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Is Centurion D5 Smart motor any good?
- Thread starter maumau
- Start date
Geoff.D
Honorary Master
At my daughter's place, the motor has been protected with a security cradle and expanded metal mesh welded to the area around the motor to try and prevent vandalism from outside through the gate and fence. If neatly done it is not bad but if not it really looks terrible.
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R10k guy just phoned to follow up on his quote. When I said it's too expensive he offered to relook at the price.
In my mind I've decided if it's R8 500 or less I'll go for it because it's a good company and I don't begrudge him a profit - holding thumbs.
In my mind I've decided if it's R8 500 or less I'll go for it because it's a good company and I don't begrudge him a profit - holding thumbs.
That's a good idea, then they can't reach through the gate.
Easy for the shoppers to put their hands through the gate. I added about 400m of mesh to the bottom section of my gate (looks like yours) and then I'll eventually board the top part with painted or varnished plywood. The mesh is at the bottom so the dogs can see out. Pic taken with my security camera and cropped.
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R10k installer phoned and offered R9 000 so he'd come down by about 10% which isnt much so chatted for a few minutes and have agreed on R8 500 including installation.
In return for a reduced price I'll put in a good word for them on our neighbourhood WhatsApp group.
So relieved to have the security company do this because if something goes wrong one party blames the other and customer is in the middle.
Happy
In return for a reduced price I'll put in a good word for them on our neighbourhood WhatsApp group.
So relieved to have the security company do this because if something goes wrong one party blames the other and customer is in the middle.
Happy
I actually refuse to let my armed response company do anything with my alarm system and gate. They tend to have a lot of employees and you just don't know who is crooked who may point out your weak spots to their 'shopper friends'. So I have a separate alarm/gate installer to the security company.
Anyway, glad you sorted out the price.
Anyway, glad you sorted out the price.
Geoff.D
Honorary Master
Yup, no one knows how my system works except me.
They might be able to guess and surmise but they don't have first hand knowledge.
They might be able to guess and surmise but they don't have first hand knowledge.
Making me envious of your technical knowledge
I do plan on putting up a POE camera covering the gate - that's plug and play so DIY - just have to find the money.
While the gate wasn't working I set up a small Foscam indoor wi-fi camera in an open window that overlooks the driveway. The motion detector works an absolute treat. They were initially bought to keep an eye on various areas when we had alterations done and have come in so handy because you can move them around.
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Smokey mcpot
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Done
I need to do the exact same thing. Was it a simple swap out of the control unit or did you have to replace the racks and base plate as well?
gg za
Well-Known Member
I kept my existing base plate and rack in place. The D5 smart shares the base plate with the old D3 and D5.
I installed and fixed my fair share of Centurion D3's and D5s in my younger years.
Great motors. Designed by 2 brothers (1 elec eng, 1 mech eng from UCT iirc). They've done incremental improvements over the years that seem to hold the quality.
We also had test benches where we'd run diagnostics on the control boards to check what was broken - most often caps and resistors fried by ants crawling into the circuitboard housings.
Even old motors were fairly cheap and easy to overhaul when the bearings started giving in. Easily doable at home.
Our complex Centurion D5 Evo is about 5 years old.
Today it failed to operate, and I could not set the limits.
Called a tech, and he reckons the gearbox has to be overhauled as oil is leaking, and affecting the DOSS sensor.
Does this make sense, to those who know these units?
Today it failed to operate, and I could not set the limits.
Called a tech, and he reckons the gearbox has to be overhauled as oil is leaking, and affecting the DOSS sensor.
Does this make sense, to those who know these units?
Geoff.D
Honorary Master
Yes makes perfect sense. The oils seals fail, oil leaks into the sensor chamber and the motor can no longer sense where the gate is in its cycle.
Requires an overhaul by Centurion. Takes a day if you get it to them early in the morning.
Gordon_R
Honorary Master
Oil seal leak is one of the known failure modes of the Centurion D5 motor. By comparison the ET motors use a different position sensor mechanism. We have one of each in our complex (two gates), and they both have pros and cons.
Feedback:
It was an oil seal leak.
The tech took the motor away for a few hours, replaced the gearbox oil seals, and refilled the gearbox with oil.
It seems to be working 100% again, much to my relief!
Any advice regarding taking out a maintenance contract on the gate and motor?
The gate is only active at night, open during the day, so the usage is low.
But it is a large and heavy gate, and wheels and rollers do need to be checked on a regular basis, maybe annually?
I am the only resident who knows how to attend to any gate related issues, but we have not had very many in the last 5 years.
It would be handy to be able to call on someone to attend, worth paying a monthly fee for the service.
It was an oil seal leak.
The tech took the motor away for a few hours, replaced the gearbox oil seals, and refilled the gearbox with oil.
It seems to be working 100% again, much to my relief!
Any advice regarding taking out a maintenance contract on the gate and motor?
The gate is only active at night, open during the day, so the usage is low.
But it is a large and heavy gate, and wheels and rollers do need to be checked on a regular basis, maybe annually?
I am the only resident who knows how to attend to any gate related issues, but we have not had very many in the last 5 years.
It would be handy to be able to call on someone to attend, worth paying a monthly fee for the service.
Geoff.D
Honorary Master
Rather find a good local guy and get him to check, regularly say twice a year once before the rainy season and once again after.
That should be plenty.