How much wattage would be required to keep a 12V lead acid battery up enough to open a dual gate several times a day, each leaf weighing approximately 250 lbs? Can I charge two batteries at once and is it a good idea? What equipment would you recommend to do the job for around two hundred dollars or less or is that unreasonable?

I was looking at a 25 watt panel, a 30W controller and some brackets to attach the panel to a D 2 1/2" pole. I don't know what extras I'd need, like wiring, a weather proof case etc.

I just finished a project of exactly this type and unless your getting your parts second hand, I doubt your going be able to do it for 200.00. But who knows, I guess it's possible. Did you buy the gate openers new and are you planning on using the same battery that came with them?

If so, the battery that was supplied with the gate kit only advertises that it will open and close the gates (duel gates) 4-5 cycles. I'm going from memory on this as it was a couple of months since I put mine up and I don't have the instructions at hand. But 4-5 cycles wasn't enough for me so I replaced the battery with a couple of 6 volt AGM batteries (in series) that I put inside of a housing and mounted a 205 watt panel on top. I opted for the larger panel because I'm in NC and in the winter we have limited sun to charge the batteries. Also, I put 2-26 watt lights by the gate and they stay on 4 hours each night and I run the lights off of a 75 watt inverter.

Panel was $350.00, inverter was $25.00, batteries were $125.00 each, controller was $85.00 and other misc parts and wire brought it all to around $750.00. (That doesn't include the lights.)

Given you aren't powering any lights, you probably won't need the same batteries that I used. But if you're going to install a larger battery you will probably need something larger than a 25 watt panel to keep it charged. Unfortunately the gates controller will only accommodate a relitavely low wattage panel, (max of 30 watts I believe) making it necessary to bypass the gates control box and run the higher wattage solar panel directly to the batteries. So as long as you’re going to add a different battery and larger panel and controller, you might as well spend a little more and get the good batteries.