Ghost Controls TSS1XP Heavy-Duty Solar Single Automatic Gate Opener Kit for Swing Gates Up to 20 Feet (ft.)

I bought the gate opener, the lock, an extra remote and two cordless keypads for guests coming and going. It wasn't too bad installing. Here are some tips. First, i built my support columns out of 6x6 wooden posts buried 2 feet in concrete. They recommend installing the opener with posts but I wrapped the posts in salvaged stone I cut with a grinder. To affix the opener and lock I built out the posts with chunks of 4x4 as pictured. That way I could screw into wood rather than stone which I thought might not hold. The posts took about 12 hours and I am a general contractor. On the lock side i had to leave room in the stone for the zombie lock to grab hold of the stationary vertical bolt it grabs as it extends beyond the gate and my gate closes close to the stone. They say not to put a wheel on the gate which i understand in most situations. However, my driveway runs downhill and the wheel only touches ground just before the gate closes. With a wheel, my gate support post has the weight taken off it and the zombie lock glides in perfectly every time. Beneath the wheel right where the gate closes I poured some mortar flush to the ground into a small depression i dug. That way the wheel does not wear a groove into the ground defeating its purpose of gate support. Where the wheel attaches to the gate and where the arm attaches to the gate, you must bolt through everything or the wheel will rotate up and the arm will slide. If the arm slides just a little the gate will not keep shutting correctly. I thought the wiring would be hard but it was easy. The instructions were pretty good but i watched some videos on you tube. Programming remotes and keypads took longer than i would like. After you get it, its easy, but it does take a while.. The instructions they provided with the keyless pad for guests included an addendum i did not see at first. The addendum explained the programming of the keypad whereas the original instructions did not. That drove me mad for an hour and a half so i called customer service. They got back to me the next day but by then i had figured it out. It took a little while to find the buttons in the control box you must press when you first teach the opener how far to open and close. Also, that first week, my gate was smetimes just barely hitting the stone when it closed. So occasionaly it would have to stop short of closing. When it did that it would jump back a foot and stay there. It took me a while to figure out that's what it does when it hits an object while closing. Anyway, the gate was real work - mostly the stone I wanted and it took a while to iron out all of the above issues. But it has been working to perfection now for weeks and oh what a pleasure not to get out of the truck especially in the rain. I highly recommend it. A cut above the low end openers with fewer options.. Lastly, this gate, yours too, is simply a privacy feature. If somebody breaks through it I know what to do. It can easily be defeated with a wrench. You just have to unbolt the arm from the gate. Same with the lock. If somebody dislikes you they can snip the electrical control cord or steal your battery or smash the control box. All very unlikely but thats the reality. One year later or thereabouts the gate is still working great. I am.happy with it. On several occasions over the year, maybe 6 times, it has done something weird like close and then open back up partially when i have gone. At first I tried reprogramming it. Later, i just unhooked it from the battery and it seemed to reset itself and operate properly again. It just gives me peace of mind, and stops the door to door marketers and others i don't want from coming to my house especially when I am not home. So a couple glitches here and there is tolerable. Anybody can open this gate by removing a pin from the hydraulic piston that closes it, but if they do that, they understand why i have a gun in my hand when they show up. Haven't needed to do that, which is why i love the gate. Update: five years later.... the board eventually malfunctioned which I replaced. I consider that acceptable wear and tear. The arm malfunctioned 6 months later. They sent a new one for free. That felt pretty damn good. You can make appointments with tech support and they take good care of you. I am totally satisfied.

System works great. Good quality, great instructions

Sooo nice to not have to manually open gate in the winter. Great purchase no issues a year in

I had to replace a failed GTO unit; failing completely twice. I use it on a single 16 foot tube gate. I was utterly shocked to see that this gate package has lasted over 3 1/2 years! I was always replacing circuit boards (TWO) plus a circuit board in the arm. The small batteries are also a problem but they are common to all manufacturers. I upgraded the battery to one MUCH larger for $130 with a three-year guarantee vs ONE year. The integrated charger handles it well. This was simple to install but the power gate latch was different. It needed a Zombie lock but many people won't need or want that. I could have used the same solar panel but I used the new one supplied and put it 130 feet away, which worked great! I THOUGHT that I needed a new circuit board and they sent a new one FAST but it turned out I was wrong and this one has lasted 3 1/2 years. HOORAY! I really like the circuit board box because it is so easy to open by just sliding the cover up instead of unscrewing and usually losing a few of the 4 screws in the grass. I also bought a keyboard that is mounted on another post near the gate, so the gate can be opened without a remote. It can also be programmed for visitors to get in. I also bought a second remote for another vehicle. It has soft close and open and can be easily set to stop at the right place. The only minor thing I don't like is that the clamp that holds the arm to the gate moves around which was easily fixed by putting a screw through it and the gate. I AM THRILLED WITH THIS GATE OPENER!

Have had it for 2 years on 16 ft farm gate. Used a marine battery at first and then turned around and added the Ghost Battery box recently. Also added on the numerical keypad and an extra remote right from the get go. Took us 4 months to install the main gate because my husband was afraid of it. You know ... that brain block thing. Once he finally installed it, he wondered what took him so long. It was actually easy. We have had issues with our 10w solar panel twice. We are thinking the tree we had it attached to just grew and the panel was too much in the shade. We cut limbs around the panel and now it gets more full sun. We still do not seem to ever get a steady stream of voltage from the solar panel. The top green light in the box is always blinking. We are not sure if it is our underground wire we chose or if our solar panel is going bad. We have an additional 10w panel on the way and we plan on installing it in parallel to our original panel as per Ghost instructions. (do not install a second panel in series.). We are hoping this will help us get full voltage on our charge and keep our batteries charged even on less sunny days. Will update at a later time. We used tech support once when some glitch happened after a year and they easily walked us through the issues. I cannot even remember what it was but it was a simple reset. They were kind, helpful, and patient. Overall ... 2 years now and still going strong. I could easily recommend this system. We got an extended warranty, 4 years, through Amazon just to be safe. UPDATE 6/1/22 Turns our our motherboard is faulty after 2.5 years. It will not take the voltage from the solar panels and keep the batteries charged. I believe our solar panel went bad too. We are out of our Ghost warranty period, but purchased a 4 year extended warranty. UPDATE 6/20/22 It took us about 6 weeks to go through the warranty process, but Asurion found in our favor and we received a full refund. We ended up using that money to purchase a new motherboard thru Ghost Controls & a new solar panel and we are up and running again. We have had good success with the extended warranties so keep that choice in mind.