Drive-Through Electrified ATV Gate

Drive-Through Electrified ATV Gate ATV S Don Church of Red Deer Alberta got tired of having to get on and off his ATV to open gates so he came up with a simple drive-through electrified gate that swings open like the doors leading to a restaurant kitchen     The gate measures 54 in wide – the size of his ATV - and is made from 1/2-in pvc tubing formed into a pair of rectanglular “swing doors” that have 14-ga non-insulated electrical house wire wrapped around them The “swing doors” swivel at the top and bottom on homemade metal brackets which attach to a 6-ft sq frame made from 1 1/4-in pvc conduit Both sides of the frame are strapped to wooden posts on either side of the gate     Church simply lets the ATV’s front wheels push the doors out of the way and drives through After the ATV has passed through the spring-loaded doors automatically swing back into place     “I have to slow down to pass through but I never have to stop ” says Church “It works great for checking cattle in my pastures Livestock won’t touch it yet my ATV can pass through without stopping The gates swing 90 degrees in each direction so there’s plenty of room to get through ”     He built the gate 3 years ago and has used it a lot “I practice rotational grazing and go through the gate at least twice a day so I’ve passed through it 500 to 600 times with no problems I’ve never had an animal get through the gate either ” says Church     He says he used 14-ga electrical wire because he already had oddball lengths of it on hand “It’s the same kind of wire used in houses and other buildings so it’s fairly pliable and easy to use ” says Church “I stripped the insulation off to expose the bare wire then soddered different lengths together as needed It took a lot of trial and error before everything worked right     “I didn’t want to drive over the bottom of the frame and possibly damage it so I dug it into the ground and covered it with soil ” he notes     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Don Church DVM RR 4 Red Deer Alberta Canada T4N 5E4 ph 403 392-0297; dchurch@platinum ca

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.