The primary concern in a solar system is to provide enough solar power to accommodate the duty cycle of the system and the options that will be used with the system. The first thing to consider in a solar application is the number of cycles per day that the gate is going to be expected to operate. Once the number of cycles is determined, use the following equation to find the solar requirements of a basic Apollo gate operator including the standard receiver. This is a conservative equation estimating that for every 5 watts of solar you will obtain a minimum of 10 cycles of power will be put into the battery. A minimum of 17.5 watts would be needed to handle the duty cycles of this system.
Optional equipment is possibly even more important to consider when determining solar requirements.
Most of the time, options such as probe detectors, loop detectors, keypads, photo beams, and the like, will draw current constantly - 24 hours a day. When this is taken into account, it is likely that the options will draw more current than the operator itself. The first step in calculating solar needs will be to determine the current draw of each and every option that is going to be added to the operator. This is to include any optional radio equipment as well. These values may be obtained from spec.