Gate Access Control and Intercoms
Keypads, remotes, intercoms, card and fob readers, vehicle sensors and phone apps: the parts that decide who gets through an automatic gate.
An automatic gate is only as useful as the way people and vehicles get through it. Residents need a quick way in, visitors need a way to ask, and cars need a way out, while everyone else stays on the other side.
We program keypads, intercoms and remotes, and repair the keypads and remotes that stop working, on home driveway gates and on the access gates of apartment complexes, HOA entrances, warehouses and fenced commercial lots.
Entry Options for People and Vehicles
| Option | Best for | Used at |
|---|---|---|
| Keypad | Household members, regular visitors and deliveries, each with a code that can be changed or deleted | Houses for guests and deliveries; community and business gates as a backup to cards or remotes |
| Remote | Drivers who come and go every day and want the gate opening before they reach it | Houses, and residents or staff who drive in daily at communities and businesses |
| Intercom | Visitors who should be let in by someone at the house or the front desk, not given a code | Apartment and HOA entrances, offices, and houses set far back from the gate |
| Card or fob reader | Many users, each with a card or fob that can be switched off alone when that person leaves | Apartment communities and businesses with staff or tenants who change |
| Vehicle sensor | Letting cars out: the gate opens as a vehicle approaches from inside, with no code or button | The exit side of driveway, community and commercial gates |
| Smartphone entry | Opening the gate or letting a visitor in from a phone, whether at the gate or miles away | Houses, and communities or businesses managed from off site |
Few gates rely on one option alone. A driveway gate often pairs remotes for the household with a keypad for everyone else and a vehicle sensor for the way out; a community entrance may add an intercom or readers, so residents can be added and removed without changing a shared code.
Phone apps are the newest layer, and more gates now connect to one. A module wired to the operator’s control board lets the owner or manager open the gate, let a visitor in and see when it last moved, from anywhere with a signal.
Keypads and Codes
A keypad usually stands on a gooseneck post beside the drive, set back far enough that a car can stop clear of the gate’s swing. It reaches the operator by a buried wire or by radio, and depending on the model, the codes are stored in the keypad or in the operator’s receiver.
Codes are the part that changes. A household might want one code for the family and another for a dog walker; an apartment community needs one per unit, deleted when the tenant moves out. Adding, changing and deleting codes is routine programming, and each code is tried at the gate before the job is handed back.
Denver’s strong sun is hard on keypads. It fades the numbers, stiffens rubber buttons and clouds plastic covers, so a keypad facing south or west can wear out long before the operator does. A worn keypad can be replaced on its own.
Why won’t my keypad code open the gate anymore?
If the keypad lights up and beeps but the gate stays shut, the code may have been erased, which can happen after a power outage, a surge or a control board replacement. If it shows no sign of life at all, look to the power, the wiring or the keypad itself. Codes can be reprogrammed, and a failed keypad can be replaced without changing the opener.
Remotes, Receivers and Range
A gate remote is a small radio transmitter programmed to the operator’s receiver. Adding a remote for a new driver, or erasing one that was lost or kept by a former tenant, is done at the receiver, and a whole set can be cleared and reprogrammed when a property changes hands.
When a remote stops working, the fault can be in the remote, the receiver or the wiring between the receiver and the operator. Keypad and remote repairs usually come down to one of those small parts rather than the operator itself.
Why does my remote only work close to the gate?
A weak battery is the first suspect, and a cold Denver morning drains one faster, so try a fresh battery before anything else. If the range stays short, the receiver’s antenna may have been bent, moved or hidden behind metal, or other radio equipment nearby may be drowning out the signal. Both are worth ruling out before buying new remotes.
Questions to Settle Before Upgrading Entry
A few answers decide which entry system suits a gate:
- Who needs access: the household or residents, staff, regular deliveries, and police, fire and ambulance crews
- How many users there are, and how often the list changes as people move in, move out or change jobs
- How visitors will get in: a code they are given, a call to an intercom, or access sent to their phone
- How the new parts will link to the existing opener, and whether that opener is near the end of its life
- Where a keypad, reader or intercom can stand, and how power or a signal will reach it
Photos of the opener’s control box and of any keypad or receiver already in place, emailed to manager@speergatesdoors.com, show what the new parts have to connect to.
Adding Access Control to an Existing Gate
What it takes depends on what is already there. A wired keypad, reader or intercom needs a cable from its post to the operator, sometimes run under a drive or a walk, while many wireless keypads run on batteries.
Can access control be added to my existing gate?
Usually. On an automatic gate, a keypad, intercom, reader or vehicle sensor connects to the operator, and the gate itself stays as it is. A gate that opens by hand needs an operator first. A motor can only run a gate that hangs level and moves easily, so a sagging leaf or a dragging roller is worth repairing at the same time.
Will a phone app work with my current opener?
Often, if the opener’s control board has the inputs an app module needs and there is a steady Wi-Fi or cellular signal at the gate. An older opener may lack those connections, or be near enough to replacement that changing both at once makes more sense.
Keypad, Intercom and Remote Work
Call (720) 780-9549 or send a request with the gate type, the entry it has now and what you would like it to do. An entry system that has left a gate stuck shut, with residents unable to get in or out, is a job for urgent gate service.
