How to open your gate manually without power

• Find the key. Almost every release is locked with a key that came with the motor. Without it, the release can't be worked.
• Clear the path, and keep children and pets back. A released gate moves freely, and on a slope it can roll on its own.
• Keep hands away from the gear and rack while you push the gate.
• Check it really is the motor. If the power's on and the motor is simply locked out or its beams are blocked, releasing it isn't needed; see gate motor not working.

D5-Evo: flip the camlock cover aside, insert the key and turn it 90° clockwise, then, holding the key, pull the access door open. Turn the release thumbwheel clockwise until the gearbox lets go and the gate slides by hand. Centurion warns not to remove the thumbwheel, since water can then get into the gearbox.

D10 and D10 Turbo: flip the lock cover down, turn the camlock key 90° clockwise and pull the release handle down.

If the motor will stay released for a while, Centurion recommends locking the access door on a D5-Evo, or latching the release and locking the cover on a D10, which keeps people out of the housing and the weather off the electronics.

Raise the lock cover, insert the key and turn it clockwise, then swing the manual override lever out 90° from the gearbox. The gate can now be moved by hand. ET places the release no higher than 1.8 m so it's within reach.

Gemini's sliders have a manual override lever, unlocked with the keys supplied with the motor. Release it to slide the gate. When you put it back, make sure it's fully home: Gemini's motors give four beeps when the gate is triggered and the lever isn't fully engaged.

Each leaf of a swing gate has its own motor, so each is released on its own.

• ET Wingo: slide the lock cover open, unlock with the key and lift the manual override lever. The leaf can then be swung by hand.
• Centurion Vantage: released by key. Each operator comes with its own set of keys, and Centurion asks for the key number to be recorded, which is worth doing now, before the day you need it.

Centurion's Sector II boom is supplied in a fail-safe mode, in which the boom pole can be lifted or lowered by hand without any tool. Where an installer has set it up to lock mechanically instead, it's overridden with a 6 mm Allen key from outside the unit. The Sector II can also be set to raise its boom by itself when the mains fails and keep it raised until the power returns, which suits some sites better than a boom stuck down.

A released motor doesn't hold the gate, so it must be re-engaged as soon as the power or the repair allows:

• D5-Evo: turn the thumbwheel back anticlockwise until it feels loose, close the access door, then slide the gate until the drive engages. Centurion says the motor should never be run before it has engaged.
• D10: reverse the release: handle up, key back.
• ET Drive: swing the lever back into its recess, turn the key back, remove it and lower the cover, then push or pull the gate until the gears click in.
• ET Wingo: lower the lever, lock it with the key and slide the cover back over the lock.

Then press the remote and watch the gate through a full open and close.

A released gate can be pushed open by anyone. While it's in manual:

• Close it fully and keep it closed when you're not using it.
• Lock the motor's access door or release cover, as Centurion recommends, so nobody can reach inside.
• Don't leave it released for days. Get the power back on or the motor repaired, and re-engage it.

A gate that won't secure the property is an emergency for us: the 24/7 emergency repairs across Gauteng are there for exactly that.

Without the release key there's no proper way to free the motor, and forcing the lock or the gate usually damages the gearbox, the rack or the lock. Call us instead. If the key is lost, a replacement has to match your motor, and on some it's unique: Centurion's Vantage keys belong to their own operator, which is why its manual asks for the key number to be recorded.

Garage door? See how to open a garage door manually.

On the job card, give the motor's make and say whether the gate is open or closed now and whether it will lock; tick "It's urgent" if it won't secure. Same-day repairs are offered when the day allows. No call-out fee when we do the work. If no work is done, a R650 call-out fee applies.