Trouble Shooting the Gate Control Board
INITIAL TESTS
The first thing to check is to see if the ALIVE LED (upper left) is flashing on and off at a 1-second rate. If it is, there power to the control board and the microcontroller is operating.
The next thing to check is the battery voltage at the left end of the terminal strip on the board. This voltage should be at least 12-volts when the motor is running. If the voltage drops increasingly low as the motor runs, the battery is run down or bad and needs to be charged or replaced. It also possible that a battery terminal is corroded or the wire going to the battery is bad.
If the gate is up and will not come down, then look at the LEDs to see if any of the KEY, OPEN, or SAFETY LEDs are on. If any of these LEDs are on, the gate will not come down. The fix is to determine what external input to the board is causing the LED(s) to be on and to clear it. For testing purposes, the wire(s) going to the K, O, or S inputs can be removed to disconnect that input from the board.
The KEY and OPEN button at the left of the control board can be used for testing. When the KEY switch is on (up position), the KEY LED should come on and the gate should go up. The gate will stay up until the the KEY switch is turned off. The OPEN push button can be used to test the OPEN function. If this button is pushed when the gate is down, the gate should open and stay up until the UP-timer times out, then the gate should come down again. The gate will not respond to the OPEN button while it is coming down. This prevents unduly stressing the gate by a sudden reversal of direction.
Notice that the corresponding UP and DOWN LEDs (on the left side) turn on when the gate is commanded to move either up or down.
There are two limit switches in the gate operator. One switch closes when the gate is down, and the other closes when the gate is up. These switches must be properly adjusted so that they close just before the gate reaches the end of its travel, whether this be up or down. The UP and DOWN LEDs at the top of the right column of LEDs will light when the corresponding limit switch closes.
Relay and Motor Problems
A possible problem area is the relays and motor. This problem area can be troubleshot as follows:
When the gate is commanded to move up or down, the corresponding UP or DOWN LED (left column of LEDs) should light and the motor should turn on. If this happens but the gate does not move or moves very slowly, then the problem is in the hydraulics. Check to see if there is sufficient oil in the reservoir. If so, the pump may be leaking internally, or the oil may be leaking internally past the piston in the hydraulic cylinder. Another possible problem is that there is a blockage in the hydraulic line. This can happen at the fitting of a flow control valve (remove the fitting to check).
If the UP or DOWN LED comes but the motor does not run, the problem could be with the relays, the wiring, the motor, or with the thermally reset circuit breaker. A voltmeter is very helpful in diagnosing the problem. Use the voltmeter to the measure the voltage at the terminal strip where the blue and green motor wires attach to the board. If there is voltage at these terminals (should be at least 12-volts), then the problem must be with the motor or the wiring. A common problem is that the motor brushes have worn out.
If voltage is not present between the green and blue motor wires when the gate is commanded to move up or down the problem could be one of the relays. Note that the polarity of the blue wire will be positive when the gate is moving up and negative when the gate is moving down. The relays can be replaced by pulling them from their socket and inserting a new relay.
If the gate still does not operate correctly, further testing is needed.
There could be a problem on the control board itself. In most cases, the board can be repaired on site. To determine whether or not the board can be repaired on site or must be replaced, follow the steps below.
These steps are designed to find out what is working and what is not.
1) Does the ALIVE LED blink?
2) Do the KEY and OPEN LEDs light when the KEY switch is turned on or the OPEN button pushed?
3) Does the radio LED turn on when the radio control button is pushed?
4) Does the DOWN LED light when the gate is down and activates the down limit switch?
5) Does the UP LED light when the gate is up and activates the up limit switch?
If the answer to all of the above is yes, then most likely, the board itself is working fine.
Microcontroller Problems
If all of the tests above pass and the controller is acting strange, then the problem is most likely that the microcontroller has been damaged by lightning or static. If this is the case, the microcontroller must be replaced. This can be done on site.