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What to leave alone before you automate a driveway gate

Updated 7 Nov 2026. Gates.

A relay can ask a gate operator to move. It cannot replace entrapment protection, monitored sensors, or the operator's own listing.

Automating a driveway gate means sending a command the operator already knows how to receive. It does not mean rebuilding the operator's safety circuit. If a sensor blocks a convenient rule, change the rule. Do not change the sensor.

Two means for each entrapment zone

DASMA's sheet says two means of entrapment protection are required for each entrapment zone. If the operator has inherent protection built in, that counts as one means. You do not have to install both a photo eye and a contact edge when one external device, plus the inherent protection, covers the zone. The external device still has to be one the operator manufacturer has qualified. The sheet tells you to use the operator manual, or to ask the manufacturer, for the devices that operator accepts.

The same sheet says that beginning in 2016, photo eyes and edge sensors are monitored when they are the means the installation uses. The operator is built not to run if those devices are disconnected or not working. Leave that behavior alone. A relay on the pushbutton input does not satisfy the monitor, and it must not be wired so the monitor stays happy while the sensor is dead.

Where the controls may sit

The sheet quotes ANSI/CAN/UL 325 on placement. Controls intended for user activation must be at least 6 feet from any moving part of the gate. Six feet is 1.8288 m at 0.3048 m per foot. The user must also be prevented from reaching over, under, around, or through the gate to operate the controls. The sheet's exception is for emergency controls that only authorized people can use. Those may be placed in the line of sight of the gate. A phone automation does not move the required controls closer to the moving leaf.

Reset controls, after two sequential trips of the entrapment device, also have to be in the line of sight of the gate. Do not hide a reset where someone can clear a fault without seeing the gate.

People on foot need their own opening

The sheet says pedestrians must be supplied with a separate access opening, designed to promote pedestrian use. A path around the gate, or a nearby door, can be that opening. If neither exists, the installer has to create one. People should not have to pass through the vehicle leaf.

Screening, class marks, and old operators

Question 15 on the sheet says guarding or screening applies to horizontal sliding gates, vertical pivot gates, and vertical lift gates, and it points to ASTM F2200 for the construction rules. Question 16 quotes an ANSI/CAN/UL 325 instructional line for horizontal slide gates. Openings are guarded or screened from the bottom of the gate to a minimum of 6 feet above the ground so a 2 1/4 inch sphere cannot pass through the gate or the adjacent fence the gate covers. That sphere is 2.25 inches, which is 57.15 mm. If the gate is shorter than 6 feet, the sheet says to screen to the top. Question 17 says vertical pivot gates use that same 2 1/4 inch sphere, while vertical lift gates and overhead pivot gates use a 4 inch sphere, which is 101.6 mm. Question 19 says swing gates are not given the 2 1/4 inch sphere rule. The full text of ASTM F2200 is not reprinted here.

The operator should be permanently marked for the classes of use it was listed for. The sheet says any listing by an OSHA-accredited laboratory that tests to ANSI/CAN/UL 325 can satisfy that listing question. A listing on a Z-Wave relay is not a listing on the gate operator.

The sheet says that since 2000, two means of entrapment protection have been required in each entrapment zone, and it recommends replacing an operator made before 2000 because it may have no way to attach entrapment devices. Adding a radio to that older operator is not a substitute for the replacement the sheet recommends.

The sheet's speed answer says the only limit it states is that a Class I and Class II horizontal slide gate cannot move faster than 1 foot per second. That is 0.3048 m/s. The same answer says this does not apply to swing gates or to vertical pivot gates. Also follow the manufacturer's marked maximum gate weight and force. A heavier leaf than those markings allow is a question for the operator manufacturer.

Where an indoor relay does not belong

Zooz's ZEN17 specification page says installation and use are indoor only. Using one on my gate does not change that line. If the operator terminals are outdoors, an indoor-only relay is the wrong part until a qualified person designs an arrangement the listings allow. This page does not include that design, and it does not include a wiring diagram.

Warning signs have to be installed where they are visible in the area of the gate, in any gate position. Automatic close on a timer does not relax the entrapment rules. The sheet says the entrapment provisions do not depend on whether a timer is used.

The DASMA sheet is here: DASMA Technical Data Sheet 356. Have a qualified gate technician confirm the operator, the sensors, and the zones on the actual gate. Have a qualified electrician do any line-voltage work.

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