltage over 15.

 

[hosspuller]

Does the charging system have a controller to stop charging when the batteries are at full voltage? Over charging is battery abuse too.

 

[camshawn]

We have the same type of issues with solar powered equipment at this time of year. Charge up the batteries (or swap in a charged set) with a slow charge rate as to not overheat the batteries and most likely everything will be fine until next December when we get the shortest days of the year again. A lot of solar systems do not have quite enough cells to supply the load for 3 weeks in the dead of winter and would cost too much if the extra solar cells are added. Some of our backcountry instruments have propane fuel cells to supplement the solar for the winter months.
I have dealt with this most winters here since we added a lot of solar powered sites. The battery voltage will typically drop 0.1 to 0.2 volts (12 v systems) per day starting around the end of November here in the Pacific Northwest. If the solar cells and batteries are sized right, the voltage will start to rise after solstice and be back to normal by the end of January.
Cam

 

[Pete Judd]

I also am having trouble with the solar security lights that I have around. Not much of a big deal, as I can still see pretty well in the dark. The pets set them off a lot and almost no sun here in the PNW this time of year. You might want to add a second battery bank and second solar panel, but the $ might be over kill just for a month each winter.

 

[DennisArrow]

Get another battery and swap it out for a few days with the one in the controller box. Meanwhile, put a charger that puts out a few amps on the AGM battery and bring it back up to a full charge with a load on it. Don't just put a volt meter across it; but actually test it with a load. Am sure that it should be just fine as most of these batteries can be taken down to dead at least once; but you surely do damage the lifetime of them when it happens. Next time perhaps the owner should unplug the controller panel from the battery to prevent this..........God bless......Dennis

 

[radioman]

many good suggestions here. If it was me, I'd change it to use a marine battery for more storage. I would have 2. If that battery is dead, I'd just disconnect it and put it in my vehicle that I would be driving, plug in the cigarette lighter. Everytime I drive somewhere, It would start charging up , just like trailer batteries. When its topped off, swap battery with charged one.

Sometimes you get lucky- look around - if the customer has a camper that they dont use in winter - use that as a second marine battery for winter use. After all you said they dont have problem in summer with more solar light.

 

[Soundguy]

Does the charging system have a controller to stop charging when the batteries are at full voltage? Over charging is battery abuse too.

all the gate controller boards that have a solar option I have used have a charge controller.

on those units, the cell hits the board, and then there is a seperate connection to the bat.. apollo and MM are like that anyway..

 

[birddog0304]

Used to have the same problem this time of year. Did exactly what radioman said using a marine battery. Works great. Have not had any more problems, except having to change it once after 3 yrs