Anyone have any suggestions for the best automatic door locks for use with Openhab?
Would like to be able to display the status and control them from HABPanel.
Do you have a preference in terms of which protocol? Generally speaking, any lock will work with OH. But some locks are going to be easier to integrate than others.
There are a good number of Z-Wave locks, but most seem to need their batteries replaced often. I’ve been looking at the Yale Conexis and found the reviews to be mixed. So I’m still on the fence as to whether it’s worth it or not.
No preference. I have a house full of Insteon devices and only have set them up and that was pretty easy. So, basically I am a novice at configuration. So anything with examples on line would be good.
If you have a European type door lock, I can recommend Nuki Smart Lock. It is based on Bluetooth connection but there is a wi-fi gateway that allow you to control it from your local network or Internet. I have one for about 1 year without problems. A set of 4 AA Ni-Mh batteries works for about 4 months. Also, the OH Nuki binding works very well.
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I have a Schlage Connect and I change the batteries less than once a year. Even if it was more frequent, it’s easy to pop the cover off and swap out the four AA batteries, so I wouldn’t consider it to be a major downside. At least with my lock, I can tell when the batteries start to wear down (the motor has to work harder), and I’ll still have weeks/months before I need to change them.
@sn49750, Z-Wave locks can be annoying to set up, because you have to do secure inclusion with your Z-Wave controller. However, once that’s done you don’t have to think about it again, and Z-Wave is very reliable. You have to set up some rules to interpret the codes that a Z-Wave lock sends to OH, but there’s lots of help for that here in the community.
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There seem to be a lot more disadvantages to smart locks than benefits. Personally, I don’t want to let people into my house when I’m not there, I don’t want to have to change batteries or face the risk of being locked in/out. OK, I have to carry a key but then again that’s all I have to carry if I want to go out without my phone.
Smart locks are lost on me.
In general, neither do I. But when my downstairs neighbour had a leak into his apartment while I wasn’t home, it was convenient to be able to let him in so that he could check my water heater. And when I go to bed at night, it’s great that my door will lock itself so that I don’t have to go and check it. In the past, I’ve been really bad about leaving doors unlocked overnight.
It’s also great that I can unlock it using my phone and then take the groceries out of my car, rather than trying to juggle bags and keys at the door.
Another benefit: I never wonder if the door is locked while I’m away. I just check OH to see if it’s locked.
See my post above. I change the batteries less than once a year, which is less frequently than I change the batteries in my motion sensors or my wireless keyboard. But yeah, if you’re 100% anti-battery, then this is a negative.
My Schlage Connect has a keypad, so I could leave my house without my keys or my phone if I felt the need to do so. Saying that, I always carry a house key, because I think it’s generally smart to have a backup plan. And if I lose my keys, the smart lock becomes the backup for getting in my house.
That’s better than hiding a spare key in a fake rock (though I also have a spare at my sister’s house in case the lock fails and I lose my keys).
Sure, if you focus only on the things you think are negative. You’re seeing the lock as being about granting access to others and not having to carry a key, and I don’t do either of those things. I see it more for ensuring that the door is locked when I want it locked, and adding some small conveniences to my life.
I should mention that I got my Schlage Connect long before I got into OH. I really just wanted it for the keypad, but OH has taken it to next-level benefits.
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About 10 years ago I was technical lead for a large utility developing condition monitoring. I became very aware of “solutions looking for problems”. Lots of people wanted to buy monitoring kit that didn’t provide any business value. I guess it’s left me with a lasting feeling of not buying tech because it’s there but because it can provide a benefit.
I wouldn’t have a smart lock because it wouldn’t do anything for me; obviously if it gives you something you need/want then that’s great but I think before asking what or which, it’s worth making sure you know why.
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I totally agree with what you’re saying. I just felt that your previous post had a very narrow point of view toward smart locks, which hasn’t matched my experience.
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Me too, plus the fact the temporary codes are single use so you have to keep spending money.
Until there’s a full 5-point lifts the handle too (which there probably won’t be due to the motor torque on batteries) I’ve forgotten about this. I’ll stick to replacing a £30 sealed unit if I have to smash 
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I am using 2 Nuki’s (with 2 raspberry pi’s controlling them using a python server which I’m controlling from OpenHab) and a Danalock Zwave lock. Very satisfied with both, although the Zwave lock isn’t always responding somehow. If I would buy a new one I would go with the zigbee version of the Danalock since my Zigbee network is a bit more stable lately.
I am using Schlage BE469NX Z-Wave for over 2 years and the batteries last about a year plus minus. Connecting to OnenHAB was not easy because it uses secure Z-Wave and only HABAdmin can correctly perform a connection sequence but once it’s connected it works reliably. There are issues with open/closing from OpenHAB - the lock often goes to a jammed state and stops responding, so I don’t use that in automation. But reading the state and using the state changes in the Rules works as expected. For example, I have a rule that triggers when a lock is opened from the outside and turns on the lights and says a greeting on Google Mini speaker.
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I have all doors in my house equipped with Paxton Net-2 & Paxton paxlock .
The Net2 is cabled and no battery changed needed, all inner doors is Paxlock, and they have a battery change every 2 years.
Take a look at:
Hi there,
thanks for starting this discussion as that is the next project I’m looking into 
.
The situation is that we have recently retrofitted our intercom system. An old analogue BPT S.p.A.intercom system by state of the art Ethernet-based intercom system from 2N - The Global Market Leader in IP Intercoms - 2N.
The next step would be to electrify and automate the door looks of the individual apartments in our multiple dwelling house (9 doors plus storage rooms and a few common rooms in the basement).
What would be a good choice allowing you to integrate it with an on-premises home-automation system easily or may even communicate with the intercom directly, using its APIs?
A use-case could be to open the apartment door (and call the lift) as soon as you enter the house through the main door.
It would be preferred if besides a phone (BT, NFC) simple RFID-Badges (Mifare 1K) could be used, as that would simplify the management of access solutions (no need to explain the app to any user again and again and may troubleshoot phones).
going to through the so far mentioned:
- Schlage could do the job but their design is properly not preferred by all users.
- Paxton Smart Door Locks | Paxton Access Control (paxton-access.com) don’t act on the lock only the handle but first would be required
- Smart Lock - Keyless electronic door lock for smart access - Nuki requires web access for integration, nor RFID option (maybe solvable by a 3rd party devices?). Moreover, there might be occasion having only a key, so either you have a lock, wherein the key can be inserted from sides at the same time or you install the keypad.
So none of them seems to be the perfect solution, so I’m wondering if anyone reading this, has any experience with
- Battery-free digital and mobile locking - iLOQ very interesting solution but either phone or special key if you don’t want to install additional devices.
- Smart Locks | by Digilock, not sure yet if adequate for apartment doors
- Electric Lock Systems from EVVA | EVVA Sicherheitstechnologie GmbH but I don’t like their business model of KeyCredits, what can be quite costly
- Home Page | BeeSecure more or less as Nuki
- Push-Pull | Smart Doorlock | Product | Samsung Smart Lock (samsungsds.com) but not sure about integration
- Prodigy SmartLock Distributor | DigiKey Electronics reliable
- NENOKI Smartlock - elektronischer SchlieĂźzylinder but lacks integration
- Smart Door Locks (yalehome.fr)
- SALTO Systems: Ultimate keyless experience
I got the most from best of list across the www
- 9 Best RFID Door Locks for Home or Commercial Usage (revolar.com)
- RFID & NFC Smart Door Locks 2021 - Smart Home Perfected
- Elektronische Türschlösser Tests 2021: Nachrüstlösungen Vergleich (homeandsmart.de) (in German)
- Elektronisches TĂĽrschloss gĂĽnstig kaufen | digitalzylinder-shop.com (a German shop which listed a lot of vendors)
- Elektronische Türschlösser | Wagner Sicherheit (wagner-sicherheit.de) (same as above but even more vendors)
- SchlĂĽsselzentrale Seidemann - Zutrittskontrolle (sicherheitsprofi.at) (German)
There’s nothing wrong with local web access in terms of security as it’s implemented with Nuki, isn’t it.
RFID is a dangerous thing: no personalized 2nd auth factor (such as the need to unlock your phone) and easier to lose than a classic key, easier to identify it’s your door’s for anyone who finds it.
Compared to that, explaining the app to users is way safer and a one-time effort that pays off.
I wouldn’t put my home entry at risk for just that, and vendors tend to think along the same lines which is why you don’t see this offered often if at all.
thx for keeping this discussion alive
what do you mean by
.
May I try to mitigate your aversion to RFID a little bit as I have a different opinion here (don’t hesitate to correct me, when I’m wrong):
but situations, where 2nd auth factor is used to go through a door are really rare if you included housing.
Common thing is that you have a key or badge, to go through a door or gate.
Only secure aware people are or high-security areas using 2FA, which is not a common standard nowadays when it comes to residential housing.
normal habit is, that you would attach the badge to your bunch of keys. As long as you don’t label a badge (or key) with your address no one knows where to go to. Of course, if you lose it close to home, criminals can try to open the houses in the vicinity with it, but this is just as true for keys but you cannot block as quickly as RFIDs.
If I would lose my office badge on the way home, anyone who finds it could enter my office as the company name is written on it, so there is a long way to go, to rise this kind of security awareness.
openHAB will access the local Nuki bridge only. No communications outside your (W)LAN or cloud (in)security involved if you don’t want to.
(I am referring to the single-lock use case and granted, I don’t know much about their multi-lock/key solution)
You said integration requires Web API as if that was a disadvantage. It is not, it’s state of the art.
With all due respect: no you may not. Don’t worry you aren’t wrong as there’s no wrong or right here. It’s about personal assessment and preference.
If you equip a 9 apartment house with RFID anyone around will quickly know you’re the building the badge that I just found on the street gets you access to. It’s not that obvious with an unlabeled key.
But all I said is my assessment would be different, I would want 2FA, particularly when it’s as cheap to obtain as explaining an app. And so probably are many other people’s assessments, including most vendors’. I see confirmation in that there’s not many Phone + RFID solutions and for me the most simple solution to your selection problem is to drop the RFID requirement.
Then again as you plan for 9 parties I’d talk to them upfront. They might not share your pov either so I suggest you discuss with them first.
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even applies to the 3.0 although the bridge is still required but that could change in the future
sources
Integration of Nuki in other Smart Home systems – Nuki Support
Support for new Smart Lock 3.0 / 3.0 Pro - Nuki APIs / Bridge HTTP-API - Nuki Developers
Nuki 3.0 API, does it have the bridge API? - Nuki APIs - Nuki Developers
Don’t worry, that will happen, for sure. In fact, I expect that some will not want to switch. At the moment, I am just compiling an overview to give a comprehensive picture of the possibilities (functions, design, retrofitting work and costs),
Personally, I think there should be a separation between your building security and people’s individual units. You’re asking others to give you the keys to their homes, so that you can program a computer to unlock their doors remotely. It’s one thing to give a spare key to your neighbour or landlord, and quite another to trust that task to someone else’s computer that’s exposed to the Internet.
So, I’d suggest pitching ideas for the main entryways and stopping there. If people really want the convenience of unlocking their individual doors remotely, they can look into it themselves (perhaps with your help).
I never said I was keen on managing the system for the individual access of others. If anyone wants to go his/her one way or share a system or share only cost as there could be a discount when order more than a handful device, is an individual. It is just market screening.
If other ones to learn from a live solution, see what is possible or sail off together based on my screening or do its own or asking for consulting is an induvial decision.
By the way, the 2N allows D2D communication, so it is not intended to put a personal automation system in between.