Is there a way to set a pin code for every schlage lock in the system at the same time? for example set the same pin code for a maintenence supervisor into every lock at one time instead of having to do it over and over again for each lock one at a time. I have 6 of these now but will end up with over 40 and that would take a lot of time to set up around 10 users for every lock individually.
I believe the answer is “No”, unfortunately. Not even the Schlage Bridge unit purports to be able to do this, while it is designed to manage multiple LiNK locksets.
That being said, there’s no definitive reason Vera could not be programmed (in a future firmware release) to allow “batch setting” of multiple Z-Wave locks, thus automating a tedious process.
MCV?
Yeah, what he said… and if you implement this (and a few other things I need) I will buy a couple dozen more Vera’s!
[quote=“LibraSun, post:2, topic:164877”]I believe the answer is “No”, unfortunately. Not even the Schlage Bridge unit purports to be able to do this, while it is designed to manage multiple LiNK locksets.
That being said, there’s no definitive reason Vera could not be programmed (in a future firmware release) to allow “batch setting” of multiple Z-Wave locks, thus automating a tedious process.
MCV?[/quote]
Yeah, batch programming is not a problem. It could be done with Luup, or with cron jobs, or even scheduled tasks in Windows provided the Windows pc is on the same network as Vera.
While I understand somewhat pretty well how this stuff works (compared to normal people, not some of the guru’s here), the programming side would take me more time than I have to figure out. Can you help me out with this. It is something I am going to need right away. In fact tonight I plan to program around 17 codes 6 locks and will have to do them manually.
FYI I just ordered a third Vera from Ed @ GoKeyless today to keep in my office to “play” with. If I can get this first building up and running well for a few weeks I am going to order 3 more right away.
I have another question/request
Do the locks have the capability to Set codes that will only work for a certain day of the week and times during those days, Say I want to only give certain housekeepers access to a lock every week Friday-Sunday from 8am to 4pm.
If so, can you set it up so codes can be programmed into the lock in this manner?
Scott, the Schlage LiNK itself retains the actual codes in memory, and currently does not have this provision … so, for Vera to accommodate what you’re asking for, she’d have to add/delete codes automatically for you at certain times every day. A risky proposition, since it introduces a whole new layer of potential failure, but (ugh) do-able with a Luup program. [As you know, Vera can already assign and later expire a code (once and for all) at a specific time you set.]
Thinking ahead, what if the housekeeper clocks out of a job at 4:01, when the given code has expired, and thus cannot key his/her code to lock (something you also want done for ID purposes), nor get back into the unit in case something was forgotten inside.
Wouldn’t it be better simply to assign employees a code, and bust 'em for entering at unauthorized times if such behavior appears on the logs?
I was trying to find something in the Schlage documentation on the locks capabilities regarding this but couldn’t. I assume the lock itself has the built in ability to assign a code from a certain time and then expire it (since Vera lets you assign codes that way), or is this just something Vera does on it’s own?
The only employees I worry about are housekeeping because most of them are part time and the typical employment term is like 6 weeks for them, coming in after hours may be more enticing than worring about a part time job, but I guess you can’t protect against everything. I was mostly thinking of guest safety and not allowing access to the units for anyone but the guests during their stay except management and maintenence supervisor.
You can lock the lock from the outside by just pushing the schlage button and turning the deadbolt, no code necessary (although you can require this if you want to, but it is easier for guests to leave this option available, the log does show the lock was locked, just not who locked it since no code was used). If they were to forget something after the code quit working they would have to call the office or manager and they could let them back in remotely. Right now I have set up guest codes to only work from 4pm Saturday until 10am Sunday (check in to check out for a weekly stay) and I worry that it is going to be an issue with stragglers (but if they have to call the office because they are locked out after check-out it might be a good thing).
Thanks for the post!
[quote=“LibraSun, post:7, topic:164877”]Scott, the Schlage LiNK itself retains the actual codes in memory, and currently does not have this provision … so, for Vera to accommodate what you’re asking for, she’d have to add/delete codes automatically for you at certain times every day. A risky proposition, since it introduces a whole new layer of potential failure, but (ugh) do-able with a Luup program. [As you know, Vera can already assign and later expire a code (once and for all) at a specific time you set.]
Thinking ahead, what if the housekeeper clocks out of a job at 4:01, when the given code has expired, and thus cannot key his/her code to lock (something you also want done for ID purposes), nor get back into the unit in case something was forgotten inside.
Wouldn’t it be better simply to assign employees a code, and bust 'em for entering at unauthorized times if such behavior appears on the logs?[/quote]
Scott, if I set my mind to thinking like a thief, suppose I were one of your housekeeping crew and wanted to put one over on you. (Let’s pretend I’m hip to the lock’s ability to report, and that there’s no door sensor in place and no camera photographing me as I enter/exit. Just the deadbolt.)
I arrive to work, use my code to unlock, and let myself in. About the time I should be done, I open the door, key in my code again, and lock the deadbolt with the door still open. Your records then effectively show I’ve left when I was supposed to, and my code expires shortly thereafter.
With the door still open, I take the LCD TV and whatever else of value from the unit. Next, I unlock the deadbolt (from the inside, which your records show as being done by nobody in particular … and I could thwart that report by first unplugging the RP-200 lamp module!). I wipe my prints off the RP-200, plug it back in, then close the door and use [Schlage]+turn to lock the deadbolt. This last maneuver could be interpreted in your records as someone “playing with the lock” on the outside.
Granted, you’ll still come knocking at my home with the Police later, but I’ve given myself a great alibi and lots of leeway to appear blameless. Guess you need those door sensors (I’ll trick it with a magnet) and cameras (I’ll duck out of view) after all, with the hope that guests won’t “lock the door while it’s open” (which a child might do, for fun, 10x a minute) and thereby trip off an alarm.
Lots of expense and complexity for a system that’s far from “audit trail” quality. 
The ultimate goal here is guest safety, next is property protection (guest and resort). You aren’t exactly dealing with rocket scientists here so I am not that worried. It is one thing to deal with the normal thief, when you are dealing with theft from staff it makes it a lot more difficult. Going from almost no key control to what I am implementing now is a huge step towards that goal, but I spent years in commercial security, access control and surveillance putting equipment into everything from office buildings to military bases to prisons. I have seen a lot of very smart thieves and what they are capable of. Short of locking the place down to where it would make it difficult for guests there is only so much you can do in this situation. Alarm systems on the units would be nice, but unless you have a totally passive system it would never work with guests that range from one end of the spectrum to another. Getting them to just lock the door is sometimes a task in itself. We do have Housekeeping Inspectors that go around and check the units before check-in, so they would catch a door that wasn’t locked. A door sensor with door prop detection would be helpful as well as the ability to monitor how long a lock is left unlocked. I assume both of these could be effected by software and a normal door sensor. Cameras would be nice, but I would have to install probably 40 of them to be completely effective and that would get very expensive quick and you cannot install them inside the units, they would all have to be exterior. Will probably get to that point eventually though. The RP200’s can be locked inside something that is fastened to the wall over an outlet like a box that covers a thermostat in a public place, I am looking into that now because I don’t want guests messing with them or taking them home with them.
[quote=“LibraSun, post:9, topic:164877”]Scott, if I set my mind to thinking like a thief, suppose I were one of your housekeeping crew and wanted to put one over on you. (Let’s pretend I’m hip to the lock’s ability to report, and that there’s no door sensor in place and no camera photographing me as I enter/exit. Just the deadbolt.)
I arrive to work, use my code to unlock, and let myself in. About the time I should be done, I open the door, key in my code again, and lock the deadbolt with the door still open. Your records then effectively show I’ve left when I was supposed to, and my code expires shortly thereafter.
With the door still open, I take the LCD TV and whatever else of value from the unit. Next, I unlock the deadbolt (from the inside, which your records show as being done by nobody in particular … and I could thwart that report by first unplugging the RP-200 lamp module!). I wipe my prints off the RP-200, plug it back in, then close the door and use [Schlage]+turn to lock the deadbolt. This last maneuver could be interpreted in your records as someone “playing with the lock” on the outside.
Granted, you’ll still come knocking at my home with the Police later, but I’ve given myself a great alibi and lots of leeway to appear blameless. Guess you need those door sensors (I’ll trick it with a magnet) and cameras (I’ll duck out of view) after all, with the hope that guests won’t “lock the door while it’s open” (which a child might do, for fun, 10x a minute) and thereby trip off an alarm.
Lots of expense and complexity for a system that’s far from “audit trail” quality. :-)[/quote]
[quote=“scotthay, post:6, topic:164877”]I have another question/request
Do the locks have the capability to Set codes that will only work for a certain day of the week and times during those days, Say I want to only give certain housekeepers access to a lock every week Friday-Sunday from 8am to 4pm.
If so, can you set it up so codes can be programmed into the lock in this manner?[/quote]
THe New Luup firmware provides time sensitive codes. However these codes are sent or deleted by vera at the prescibed times. The lock does not know what time it to add or delete a code
I have been playing with that today, it works well so far. All guest codes go active in 12 minutes from now. I have been playing with one at a time, will be interesting to see how quick it does 6 at the same time.
[quote=“zmistro, post:11, topic:164877”][quote=“scotthay, post:6, topic:164877”]I have another question/request
Do the locks have the capability to Set codes that will only work for a certain day of the week and times during those days, Say I want to only give certain housekeepers access to a lock every week Friday-Sunday from 8am to 4pm.
If so, can you set it up so codes can be programmed into the lock in this manner?[/quote]
THe New Luup firmware provides time sensitive codes. However these codes are sent or deleted by vera at the prescibed times. The lock does not know what time it to add or delete a code[/quote]
All 6 of my guest codes went active at 4pm like they were supposed to (give or take 5-10 minutes).
The only problem was I had set up scenes to log each of those 6 codes and they were not working. I went in to take a look and apparently although you can select the User Code for the codes prior to them being active (while they are in that pending state) once they become active it removes them from the scene so they do not work unless you go in and select them again.
This is a problem MCV should look into this.
If you set a code for the future then that code should show up the day you set the event to send a message.
It would be really nice if with the date range you set for the code you didn’t have to complete all the fields. For example, if you put just hours the code would only work during certain hours, if you put a full date then the code would work during that date range. This doesn’t seem like it would be a hard change since the drop down is already setup, it would be a matter of turning off the requirement to complete the date and time fields.
I too would like to be able to set a code that only works on certain days. I think a lot of people would like this. For example, I trust my cleaning lady, but really don’t want her to be able to come in at any hour of the night. It would be nice if I could set her code to only work on certain days of the week, and between certain times.