US Automatic Direction Regarding UL325 2016
Effective January 12, 2016 all vehicular gate operators manufactured are required to have provisions for and to monitor for at least two independent entrapment protection means. Both are to be installed and operational to meet the standards defined in UL325 6th edition dated October 13, 2013.
UL325 assumes that every swing gate installation has an entrapment area. Requiring all operators to have an external secondary entrapment device installed and monitored before gate operation is allowed. Regardless of the fact that no entrapment area may exist
UL325 does not require that the make and model number of any entrapment device be included in the gate operator installation manual this may be done but it is not required by the current UL325 standard. The type of monitored entrapment device the operator can identify must be identified in the installation manual such as contact edge with 10K resistor or photo eye with N/C contact or other types that may exist.
Pre 2016 systems are not required by the UL325_2016 standard to be upgraded during service or control board replacement. It is recommended that these systems be upgraded, but it is not required.
Monitored entrapment devices are for entrapment protection only. Vehicular protection devices are not required to be monitored.
Dealer info
When installing a UL325_2016 compliant gate operator system it is the responsibility of the dealer to identify all entrapment areas and install the appropriate monitored entrapment device or devices to make the installation as safe as possible to comply with the UL325_2016 standard.
USAutomatic Products (Patriot and Ranger) info
All USAutomatic gate operators have been certified to the UL325_2016 standard.
First entrapment means for all USAutomatic control boards is Type A (Inherent entrapment protection system).
Second entrapment means cans be a Type B1 or Type B2 device that is a monitored UL325 compliant device. The device must be installed and operational before gate operation is allowed.
USAutomatic control boards have been designed to monitor one Type B1 and one Type B2 device. This is selectable by turning on dipswitches on the control board for the device type being used.
USAutomatic designed all control boards to be forward and backward compatible allowing the dealer and distributor to stock only one control board, which can be installed on pre 2016 operators and post 2016 operators. This is possible by using the Pre 2016 jumper connection on every control board. When pre 2016 jumper is installed the control board will be compatible with pre 2016 installations, which do not require monitored devices.
Patriot Control Board monitored part # 500002
Ranger Control Board monitored part # 500510
USAutomatic does not believe (at this time) that a photo eye is required on every installation. Some installations might require a contact edge. For this reason we are not including a photo eye in every operator as it would be ridiculous to assume we knew what your particular installation required. It would increase the cost of the operator unnecessarily if a different type entrapment device was actually required.
USAutomatic believes that the dealer should identify the type of entrapment device required for each installation and the distributor should stock the UL325_2016 entrapment devices that meet the actual needs of the dealer.
USAutomatic control boards identify the following types of external entrapment devices.
Any UL325_2016 Contact edge with 10K resistor (type B1) -
Any UL325_2016 Photo eye with NC contacts (type B2) -
All control boards can monitor 1 contact edge, 1 photo eye or both devices at the same time.
If more than 1 of either type device is required then the USAutomatic expansion module (part # 500015) will be required. The expansion module is solar friendly and can monitor up to 5 contact edges and 4 photo eyes, if required. Low current draw design minimizes battery drain eliminating the need to install large solar panels.