Massachusetts man builds the world's only PoE powered driveway gate to stop people turning around
Published on Jan 04, 2026 at 7:23 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Jan 02, 2026 at 4:45 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
This Massachusetts man has achieved a world first by building a PoE powered driveway gate that prevents people from turning around.
This project was the work of YouTuber Silver Cymbal Workshop, and it looks a lot like something you’d see in front of a military base.
With four cameras aimed at it and a red strobe light, this gate means business.
But how easy would building it be?
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How was this PoE powered driveway gate built?
Before we go any further, let’s just clarify what we mean when we say this gate is PoE powered.
PoE stands for Power over Ethernet, and that’s what the gate system runs on, alongside four cameras, a wireless access point, and accessories.

Why has he opted for this?
Well, as a low-voltage alternative to solar, this ensures that the gate works year round whilst being easy to monitor and expand.
There’s also a practical reason why this man wanted to build a gate – people kept showing up to his remote property and looking around.
While the people probably didn’t mean any harm by it, it’s understandably not something he wanted to have to contend with.

This gate was the clearest way of signaling – Don’t come any further without permission.
So with all that being said, how did the building process for this gate go?
Well, there was a lot that needed doing to get this 16ft long gate into place.
The post hole was dug up, gravel was added for drainage, and then 2,400Ib of concrete was put into place.
The gate was then added, but a problem arose.

What was the issue and how did he resolve it?
The gate was around 1,000 feet from the workshop, and burying the conduit (The tube protecting the wires) would cost around $27,000.
As a $1,500 solution, he ran sprinkler pipe from his workshop down to the gate.
To adapt it to a conduit, he used a compression-style fitting.

When it came time to paint the gate, he used a suitable black coating – with an added 24V strobe light for safety at night.
Two gate cameras were added, alongside a Ubiquiti AI turret with license plate recognition, for security reasons.
It was a great innovative idea, particularly as an exercise in saving money during a project.
We’ve seen some awesome DIY projects go ahead like this.
There was the guy who managed to power his entire house using 500 disposable vapes.
And there was the man who powered his home for eight years using – get this – recycled laptop batteries.
It’s incredible what we can achieve when we put our minds to work?
To see this driveway gate being constructed for yourself, visit Silver Cymbal Workshop’s YouTube channel.
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