want<\/em> to slow the operator arm down, implying that their product wasn’t flawed, but I as a customer just wasn’t using their product properly.
I thought about ways to slow down the motor, such as adding a resistor, but who knows whether the higher current would trip the stall force sensor.\u00a0 I also thought about using a PWM controller, but that might cause yet other issues.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIt got to the point that the gate and its opener became one, big, unfixable problem<\/strong> – I was out there screwing around with it every couple of weeks, and I detest unfixable problems that just endlessly suck more and more of my time away.<\/p>\nThen, in mid-January, someone tried to push the gate open with the bumper of their car.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nTo this day, we still don’t exactly know what happened, but when my wife tried to leave that morning, the gate was ajar and refused to open.\u00a0 Upon further inspection, the operator arm now had a 30 degree hook in it, and obviously was incapable of completely actuating.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Feb-Bent-571-Arm-450x600.jpg\")
Well… THERE’S your problem!<\/p><\/div>\n
After some digging, we found that, although it wasn’t caught on camera, there was a slight bumper-shaped indentation on the gate, and there was other evidence that someone tried to tamper with it.\u00a0 We filed a police report, but nothing ever came of it.<\/p>\n
I un-clipped the arm from its mount, and set about replacing the arm – after all, the entire system was only 6 months old, and the technology was now current, so SURELY I can get a replacement.\u00a0 Sure, for almost $400 !!\u00a0 Let’s recap – I spent $450 on an ENTIRE new system less than 6 months ago, that came with a (useless) box, a board, an arm, and a mounting kit, but JUST the arm is $400???<\/p>\n
It was obvious that I needed to go in a different direction.\u00a0 The old saying comes to mind, “the definition of insanity is repeating the same process expecting a different outcome.”\u00a0 It was now completely clear to me that I would have to be insane to re-invest in Mighty Mule.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/span>Researching a Better Option<\/span><\/h2>\nThere are several options available, but many appear to be Chinese clones of American products, including one with a “touching” story about how their company was founded by an engineer named Mike who invented the gate opener because he saw his frail, elderly mother struggling with the gate every day (!).\u00a0 Eliminating these one by one, the top two remaining options seem to be Mighty Mule, which we know to be a poor option, or Ghost Controls<\/strong>.<\/p>\nBefore buying, I spent a few weeks researching Ghost Controls, because I didn’t want to end up right back to where I started, with an intolerable solution, and quite frankly, after months on-end of messing with the gate opener, I just didn’t feel like messing with it for a while.<\/p>\n
Both products have similar specifications and similar price points, but I wanted to make sure I could drop the new solution in – or at least to a reasonable degree.\u00a0 I also wanted to make sure the Ghost product wasn’t going to destroy my gate, and that replacement parts are available at a reasonable price.<\/p>\n
My gate is about 15 feet wide, made of welded tube steel, and is probably well over 400 lbs.\u00a0 Although both the Mighty Mule 571 and the Ghost Controls LSM-1 have similar specifications, and despite the fact that the MM 571 is a direct replacement for the older MM 560 that I had originally, the quality of the MM 571 was severely lacking, and it was obvious that my gate was at the top end of what it was capable of handling.<\/p>\n
Each of these products has a weight chart.\u00a0 Although 15′ isn’t listed, we can average the max weights corresponding to 14′ and 16′.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n| MM 560<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/manual-Mighty-Mule-560-weight-chart-300x166.png\") <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
\n(550 + 450) \/ 2 = 500 lb. at 15′<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| MM 571<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n | \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/manual-Mighty-Mule-571-weight-chart-300x158.png\") <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n| (550 + 450) \/ 2 = 500 lb. at 15′<\/strong><\/p>\n (Same as the older MM 560)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n| Ghost LSM-1<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n | \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/manual-Ghost-LSM1-weight-chart-300x200.png\") <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n\n\n\n\n| (600 + 500) \/ 2 = 550 lb. at 15′<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Although the MM 560 and MM 571 are rated the same, and the MM 560 never had a problem, my gate was almost too much for the MM 571 to handle because of the fast opening speed and poor quality of the arm.\u00a0 Despite the Ghost LSM-1 being rated 50 lb. heavier at 15′, I opted for the much heavier-duty Ghost Controls HDP-1<\/strong>:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/manual-Ghost-HDP1-weight-chart-300x244.png\") (700 + 600) \/ 2 = 650 lb. at 15′<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\nHere is a visual comparison of the MM 571 next to the HDP-1:<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Feb-Arm-Comparison-450x600.jpg\") The motor casing on the Ghost HDP-1 is much larger than the MM 571. Also, like the older MM 560, the extension arm of the Ghost is made of much thicker metal than the MM 571.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Installation<\/span><\/h2>\nThere were some challenges installing the Ghost Controls HDP-1<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Challenge: Mounting the Arm<\/span><\/h3>\nWhen the gate was pushed in, not only did it bend the arm, it also bent the mounting bracket I had originally made for the old MM 560 on the one occasion where I had to fix it because it wasn’t originally mounted properly.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Feb-Bent-Bracket-2-600x450.jpg\") <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n This part bolts to a piece of steel tube, which is then bolted to the gate.<\/p>\n Fortunately, I was able to use the MM 571 gate bracket, upside-down, to connect the Ghost HDP-1.\u00a0 The only thing this required was slightly over-boring the mounting holes that were already present in the square metal tube.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Apr-Gate-Arm-600x450.jpg\") <\/p>\n
On the other end, I had to chop off the lip of the old MM mounting bracket, which someone had kindly WELDED, and then bore out the center.\u00a0 I spray painted it with high-temp paint.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Modified-MM560-Bracket-1-450x600.jpg\") <\/p>\n
The shoulder of the Ghost operator arm sits on top of this, and is bolted through the top.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Challenge:\u00a0 No Battery Box<\/span><\/h3>\nLike the MM 571 TS (Tractor Supply model), the Ghost control box has no place to mount any batteries, and doesn’t come with an external battery box.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Feb-Ghost-Control-Box-2-1-450x600.jpg\") <\/p>\n
So, once again, rather than mess around with a separate battery box, I opted to re-re-use the MM560 control box, which has storage for two batteries.\u00a0 \u00a0While the MM 560 and 571 could run off of one battery with an optional second, the Ghost controller requires two, even though they are wired in parallel.\u00a0 I suspect that I could run from a single cell, but the MM 560 box accommodates two, so that works out nicely.<\/p>\n When I mounted the MM 571 board in the MM 560 control box, the mounting holes in the newer control board happened to line up.\u00a0 \u00a0But, in the case of the Ghost board, the mounting holes were much different.\u00a0 I took some acrylic sheet stock and built a mounting bracket that mounts to the box using the MM 5xx bolt pattern, and to the Ghost board using the Ghost board’s bolt pattern.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Bracket-Dimensions-450x600.jpg\") The 4mm holes (circled) correspond to the mounting studs inside the MM 560 control box. The 3mm holes correspond to the mounting holes on the Ghost control board.<\/p><\/div>\n I used a 24 TPI blade on my band saw to cut the bracket out, and drilled the holes on my drill press.\u00a0 I did a dry fit in the MM 560 box to ensure everything would fit properly.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Bracket-Dry-Fit-450x600.jpg\") Fortunately, even before I drilled any holes, I did an alignment check, to make sure everything would fit. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the entire bracket is shifted to the left slightly. This is because the original (horizontally-centered) hole placement caused the bracket to overlap the right-hand battery compartment. I simply erased the original hole marks, and shifted them to the right.<\/p><\/div>\n Since the Ghost control board has bottom-mounted components, I skeletonized the bracket to prevent overheating.\u00a0 I used a dremel to perform the inside cuts.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Bracket-Finished-600x450.jpg\") <\/p>\n
I used 2.5mm x 10mm stand-offs to mount the board to the bracket, again, because of the bottom-mounted components, and to prevent overheating.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Bracket-Ghost-Board-Mounted-2-600x450.jpg\") <\/p>\n Here is the Ghost board in its final position inside the MM 560 control box.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Ghost-Board-Mounted-450x600.jpg\") <\/p>\n
Because the Ghost control board has components on both sides, the distance from the top of the board to the tallest component is shorter than the original MM board, leaving enough clearance for the MM control box to close without contacting any components.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Peek-through-top-of-MM560-Box-450x600.jpg\") Looking through the top of the MM control box, the board is mounted on the left, and the lid attaches from the right. There is plenty of room for that capacitor, which is the tallest component on the Ghost control board.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Challenge:\u00a0 Migrating Other Components from the Ghost Control Box<\/span><\/h3>\nOther than the board itself, the Ghost control box also contains a power switch, an alarm beeper, and a small antenna interface board.<\/p>\n The switch was a different size and shape, so I opted to keep the MM’s power switch and splice the wire and connector.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Ghost-Switch-450x600.jpg\") I cut the original Ghost switch off, and added female spade terminals to the Ghost’s connector.<\/p><\/div>\n When I mounted the 571 board in the 560 back in August, I had added male blade connectors to the power switch so that I could extend the wiring from the 571 control board.\u00a0 These male blades now connect to female blades on the Ghost’s power switch wire, which has the original connector.<\/p>\n The speaker and its connector were identical to that of the MM 560, but I opted to go ahead and install the Ghost one anyway.\u00a0 The component mounts inside the case, held in place with a screw-on bezel that attaches underneath.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Ghost-Speaker2-2400-600x450.png\") <\/p>\n
The Ghost’s antenna connects to a small board, and the board has a cable which connects to the main control board.\u00a0 And, look at that!\u00a0 Ghost used a\u00a0standard coax<\/strong> connector, instead of MM’s RP-SMA piece of crap.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Ghost-Antenna-2-450x600.jpg\") <\/p>\n
The antenna board mounts inside the case, the female coax connector protrudes through the bottom, and is affixed by the nut and lock washer.<\/p>\n Here is the board, mounted, with the power switch, speaker, and antenna board connected:<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Ghost-Antenna-Board-Mounted-450x600.jpg\") <\/p>\n
One thing I really like about the design of the Ghost’s control board is that all of the chips and other sensitive bits are bottom-mounted, which makes it much less likely for a screwdriver slip to be catastrophic.\u00a0 This is a nice little attention to detail, that lends to my overall opinion that the Ghost product is well-designed and well-built.\u00a0 It even came with a “Ghost”-branded, reversible mini screwdriver that fits the screw terminals, and also the adjustment pot for the stall force sensor!<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ghost-Screwdriver-600x208.jpg\") <\/p>\n
Again, it’s not that the screwdriver is super nice nor super expensive, it’s the attention to detail.\u00a0 Someone thought ahead and knew that a normal household screwdriver won’t fit the narrow screw terminals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Final Challenge:\u00a0 Connecting Everything<\/span><\/h3>\n…And then, the rest…<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Mar-Ghost-Final-450x600.jpg\") <\/p>\n
The factory battery harness was similar to the one that came with the MM 571, but unlike MM, Ghost doesn’t threaten to void your warranty if you modify it.\u00a0 Since the Ghost uses two batteries, I added a second set of blade terminals.\u00a0 I was already using 5-position lever nuts as a poor man’s bus, so I already had an open slot for the extra pigtail.<\/p>\n With some testing, I got the magnetic REX (Request to EXit) sensor from the MM to work with the Ghost, but I extended the wires a little bit so that the wiring would fit more cleanly in the space between the two batteries.\u00a0 The sensitivity is adjustable via\u00a0 a pot, and I initially set the sensitivity way down, because I wasn’t sure what to expect.\u00a0 After a week or so, we discovered that my wife’s truck would trigger the sensor, but my son’s car would not.\u00a0 I set the sensitivity to about half, and haven’t had a problem since.<\/p>\n Connecting the arm via its dedicated cable was no problem.\u00a0 It attaches to the second terminal block from the bottom.\u00a0 The bottom terminal block is for a second arm, if you have the HDP-2, which is designed for a double-gate system.\u00a0 Again, a nice, thoughtful detail is that they use the same control board for both systems, so if I wanted to convert to a double-gate later, all I have to do is buy the extra arm.\u00a0 While the older MM-560 had connections and components for two operator arms, the MM-571 did not.\u00a0 Even though the MM-572 (double-arm) uses the same board, the components are simply missing from the MM-571’s control board.<\/p>\n Unlike the MM’s power brick that runs on DC, the Ghost’s power brick runs on AC – again, a nice little detail that makes it impossible to wire the power brick backwards.\u00a0 So I removed the MM power brick, and installed the Ghost’s brick inside the electrical box.<\/p>\n The final step was to connect the Raspberry Pi WiFi controller that I had built for the old system, and the Ghost has similar terminals to accommodate that connection.\u00a0 Initially, I had wired the “hold” pin on the Pi to the “cycle” pin on the board, but that was easy to fix.<\/p>\n At this point, I was ready to test.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nAnd… it didn’t work.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Challenge:\u00a0 Troubleshooting<\/span><\/h3>\nAt first I thought the power brick wasn’t connected, but the multimeter showed the right voltage all the way to the screw terminals on the control board.<\/p>\n I thought that maybe the 2nd battery – originally purchased 7 years ago for my fish finder – was low or dead, but it seemed fine, although a little under-charged.<\/p>\n Then, I discovered that the 1st battery that had been powering the 571 was now as dead as Shia LaBeouf’s acting career.<\/p>\n So…funny story.<\/p>\n The original battery for the MM 560 was a “Mighty Mule” branded 12 volt Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery.\u00a0 When it died, I temporarily ran the 560 off of my ChromeBattery that I use for my fish finder, but Mighty Mule “strongly recommends” using only “Mighty Mule” branded batteries, which provide “longer life” and “better reliability” because they can stand up to the “intense, rigorous” use of powering the gate opener.\u00a0 So, I went ahead and spent about $15 more on a “Mighty Mule” branded battery.<\/p>\n It lasted about a year, and then died.\u00a0 So again, I temporarily powered the gate opener using my ChromeBattery while I bought a replacement.\u00a0 So the one that was in there, and was now dead, is the THIRD “Mighty Mule” branded battery!\u00a0 Meanwhile, the ChromeBattery was a little low, but it charged right up.\u00a0 As I needed TWO batteries, I went ahead and bought a two pack of the ChromeBatteries, both of which I threw on the conditioner before installing them, and they are both working just fine.\u00a0 So much for the “longer life” and “better reliability” of the Mighty Mule batteries!<\/p>\n Now, with two good batteries, the control board fired right up.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Final Configuration<\/span><\/h3>\nThe open limit is predetermined – you have to mount the arm to the gate such that it’s in the correct position when opened.\u00a0 The only way to adjust this is to move the attachment point.<\/p>\n However, you must set the\u00a0closed<\/em> limit, which is configurable.\u00a0 This is accomplished via three push buttons on the control board – a much easier process than the Mighty Mule, which requires opening and closing the gate a couple of times.\u00a0 Further, you can use the jog buttons to “fine tune” the gate’s closed position.\u00a0 If it closes too tightly, it will sense stall force and swing back open, so it needs to be snug when closed, but not tight.\u00a0 Because of my redneck mounting job, there is a little bit of slop, so I opted to leave the gate open by an inch or so, so that the gate won’t bang every time it’s closed.<\/p>\nThe last thing I needed to do\u00a0inside<\/em> the control box was to program the transmitter.\u00a0 The instructions were easy to follow, and worked perfectly.<\/p>\nOn the Mighty Mule, there were two different ways to add transmitters:<\/p>\n \n- Old-style transmitters have a bank of dip switches that can be set to one of 3 positions (HIGH, LOW, or OFF), which yields 3^9 or 19,683 possible combinations.\u00a0 To add a transmitter, you simply set the dip switches to one of the combinations that has already been learned by the Mighty Mule’s control board.<\/li>\n
- New-style transmitters are digital.\u00a0 To add one, you MUST take the control box apart and press the “learn” button.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In contrast, the Ghost’s control board can only learn ONE transmitter code, and instead of the control board learning new transmitters, adding a transmitter is accomplished by having the new transmitter “learn” its code from an existing one.\u00a0 You line up the two, touching head to head, and go through a programming sequence.\u00a0 At first, I thought this was kind of awkward, but in reality, this means that you can add new transmitters without ever having to open the control box.<\/p>\n Now, let’s talk about transmitter range.<\/p>\n On a good day, with perfect line of sight, the transmitter range of the MM 560 was about 20 feet.\u00a0 The same “old-style” transmitter controlling the MM 571 is only good for about 10 feet.\u00a0 To my surprise, the Ghost transmitters are good for almost 200 feet!<\/strong>\u00a0 Although I can’t use it inside the house, I can walk a short distance from the car port, and it works very consistently.\u00a0 Sometimes, I can even get it to work underneath the car port.\u00a0 I could probably boost the range slightly by adding a coax extension, but it’s really not even necessary.\u00a0 The other nice thing is that you can click the transmitter even before you pull in to the driveway.\u00a0 With the 571, you had to be ALL THE WAY IN the driveway, and might have to get out of the car to get it to work.<\/p>\nGhost has three types of transmitters, that are all interoperable:<\/p>\n \n- The “basic” controller has two main buttons and a learn button.\u00a0 The two buttons operate independently – for example, if you have a second Ghost system, it can be programmed to the second button.\u00a0 The “learn” button allows the transmitter to learn its code from another working transmitter.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ghost-Transmitter-3-button-300x208.png\") <\/li>\n - The waterproof controller is just like the basic one, except… waterproof.\u00a0 This is intended for people who ride bicycles or motorcycles, and might have the transmitter mounted where it could get splashed or rained on.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ghost-Transmitter-Waterproof-300x175.png\") <\/li>\n - The “premium” controller has all of the buttons of the basic controller, but also has two more buttons:\n
\n- A “test” button allows you to test the gate controller – it beeps indicating readiness status – without having to open the control box.<\/li>\n
- A “party mode” button allows you to hold the gate open until you disable it.\u00a0 This is intended to allow guests to come and go without operating the gate, but would also be convenient if you have someone working on your house or delivering something.
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ghost-Tranmitter-5-button-300x211.png\") <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nOne of the really nice features of the Mighty Mule system was the keypad, which is mounted to a post outside the gate.\u00a0 This provides a convenient way to open the gate if you’re expecting guests (you can program guest codes) or if you forget to bring a transmitter.\u00a0 Inside, the keypad uses the same set of dip switches as the “old style” transmitters, so all you have to do to set the code for the keypad to one of the existing codes that the control box knows about.<\/p>\n Fortunately, Ghost makes an equivalent keypad, and I was able to mount it to the same post – although the screw holes didn’t line up, a drill easily fixed that, and I used some E6000 glue to waterproof the factory screw holes.\u00a0 Programming the keypad works just like adding a transmitter – you hold up an existing transmitter to the “programming” slot on the keypad and push a few buttons.\u00a0 Like the Mighty Mule, the Ghost’s keypad supports multiple codes, guest codes, and temporary codes, and even allows you to trigger “party mode” (gate held open) from the keypad.\u00a0 There is also a “one touch” party mode that can be activated from the keypad, which allows guests to enter without a code by pressing one button.<\/p>\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ghost-Keypad-219x300.png\") <\/p>\n
Once I got the keypad installed and configured, I was all set!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h2>\nThe original Mighty Mule 560 worked great.\u00a0 It was reasonably reliable, and other than poor installation (which isn’t the product’s fault) and a couple of dead batteries, we never had a problem with it.<\/p>\n The Mighty Mule 571, billed as a direct replacement, is of MUCH lower quality.\u00a0 It’s impossible to say whether this is due to acquisition, outsourcing, or the inevitable drive to maximize profit by lowering costs.\u00a0 It’s also impossible to tell whether the poor quality of the MM 571 is reflected in all of Mighty Mule’s currently-supported products, or if it’s just this one – presumably one of the most popular models.<\/p>\n I think that if I had a “normal” farm gate, which seems to be Mighty Mule’s sweet spot, I don’t think I would have had so many problems with the stall force, but there is no way to address the poor transmitter range.<\/p>\n So far, I’m very happy with the Ghost Controls HDP-1.\u00a0 The build quality is far superior, and you can see thoughtful elements in both the product’s design as well as the packaging (e.g. including a screwdriver for the screw terminals).\u00a0 So far, I have had no issues, other than having to increase the sensitivity of the magnetic sensor.<\/p>\n Hopefully, this is the END of the gate saga.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span>Having Two Buttons<\/span><\/h3>\nOne thing I like about the two-button transmitters is that they really represent two levels of\u00a0authorization<\/em>.\u00a0 Although having two gates is a simple example, if they are not within range of each other, you could simply use only the one transmitter code, because both controllers can independently learn the same code.\u00a0 However, let’s say that you have an outer and inner perimeter, and you want one group of people to be able to operate only the outer gates, and you want another group to be able to operate both.<\/p>\nFor example, if you operate a large ranch, you probably have several perimeter fences and buildings, and you want your ranch hands to be able to come and go as needed.\u00a0 However, your personal residence might have a set of gates that are keyed to a second transmitter code.\u00a0 If someone has a transmitter with the second button programmed, they can get in and out of every gate, including those surrounding the residence.\u00a0 If they have a transmitter whose second button has not been programmed, they can go anywhere except<\/em> the personal residence.<\/p>\nAnother example would be to segregate “regular” and “VIP” parking.\u00a0 Regular folks get only the first code, while VIPs get both.<\/p>\n Another use case for the second button is if you have access to a second system.\u00a0 For example, if you have a parent or sibling who also has a Ghost gate opener – your second button can be programmed to use the other system’s code.<\/p>\n Although this can also be accomplished with the Mighty Mule’s new-style multi-button transmitters, this requires opening the case rather than simply having one transmitter learn the code from the other.\u00a0 I think Ghost’s design is clever in that regard.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After 7 months of continuous issues, I think I finally beat the problems with the front gate, but the way I did it might surprise you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7319"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7810,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7319\/revisions\/7810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justinparrtech.com\/JustinParr-Tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} 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