Gate motor battery near me: tested, supplied and fitted

Most domestic motors take a sealed 12 V lead-acid battery of 7 to 8 Ah; heavier and 24 V motors take two. These are the standard batteries in the makers' own specifications:

The voltage must match the motor. A bigger capacity of the same voltage is often fine, and Centurion notes that a larger battery gives longer standby, but it has to fit the housing and the charger. If you're not sure what's in yours, send us a photo of the battery's label on WhatsApp.

Every maker publishes a figure, each measured its own way, so they aren't directly comparable:

• Centurion D5-Evo, 7 Ah battery, 4 m gate, beams not counted: 44 operations over half a day, 35 over a full day.
• Centurion D10, two 7 Ah batteries: 87 over half a day, 69 over a full day; a 35 Ah battery takes that to 507 over half a day.
• ET Drive 500 and 600: about 100 openings in the 24 hours after a power failure, on a 5 m gate that rolls freely.
• ET Drive 300: about 100 openings in 24 hours on a 4 m opening.

All of them depend on a healthy, fully charged battery and a gate that moves easily. A stiff gate, beams and keypads drawing current, and back-to-back outages that never let the battery recharge all cut the number, sometimes sharply.

Centurion says its maintenance-free batteries should give at least three years of normal service. In practice, heat, frequent deep discharges in long power cuts and a charger that isn't working properly all shorten that.

A battery that has been run flat isn't necessarily finished: the motor's own charger recharges it. ET's advice after a low-battery warning is to leave the mains on for at least 8 to 10 hours without interruption before checking again. If it still can't hold a charge after that, it's time for a new one.

• A low-battery signal: three flashes every two seconds on a Centurion D5-Evo or D10, four flashes and a pause on an ET Drive, three on a Gemini, or Bat on a Drive 300's display.
• A motor that stops in the first hour of a power cut, or manages only a few openings.
• A gate that moves slowly or stops part-way, even with the mains on.
• Corrosion on the terminals. Centurion's maintenance list says to check for it and clean it off.
• The motor shuts down and won't run until the power returns. Centurion's Battery Low Protection closes the gate and switches off below 10.5 V on a D5-Evo.

If the battery is new and these signs persist, the charger, its fuse or the supply to it may be the fault instead. Battery not charging goes through those checks.

The battery sits inside the motor housing, beside the charger and, on many models, the mains connection. Centurion warns that the housing can contain high voltages, and ET says the mains must be switched off before the battery is taken out. Anything on the mains side is a job for a registered electrician; changing the battery itself is a quick job for us.

When we replace one, we test the old battery and the charger first, so you only pay for a battery when the battery is the problem, and fit one of the right voltage and size for your motor. All our spare parts are genuine, and every repair carries our six-month guarantee on our repairs.

An old battery mustn't go in the household bin: ET asks for it to be handed in at a battery merchant for safe disposal. What the job involves, step by step, is in our guide to replacing a gate motor battery.

Lithium (LiFePO4) batteries are sold as upgrades for gate motors: lighter, and able to take more deep discharges than lead-acid. They cost several times more, and the motor's charger has to suit the battery's chemistry, so it's a choice to make with your model in mind rather than a straight swap. More on choosing a battery for load-shedding is in the load-shedding guide.

Prices checked October 2026. These are the market's prices. Your exact price is set in a free quote before any work starts. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies.

We test and replace batteries in 21 areas across Johannesburg, the East Rand and Centurion.