Automatic electric gate installation in Vacaville, CA. Serving Vacaville and all of Solano County, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Vacaville Custom Metal & Electric Gates provides automatic electric gate installation in Vacaville, CA for homes, ranches, business frontages and multi-tenant properties, and the part of that job most people never see is the part that matters most. Anyone can bolt an operator to a post. Making a powered gate stop safely when a child, a car bumper or a dog crosses its path is a code requirement with a specific standard behind it.
That standard is UL 325, and it requires at least two independent entrapment protection devices for each entrapment zone in each direction of travel. The operator's built-in force sensing counts as one. It cannot be the only one. We install to that requirement on every powered gate, whether we fabricated the gate ourselves or we are automating one you already own. See the full range of work on our Vacaville gate installation homepage.
Automatic Electric Gate Installation is one of our gate automation services, offered across Vacaville and Solano County.
A complete automation installation from us includes:
People usually call us about automation when one of these is happening:
We weigh the gate in practical terms, leaf weight, span, and how many cycles a day it will run. An operator sized for a residential gate and installed on a commercial entrance is the most common cause of premature failure we get called out to.
We find the nearest usable power, plan the conduit run, and confirm the trench path clears irrigation, septic and utilities. Where a run is impractical, we price a solar package instead.
The pad or bracket is set square to travel. A misaligned operator fights the gate on every cycle and wears out the gate hardware, not just the motor.
Photo eyes and safety edges are placed to cover each entrapment zone in each direction of travel, then wired to the operator's safety inputs and tested by physical obstruction.
Remotes, keypad, telephone entry or smartphone control get programmed, and we install exit detection so the gate opens automatically for a vehicle leaving.
We cycle the gate repeatedly, test every safety device by obstruction, verify the battery backup by cutting power, and show you the manual release before we leave.
Operator type follows gate type and duty cycle. Picking the wrong class is the most expensive mistake in gate automation, because it wears out the gate as well as the motor.
| Operator type | Works with | Typical use | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Articulated arm swing operator | Swing gates with thick or offset posts | Residential driveways, retrofit onto existing gates | Needs clear arc room behind the gate; wind load on solid panels shortens its life |
| Linear ram swing operator | Swing gates with conventional post placement | Residential and light commercial | Ram length limits leaf width; sloped driveways need careful geometry |
| Underground swing operator | Swing gates where nothing should be visible | Estate and historic-district entries | Drainage in the foundation box is critical; standing water ends these early |
| Slide gate operator | Roller or cantilever slide gates | Sloped or tight driveways, farms, commercial yards | Track debris and dust cause most failures; cantilever avoids the ground track entirely |
| Barrier arm operator | Vehicle control without a full gate leaf | Parking areas, yards, controlled lots | Controls traffic, not intrusion; it is not a security barrier |
We work with the operator brands that have real parts availability in Northern California, including LiftMaster, DoorKing, Viking, HySecurity and FAAC. Parts availability matters more than brand loyalty: an orphaned operator with no supply chain becomes a full replacement instead of a service call.
Automation cost is driven less by the operator itself than by what has to happen around it:
Two local realities shape how we spec automation here. The first is heat: Vacaville runs about 21 days a year over 100 degrees, and control boards and batteries live shorter lives in a hot enclosure, so we mount and shade them accordingly. The second is wind. The Delta breeze accelerates through the Cordelia gap and across open ground in Dixon most summer afternoons, and a solid infill gate is a sail. That wind load is a continuous extra load on the operator, which is exactly why we size up rather than to the minimum.
Most gate projects touch more than one of these. If you are not sure which applies, call us and we will tell you plainly, including when you need less than you thought.
You can also see every gate service we offer in Vacaville, read how we work, or get in touch.
UL 325 requires at least two independent entrapment protection devices per entrapment zone per direction of travel, and inherent force sensing is only one of them. We install photo eyes, safety edges, or both on top of the operator's own sensing, and we prove each one by physical obstruction test before handover. Gates that were not installed this way are the ones that injure people.
We answer Monday through Sunday, 24 hours a day. A dead operator does not just inconvenience you, it traps your vehicles in or leaves a commercial yard standing open all night. Competitors in this county commonly publish 8:00 to 4:30 weekday hours, which does not cover the times gates actually strand people.
PG&E outages are a fact of life in Solano County, and a gate with no backup either strands you behind it or fails open and leaves your property unsecured all night. Every automation package we install includes battery backup, and we test it by cutting mains power in front of you before we hand over the remotes.
They measured the driveway and told me a swing gate would scrape before I ever asked. Ended up with a cantilever slide instead and it has not caught once. Whole thing was welded in their shop and hung in a day.Dana R.Vacaville · Driveway gate + automation
Our old yard gate had a residential opener on it and it burned out twice in a year. They replaced it with a proper continuous-duty unit and explained exactly why the first one kept failing. Two seasons, no issues.Marcus T.Fairfield · Commercial cantilever gate
We are in the downtown historic district so the design had to be approved. They drew it to the district's standard and it cleared first time. Galvanised it before the powder coat because of the salt air.Priya S.Benicia · Ornamental iron entry gate
Conditions change city to city across Solano County, from strait salt air to dry farmland. Each page covers what is different where you are, or you can explore our service areas in full.
Usually yes. We check the frame for square and for cracked welds, confirm the hinge or roller hardware is rated for powered cycling rather than occasional hand use, and check the post footings. A gate that sags or binds by hand will sag and bind faster under power, so any structural problems get fixed first.
Every install we do includes battery backup, so the gate keeps cycling for a period on its own. Beyond that, every operator has a manual release that lets you move the gate by hand, and we show you how to use it before we leave. You can also set the operator to fail open or fail secure, depending on whether access or security matters more at your property.
One day is typical when power already reaches the gate. If we are trenching a long run, or coring through a concrete driveway, plan on two. Solar installations are usually back to a single day because there is no trench.
Solar is the standard answer, and it works well on residential and ranch gates in this area given the sun we get. A solar package needs an honest cycle count to size the panel and battery, so we ask how many times a day the gate will actually open, then size up from that number rather than down.
Yes. Remotes, keypads, telephone entry, card readers and smartphone control are all part of the same install. For multi-tenant and commercial properties, see our security gate systems with access control page.
It is when it is installed correctly, and that is the entire point of UL 325. Two independent entrapment protection devices per direction mean the gate reverses on obstruction even if one device fails. ASTM F2200 also limits the gaps in the gate itself, so fingers cannot be caught in the frame while it moves.
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