I’m a proud new owner of the Vera system for my new single family home. Thanks to this forum, I’ve already set up some basic light controls, and selected a thermostat that works great. My next project is working on security. I am subscribed to FrontPoint, though I’m only using them for the basic security system (motion sensors, door sensors, et al), as I believe the Vera will allow me to automate everything else without the monthly fee.
While not a high crime area, my neighborhood has been known for “opportunistic theft”. That is to say, people walking by, seeing a package left at the front door of a house, and just casually taking it. To combat it, I had an idea of putting a Z-Wave lock on the front gate that leads to my house. This way, the Fed-ex guy can come, buzz the door, and I can remotely let him in to leave the package at the front door. Once the leaves, the door will re-lock again.
Is anybody doing something like this? I spoke to a Locksmith, and he said he had a number of concerns that I’d like to get the community’s input on:
Which of the Z-Wave deadbolts are rated for outdoor use - rain, snow, extreme temperatures? The gate is completely exposed.
Are there any double-sided locks in the Z-Wave family? The locksmith said a common mistake is for people to put a standard deadbolt on the gate, and an intruder can simply reach around the gate and unlock the bolt from the other side.
Do any of the Z-Wave deadbolt manufacturers make accompanying gate boxes to attach to the gate?
Thanks in advance for your help and input! I look forward to being a contributing part of the community.
There aren’t only on the market that I am aware of that is a double sided keypad/lick type. They all have a munual setup for the inside portion of the door.
The outsode pieces are made to be out directly in the elements… The inner components, not so much.
That’s what I was afraid of. But if they can all withstand temperature extremes from being exposed to the elements, then I could probably get away with modifying the gate to prevent reach-arounds.
Is anybody using any of the Z-wave bolts in a similar manner?
Sorry I might not have explained that correctly… When I mentioned the inner components are not weather proof I was meaning the parts that are on the INSIDE portion of your door.
If you put the lock on a completely exposed gate the part that would normally be on the inside of your house would now be exposed to the elements and that part would not survive the outdoors. The battery compartments etc are not sealed.
Oh…that’s not good. Are there any deadbolts on the market that can accomplish what I’m setting out to do? I would have thought this sort of scenario would have come up before since I imagine there are tens of thousands of homes with front gates.
I attached a couple of photos to illustrate what I have now.
Also, completely unrelated, but do I have to answer three questions every single time I post a reply, or is it only while I have newbie status?
Hmm, I’ll take that as a “no”. I’m really surprised that this has never come up before, because I would have guessed the use case would have been someone common, where someone wants to deliver a package while you’re away and you want to buzz them into your property but not your actual house.
If anything does come up in the future, I’ll post back here, in case anybody at all is interested in that use case. If any of the manufacturers are reading this, give it some thought. There may be a market for it.
You might be able to install something like this, and integrate it into Vera. You would also need a relay to trigger the lock/unlock, but that’s not hard to integrate into on the vera.
Yes the electronic door strike is exactly what i was thinking also. I have no experience with them but i suggest you find a few manuals and see how they can be integrated.
Thanks for the tips, guys. I’ll have to figure out a way to get electricity to the gate to get those electronic door strikes to work, which sounds like it might be a bit of a project. I’ll do some investigating.
Not sure this is super-helpful, but I recently did a DIY project which involved an electromagnetic lock. It was actually an insulated box to hold wet cat food, slots for the food trays, room for ice foam bricks (to keep the food fresh for hours) and of course the top has a spring hinge and an electromagnetic lock wired to an electronic timer. This way, my cats won’t wake me up at 7 AM to get fed on the weekend. They’ve been able to break into just about every commercial product which controls food like this and I’d prefer they have wet food (for which there are few products).
I considered something similar to my outdoor gate but an electromagnetic lock is likely not right for gate purposes because power (albeit small) actually keeps the lock engaged. For the cat feeder, it’s fine because it draws a very small amount of power and if the power goes out, it’s not the end of the world if they get fed early. But you likely want a lock which is the opposite…requires power to unlock it just as the one in the amazon link. Some sort of 12V power is required so in theory you could run a 12V wires to the gate lock. At the other end of the wires would be an adapter plugged into a z-wave outlet and likely some keypad mechanism. The biggest issue I’ve come across is figuring out how to secure the lock mechanism to the gate and have it look professional while still providing security.
Intriguing! How about something like this? 1200 lb. Magnetic Security Door Lock with LED Indicator Light ** Of course you’ll need to provide it with a 12 VDC source. **
Intriguing! How about something like this? 1200 lb. Magnetic Security Door Lock with LED Indicator Light ** Of course you’ll need to provide it with a 12 VDC source. **
You could integrate a battery backup that is charged while there is power, and kicks in when power is removed. With an audible low power indicator, it would let you know when the battery is almost dead.
i have a fibaro dual-switch with dry contacts that opens the powered common frontdoor downstairs. i wired the push-button for the door-opener to the fibaro to open it. with use of homeauthomation it unlocks by voice. neighbours thought i was kidding them till they found out it actually works and opens the door by speaking to my cellphone saying : activate magic gate
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