Time Out To Catch Up!

Has been a busy 2-3 months since the last update.  Taking a break to catch up.  Items are in logical order rather than sequential.  Besides, who would do anything in sequential order????  That's illogical!!

General "Stuff"

Yup!  The wind blows now and then!!  Snapped a steel guy wire.  Fixing this mess cost a days work!

The wind storm must have been a pretty strong micro-burst.  Snapped a lot of dead standing trees.  This is a sample of the mess.

Building Site

Wood cutters have been busy working around the building site.  So far have removed 5-6 cords of wood just around the building site.  Starting to open up the views nicely!

Finishing Up The Main Entrance Gate

It works, but I can't stand the mess!!

Nothing to do but strip it all out and start over!

The only thing not redone was the RF transmitter (grey box).

Reposition the control switches and add some terminal strips.

Reposition the control circuit board. 

Add 12VDC photo-electric eye so gate lights only come on at night.

Oops!  Focus found the bar, not the relay sockets!  Anyway, these sockets hold relays that operate, and time, the gate lights at night.  One relay for incoming activity, and one relay for outgoing activity.

Re-wiring complete!  Still a lot of wire, but at least not a bird's nest now!!

Now a nice clean installation!!  The rolled up blue/white wire in the back is a spare pair from the keypad for future use.

If you are interested in the 'techy' stuff, here is how it all works. (Look at the sheet called "Lighting & Control Wiring") [NOTE: In order to magnify the drawing enough to see the detail, you will need to be using the current version Internet Explorer.]

Now get all the light fixtures installed.

Take the roof off of the 'birdhouse', and add small light to illuminate the keypad housing at night when someone drives up to the gate.

For the main gate lights, cut a recess in the log to hold the wire connections, and a channel for the wire to run back down to the conduit.

Protect the wire with a wire cover down to the conduit, and fill the connections with liquid electric tape to keep them dry.  They are then tucked into the recess that was bored in the log.

 After the lights are mounted, they are sprayed with various colors and textures to minimize the visual distraction.

 The last step was to fabricate, install, and paint a cover for the front of the gate for maximum weather protection for the working parts, and electronics which are housed in the lower portion of the gate housing.

Fabricate and install two gates for Grizzly Hill Ranch

New North Entrance Gate

 Locate and dig holes for north gate posts.

 Posts are set and concreted in.

 After the posts were set and concreted in the gate was installed.

 All controls for the gate are mounted on the swing post.

 North gate completed.

 Trees cut for new road to north gate.

 New road to north gate completed.

New Main Entrance Gate

Used the same process that was used for the FIA Ranch main gate to fabricate the Grizzly Hill Ranch main gate.

Log structure was sited and holes dug.

Log structure going up.

The log structure is tied off so it can be squared and leveled to concrete the posts.

Log structure is completed.

Gate is installed, squared, and leveled.

The solar panel and RF receiver are installed on the log assembly.

Gate opener motor is installed.

Access keypad is installed.

Complete the gate controls installation.

Install signage, and project is completed.

Grizzly Hill Ranch access road was cleaned up at the same time as cleaning up and filling around the main entrance gate.