I want to improve my front door lock

[micky]

Has anyone ever used this or do you know about it?

Remote control, like a car. Were you pleased? When the batteries get weak, do you know if the door did not get looked? It uses iirc 4 AA cells. (With a car, one locks the door when he's finished driving so the car battery is allways strong.)

What about this push-button combination front door lock?

opinions on that? I'd have to lose the key and forget the code to get locked out

Or what about this one:

uses my fingerprint to let me in. I can't forget that. But does the model you have in mind recognize a fingerprint immediately or do I have to wiggle my finger and wait? (It also takes a key and a combination.) Again batteries, doesn't say how many. (THIS ONE IS FOR INDOORS BUT THERE IS PROBABLY ONE FOR OUTDOORS.

[trader_4]

Seems obvious to me that with a dead battery, it's not going to be able to lock the door.....

I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't one with a fingerprint sensor for outside, for obvious reasons. And if there was, I wouldn't buy it. Having a keypad and remote would seem the best combination. Or is there one that uses NFC so if you have your smartphone it will open automatically?

[dpb]

Well which direction is "fail safe" -- locked or unlocked?

Did they choose to lock you out or not? :) Or does it just stay in present state?

Could be designed as any of the above...

I'm pretty much old school and the fewer such doodads to have to have the better--albeit will admit the car fob is handy but would I want another one for the house? Don't think so...but ceratainly wouldn't want to be interchangeable or something like that. And, I'm not a smart phone kind of guy to put stuff on apps, either...

[Ralph Mowery]

I like the car fob where I just touch the door to lock and unlock it and start with the push of a button on the dash . I would not want one for the house, but I have a garage and leave the door to the house unlocked when away. So a press of the garage door opener and I can get into the house. I also have a hidden door key and a garage door opener on the outside wall that a combination will get me in the garage where the house door is normally open.

I am not too much for the smart phone apps either. I did get a Google 'smart screen' Hay Goodle device for Christmas but have not implimented it to do anything around the house. Just can not think of what I would want it to do. I did get a few of the 120 volt plug ins that let me turn things off and on,but have not found any use for them yet.

[trader_4]

One would figure that any competent design would have some way of warning that batteries need to be replaced. It could beep each time it's locked so you know it's locked. And if the batteries are getting low, it could instead beep 5 times to warn you. Then I guess at some point either it detects voltage so low that it stops in one position or the other or it just stops randomly.

No rush here to get one either. Also depends on what Micky means by improve. This is a deadbolt. Is there one there already, with a regular lockset too? If it was me, one lock is good enough, but if I was going to have two, I'd have them both keyed the same. And if I went the electronic route, then either one typical front door entyr lock that works that way would be enough for me. But if I did have two, they better both work off the one remote button.

[dpb]

...

...

Just what need--yet another fire alarm beeper to alert you of low battery to go off in middle of the night ! :)

Which reminds, is spring forward again...I _hate_ replacing those stinkin' bat-trees. :(

[Davej]

I would look through the LPL Youtube videos...

[Jon Elson]

The electronic keypad locks can be damaged by an ESD event, locking you out. And, of course, a dead battery could lock you out, too.

The RF remote locks seem to avoid the ESD issue, but have to keep the radio receiver turned on all the time, that might deplete a small battery pretty quickly.

The mechanical push-button locks have been around a long time, and seem to be fairly reliable.

As for fingerprint, I'd want to have somebody do some testing to make sure the thing will still recognize a finger that has a scrape or blister on it. I have some doubts about that.

Does any of this ACTUALLY give you some benefit? Or, is it just technology for technology's sake?

Jon

[Adrian Caspersz]

If you are being chased by a bear that hasn't eaten for weeks, having one of these locks could be beneficial.

With the correct IT integration, should be quite be easy to say,

"Alexa, there is a nasty bear chasing me, please open the door!"

"Hi Adrian, I don't know "there is a nasty bear chasing me", here is a track from Amazon music - 'teddy bears picnic'.

[gfretwell]

I like this one. No battery. I have had one on my door since 1971.

[Jim Joyce]

My house came with a Kwikset 'Smart Lock'. It takes a standard key, which none of us carry, and it has a keypad that we all use. It's also Z-Wave compatible, so we can lock/unlock or check status over the Internet from anywhere in the world and it's integrated into the alarm system along with the lights, the thermostat, the garage doors, and more. When the battery got low, it warned us about 6 weeks in advance of simply shutting down.

Pro: it's very convenient. Everybody gets their own entry code, plus you can assign one-time entry codes so people such as Amazon drivers can place a package inside the house. We don't do that. Via the Internet, we can see if the door is currently locked or unlocked, and we can see a history of every time it has been locked/unlocked, and we can set it to notify us via text if it's unlocked after a certain time at night. Since everyone has their own code, we can see when people/kids come and go.

Con: If I can unlock it over the Internet, in theory so can anyone else.

I think we've traded convenience for security, so you're ahead of us there.

[Sam E]

[snip]

And if this uses one of those "voice assistants" Google (or one of those other big companies) can unlock your door.

[snip]

[Davej]

On Monday, March 9, 2020 at 11:14:49 AM UTC-5, micky wrote: [...]

One thing that might be worthwhile would be to install a anti-kick reinforcement system. This is usually a set of long brass plates that mount on the edge of the door and against the door frame. Most house thieves don't care what lock you have. They simply kick your door in.

[gfretwell]

That gets addressed in places with a wind code.

[Jim Joyce]

A couple of Amazon Echo or Dot devices came with the system but we've left those things safely tucked away in their original boxes. They are an optional component, but if we were to plug them in and add them to the system, then yes, we could lock/unlock or check current status of anything in the system via voice control, while simultaneously opening another avenue for potential hacking.

[micky]

Thanks. I have those, after someone kicked my door in 35 years ago.

[micky]

If I have to push the buttons, I might as well turn the knob too.

But it looks like the webpage is from 1971 too. In that it says both "with Key Override" and "Picture may not match selected options" and there is no keyhole. They are all like this. This one is typical:

I'm looking for more pages that sell the things, but I have to go to sleep now.

[micky]

BTW, the reason for all this is that I got locked out again last weekend. 3rd or 4th time in 35 years, but the first time I had to drill out the lock. Since I need a new lock anyhow, might as well get what I really want, if I can figure out what that is.

Locked! Well, that assumes it was locked!

Present state, but there's a keyhole too, for when the battery is dead.

Turns out there is an LED to say when the battery is getting weak.

That sounds good.

Wow.

That sounds like plenty of time.

If they know about it and know where it is. But I'm sure that feature can be turned off anyhow. I used to turn my computer off whenever I went out, but Win10 can go for days without restarting and I'll go out for a few hours and leave it on. But not out of town.

Wow, some of the locks at the URL work with any of the wirelss methods listed here:

of them. Not just wifi and bluetooth. I had no idea ether were so many

But I don't really want to connect to the computer. Being ready to receive transmissions will use up the batteries even faster**. But the same locks work well without internet.

**That would have been true of one that uses a fob too, but I had given up on the fob. I forget why and now I see there are others that I hadn't found before.

I still don't take the phone with me unless I plan to make a call, or expect a call, or some special reason, which is not often.

[micky]

I looked at the first one. It was very interesting. I did stuff like this one day when I was still in college.

Summertime convention at a big university, not mine, I was supposed to be at a meeting but I stayed in the dorm room taking apart the lock and I made a pass key that fit every room on 3 floors. I didn't steal anything, however. And I threw away the key.

They used to sell cheap file sets in a vinyl holder, round, flat, triangular, and square, and the square one was justthe right width for a typical lock tumbler, the width to file on a key. Even though the file was cheap, it was good enough for keys.

[micky]

This one is not meant for outdoors, but it has two 9-volt contacts on the bottom, so you can hold a 9-volt battery there in case the one inside dies!

LOL

I got locked out again, 4th time in 35 years, over the weekend, and this time I didn't get back in easily. Had to drill out the lock. So I want to avoid that, and while I'm at it, maybe get some other good features too.