GC GHOST CONTROLS Solar Heavy-Duty Automatic Gate Opener Kit for Driveway Swing Gates with Long-Range Solar Gate Opener Remote - Model TSS1XP

I bought this system to replace a mighty mule 362 dual gate system that had malfunctioned. The 362 gate arms are no longer available - so I really had no way to fix the old system and looked into what would be the best replacement at a reasonable price. I like that the Ghost Controls system has a lifetime warranty, and that they are made in the USA in Florida. The install took me about 4 hours, but it greatly helped that I was a bit knowledgeable having a prior dual opener system on this same gate, and was able to use the mounting plate from that gate. This definitely saved time. I like the design of the cover for the control box where it just slides on and off. I do find it odd that you have to drill your own mounting holes in the box but it does make sense to not provide extra unused holes for water or insect penetration. One odd thing is the installation manual indicates that page 18 shows "Tools required" for install, but when you go to that page, or any other page near it, there is no mention of any tools. I needed a power drill, tape measure, tiny screwdriver (they provide one), Phillips screwdriver, 3/8" ratchet set, set of drill bits (I believe I used 1/2" and 3/8"), pick-axe for the cable from the 2nd arm and some conduit. Note that if you are going to use the plug-in transformer instead of a solar panel to provide power, you will need to provide your own 16 gauge wire for it. This gate opener works faster than the mighty mule it replaced. The arms are also a little longer, necessitating me moving the arm mounting bracket forward about 10", but this also lets the system open the gate further rather than the 90 degrees that I was limited to with the old system. You must provide your own deep-cycle battery as the gate actually runs off the battery, and the transformer keeps the battery charged. This lets the gate still operate when the power goes out. The system does have a separately purchased option to enable internet/wifi access so you can open & close via an app, but I had already come up with a way on the old gate to do this with a wifi garage door switch from Meross and that ended up much cheaper than the price of the separate Ghost Controls unit. Overall the system seems robust and moves my gate smoothly. I am happy with the purchase.

First snd foremost, I am a novice at using power tools or being handy. So installing this system seemed like it was going to be tough for me. Secondly, note that I tried a few different gate openers prior to going with Ghost Controls and I wish I would had just spent the extra $100 on the first go around and had gone with Ghost Controls. Installation I watched the videos a few times then started mentally preparing for the install. Having tried installing two other gate opener systems I wasn’t as nervous about ghost due to the installation videos and testimonials alone but I was prepared for a challenge. I first mounted the controller box and battery box to my stone posts, followed by the solar panel. See attached image. Once the boxes were installed I hooked up my batteries to the controller following the simple installation and the provided connection cable. I then connected the first gate opener, closest to the control box, and began testing the open/close functionality setting the stopping angle. Note - I fumbled around with figuring out the right placement for the mounts and actually had to move them due to the angle not giving the opener enough space to open fully. This was really the only tricky part of the install which was only tricky because my mind couldn’t wrap my head around how it was supposed to laid out. However, after seeing my mistake it was easy to just readjust and redrill the stone post holes and refasten to my stone posts. After the first opener was installed I followed the same process for the second opener drilling my holes, fastening the mount, then adding the opener. This took about 10 minutes. I then marked and drilled the opener connector to the gate using the provided mount. A simple two hole per opener, one on each gate. I then fastened the mount to the gate. This took about 10 minutes. I just left the second opener’s long cable on the ground, to be buried later when I was doing cable management. Once I had both openers installed on each gate, and their open/close positions set on the controller I then got to digging the trench for the second opener. I have 9’ gates so a quick 20’ trench using a pitch axe took a good 15 minutes due to the crushed concrete driveway. After the trench was ready I then disconnected the openers from the control panel and fed them through 3/4 conduit. This took about 5 minutes total. Once you everything was fed through I buried my conduit and then drilled the holes in the stone for the pipe connectors. This took about 10 minutes. Using a bit of liquid nails glue I dipped each screw in it and then fastened it to the stone sealing the hold and screw (see image). That was it. The install took about a total of 4-5 hours total over a Saturday and Sunday but was extremely easy and sort of fun. Instructions The instructions are simple to follow and are probably the best written that I’ve seen for openers. I tried Mighty Mule and another opener system before going with Ghost. Ghost was soooo easy to install. Speed The open and close speed is pretty quick and takes about 25 seconds. See my video for an example. This was much faster than the Mighty Mule and other opener controller I tried. Note, the far side opener will open a few seconds after the short side opener does, and will close first before the short side closes. This is to stagger the open/close functioning and normal. Options I ordered the keypad and the touch garage openers which we will secure inside a lockbox to allow easy access for anyone needing to get in while we aren’t home. They come in a few days and once everything is ready to go I’ll update this review. Overall I highly recommend this system for anyone wanting an easy to install am opener whether for a home or property. It not only works amazing, it looks exactly what I wanted and it was extremely easy, even for a novice not-so-handyman like me.

System works great. Good quality, great instructions

Easy to install. Great videos online and written instructions. It works great!!!

Best money ever spent. Works great and even worked well in very frigid weather. Very happy with this purchase.

Great product, good instructions.

Bought July 2021...charge controller on board failed Nov 2021. Contacted Tech Support and ran all their tests and proved the charge controller was not working. Sent videos. Load tested. Everything they ask for and all they do is keep responding that it should be fine. Honestly, the Tech support appears to be outsourced to someone who is reading from a script and has no actual clue as to how anything works. Just like a previous reviewer stated, their board was faulty right out of the box and it took over three weeks for him to convince Ghost to send out a replacement. Their customer service is horrible. It seems like their full intent is to completely enrage the customer so that they not only never buy another product again, but they go out of their way to tell everybody they can what an awful company Ghost Controls is. Well they succeeded.