Review on Controls TSS1XP Heavy Duty Single Automatic by Reggie Hobbs

This review is for a TSS1 Automatic Gate Opener. For the impatient among us, here first: Pros: Good control lever, I like the design Decent quality hardware Easy to program the control panel Good instructions Easy to add other things (locks, vehicle sensors, manual lock/unlock buttons) Cons: A bit cumbersome to install took me almost a whole day. Honestly, it's just the nature of the animal. The control panel does not sync with the remotes installed in my older cars. $22 if you need to buy "Push to Open" brackets; I think they are overpriced. Conclusion: I love it. My neighbor (former electrical engineer) and I were thrilled with this gate opener. It's a good product for the money and I would buy it again. Installation specifics for my application: I purchased this unit to replace a completely worn out gate opener. My gate is 25 feet from the street and opens onto the street. The old opener was a "push open" model that was installed on the street side of the open gate. I removed all those old brackets and essentially did a fresh install in the "push to close" configuration. I did this because the control handle is on the outside of my gate, which gives me a slightly wider driveway. It's also worth noting that I made sure the hinges were vertical and the gate moved smoothly. I had to replace/upgrade the loops, but that's another story. Make sure you know if your gate is set to open or close. Clicking to close brackets is included in this block. They will charge you $22 for their set of push to open brackets. These brackets are two simple pieces of flat iron with three holes drilled in each, I find them overpriced. The installation instructions are some of the best I've seen, and with one small exception that I'll discuss later, it's clearly written. The process is; You mount the semicircular base assembly on a hinged fence post. This base has four holes that allow you to screw it (through or around) to a stand. The placement of this base is critical. I initially centered it on my 3" (square) post, but when the gate was fully open (it opens about 95 degrees from the closed position) it hit the edge of the strut and prevented the gate from fully opening "I reinstalled the bracket so the gate side of the bracket was flush with the post. You will then attach two flat pieces that wrap around the control arm and the semi-circle piece. There are adjustment holes on the perimeter of the semi-circle bracket that you can use You can position the hinge side of the control arm where you want it. You will need a 4 1/2" clearance between the hole where the control arm attaches and the face of the fully open gate. When I placed the arms on the first hole which gave me a clearance of >4 1/2 inches, I found that the control arm housing had hit the semi-circular bracket before the gate fully closed had closed. I was able to fix this by adjusting and welding the arms midway between the holes, which gave me the clearance I needed on either end. Note on Ghost controls: you can leave a little flatter area on this end of the stick so people don't run into the interference problem. Then, with the gate fully open, measure 35 inches from the holes on the levers. You simply mount on the goal surface where you mount the second wishbone bracket. This is my only beef with instructions; They list 35 inches on the installation diagram and never mention it again. This is a very important size as the gate needs to be positioned exactly where you want it to be "fully open" before permanently fitting this bracket as you cannot electronically adjust the open position. I clamped this mount where I thought it should be (35 inches from center) and moved on to the controller box. I installed and wired the controller box, it was very easy. Once everything was up and running I followed the excellent instructions to move the gate to the closed position. I rotated the gate several times and refined the position of the second bracket until the open gate was exactly where I wanted it. Then I welded it on, it might as well be screwed on. Finally, since my control lever is now on the outside of the gate (when it's closed), I wanted to be able to prevent it from being stolen. Ghost Controls sells a padlock pin for $33, but I bought a 1/2" hitch lock (which I prefer) for $30. The hitch lock is the perfect size for the socket in the control arm, but too small for the brackets. I drilled out the brackets to mount the new locking pin. Edited for spelling/clarity. If anything changes I will update this review.