Not so Mighty Mule 600 fails again.
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
- I installed this Gates That Open Mighty Mule 600 Pro about 5 years ago and it is nothing but trouble.
The manual says I should be able to cycle this 12' gate over 100 times per day. That just isn't the case. I barely use it. I find myself working on it frequently and manually operating the gate more than with the motor. It always seems to fail when it is cold or raining and I have to get out and manually close the gate anyway. I am hoping for either a permanent fix or that someone will recommend a better gate system.
I’ve also had a MM 500 series for 13 years and found them to be pretty reliable swinging a 14 foot farm gate like yours. In thirteen years the two failures that I’ve experienced have both been the Rev counter board inside the arm. The Chinese version of the board is $14 on Amazon, or $50 from MM. They take about 20 minutes to install.
Three or four of my nearby neighbors have MM units, and I can tell you that most of the problems have come from poor installation. I believe that the installation guide calls for 2 inches separation between the arm attachment point and the gate. This angle helps reduce loading when the gate starts up. A steel post in concrete like yours is best, but a treated 6” by 6” in concrete will work just as well. A 4” x 4” in dirt is bound to fail.
The hinges supplied on these large 14’ - 16’ arm gates really suck. Search for Heavy Duty, barrel type, lubricated gate hinges. Amazon has them for $36. My gate only required about 14 ounces of force to move the gate back and forth after installing these hinges, and no sag. Spend a little more time up front with the installation and the opener should run for years.
I bought the mm572W and have had NOTHING but problems. They have literally had to replace every single part except the battery! All failed within the 1st 3 months. When the circuit board failed they made me wait over 9 months for its replacement , but refused to extend the warranty for the time it could not be used! It is literally the biggest POS I've ever had. I bought this to replace the mm560, which lasted about 6 years. I have a push to oipen gate and they told me I HAD TO HAVE PUSH TO OPEN BRACKETS...So I bought them...when I finally was able to run my gate opener again after it being down for almost a year, tech support told me it was the PUSH TO OPEN BRACKETS causing me problems and to get rid of them. Log story short, it worked perfectly for about 6 months...and it is down again!!! I only use this a couple of times a day...I've just had it with their inferior products!! MM has seen pictures of my dual openers/ control board, and every other little part and piece, from every angle possible...and they say the installation is perfect...WHY ALL THE BS WITH THE FRIGGING GATE OPENER NOT WORKING THEN???
A lot of good recommendations already posted here but I will add that any gate opener is not worth the investment if you're not willing to earn a masters degree from the school of hard knocks in automatic gate opener diagnostics and repair. I'm going on 5 years on my current MM 371. The two prior to it were 12 and 6 years old, both were struck by lightning. I installed a large 10' commercial ground rod near the gate opener and grounded my field fence and tied to the ground on the control board when I installed the current opener. The last one that was struck by lightning, I also lost a fence charger that was connected to the same fence on the other side of the farm approximately 700 feet away. I went to check the fuses on the fence charger and both fuse holders were blown off the circuit board with black arc markings all over the inside of the charger. The speaker/horn on the gate opener was blown out of the circuit board. When the fence charger got hit thats what gave me the idea to ground the fence with a ground rod. Regarding the solar panel, never buy the one from MM. They're under powered and suck. They're not made of glass so if you live in the south the sun will bake that clear resin looking stuff and turn it milky white. I've been using a 25 watt, glass panel from Harbor Freight for 6 years with no issues. My next door neighbor had his father-in-law install a Ghost automatic gate opener and they have had nothing but problems with it (because they know nothing about gate openers). There is a large pot farm about a mile from me and they have a $10,000.00 gate opener on a rolling gate. That thing fails 3-4 times a year and they have to hire a security guard 24 hours a day to sit at the gate until it is repaired. The point I'm making is there is no magic brand that you can buy that will be trouble free.
IVE BEEN CHASING THIS CHANNEL AND VIDEOS FOR LIKE THREE YEARS TRYING TO FIND YOU!
Anyway I have a couple questions and I hope you can help me. so first did you get permits and an engineer sign and stamp the plans for your container shop? what size rods were they? I have a very similar design and decided to go with the helical piers after watching your video and finally got a local contractor and the rest of the work im doing myself.
Also, by the way, the solar panel they sell is inadequate. It is a 5-watt model. [12 volt] Luckily, I live in a solar electric home and realized the 5-watt bit was not powerful enough, and I found a 10-watt panel for half the price of the MM offering. It keeps my battery in great shape. Buyer beware.
The problem you have is that it is a MM, that's it. I fought mine for four years, probably took it apart fifty times and worked on it. I finally gave up and took the parts down the road to a neighbor who had one. He laughed at me, accepted the parts, said he had no problem with his [three months he'd had it at that time]. Few weeks later, I noticed his actuator arm hanging loose from his gate. Ten years later, it still is and still does not work. The opener is simply junk. Amazes me that people buy them, admitting that I did. I have told three neighbors not to buy them, all did, and all of them are trash and don't work, or only work for a short time between repairing. I went with another, better brand and am happy and have no problems, at least for the past ten years now.
Which brand ? Thanks
@@user-uy1cl9go4oexactly😂
I have had a 500 series for about five years. It drives a 600lb gate with no problem. My issue has been lighting strikes as I live in Florida. Not sure if you still have this gate opener but you did miss a few designs in the opener. It has a counter wheel that keeps track of the actuators location. And also has a stall force control on the board that’s adjustable for issues like the wind load. The weakest parts for me have been the resistor this soldered in the motor connection and the circuit board which is quite pricey considering the amount of problems they have with them.
Bought a MM571W a year ago total POS ! Nothing but problems and Tech support is non existent . 600 bucks down the toilet never again and a new board if you can even find one is around 300 more bucks ...so that BS aint happening. so looking for commercial grade opener now im done with Mighty Mule dung.
In fact that’s incorrect it does have a rev counter in the base of the armature that tells it what position is open and what position is closed
I have a brand new 371, all that effort and energy setting it up, I can open and close gate holding 2 buttons in control box , but CANNOT get the remote that came with it and a second new remote to program!! Iam FURIOUS!!!
How heavy is the gate? Maybe too heavy.
mine sucks
buy right.. get you a liftmaster 400UL with exit probe, photo eye, keypad, and 2 key phobs. for apx $2600-$3000.. If you even entertain Ghost your making the same mistake twice.
Anchor points need to be relocated to more of a triangle
It’s garbage….
I’m going with shoddy installation
The old units are crap. The new MM units are much better.
Sounds like some of these r new units ! Check the dates