The electric gate opener that’d served faithfully for so many years just up and quit. Press the button and nada… oh well time for some diagnostics.

After opening up the controller it appeared that the battery didn’t have a full charge so I checked the solar cell’s output and that was the culprit. I’d read the output fell by about 2% per year so maybe that’s the cause. Anyway time to take things apart and inspect and replace.

First off the solar cell is 30 feet in the air on a mast along with a gate camera and the receiver. So I had to lug a bunch of tools out. The BMW makes an ideal pack mule.


The BMW and tools at the gate, mast down and gate opener off.


The top part of the mast down with the replacement solar cell and gate parts ready to install.


The old cell and the camera housing, too time to clean the lenses a bit too.