Battery Operated Lock Products Found Wanting - Are You Aware Of The Pitfalls?

There are many and varied brands of wireless digital door locks currently in the wider market. Many of these products we have discussed in this website and picture here. Many of the pictured products here operate on small batteries, either AA, AAA, 9V or even watch cell batteries. The market is quite vast with many of the leading manufacturers in the world also producing a wireless battery powered product to corner some market share too.

 I think it is somewhat interesting, having traveled abroad recently, that not as many European countries appear to share the fascination for wireless battery powered locks, quite like the USA.

I remember traveling to Canada a few years ago and noticed very few instances of wireless digital locks installed on residences and buildings there too.

So, this begs the question as to why there appears to be a consumer fascination for these electronic gadgets, especially in the largest market in the world, the USA.

 Having recently returned from abroad, I noticed that hardwired digital lock systems and access control products appear to be more favored there. Hardwired products offer significant longevity and advantages to wireless battery operation, but essentially there is never, ever a need to have to replace batteries. Replacing batteries, while an inconvenience, is a hidden ongoing cost, rarely considered by consumers.

 There are also a great many and varied commercial products in the wireless genre that continue to come to market, offering increased access control and some also include audit trails, among other desired traits. These products too require constant and never ending battery replacement to ensure correct and continuing operations. Often there will be a maintenance manager or janitor employed in a building responsible for replacing batteries and keeping every thing working normally. And when a product fails, it is often because lax maintenance is responsible. Batteries are not replaced timely enough and staff find themselves locked out, through no fault of their own.

 Some upmarket commercial access control products of the wireless variety are very good quality and offer some advantages to mechanical keyed systems, but they too require constant battery replacements to ensure continued operations.

There are some very interesting and quite good looking products that are quite functional on offer across the world. many also use remote fobs to lock or unlock and, of course, these remote fobs require batteries replaced too. The hidden costs are not discussed by manufacturers or retailers and many consumers are in the dark about the longterm disadvantages of having to constantly replace batteries.

 We have been selling the wireless battery operated electric strike, here for a few years now, but this product is not immune either to the continuing need to replace batteries.

We are also the North American distributor for the fabulous Meroni line of lock products and even their digital battery operated product requires continual battery replacement for continued operation,

 The issues listed above about battery life are not the only problems plaguing the wireless lock industry. Many brands also use motor driven deadbolts that require the door and frame to be in perfect alignment so the bolt can enter the strike and frame. If there is door movement or weathering, frames can move and impede the natural locking/unlocking of your product. Other use issues occur due to poorly installed doors. Most doors found in America today, on residential homes and even some commercial dwellings are built from wooden doors and frames, often installed using short screws in the hinges to attach to the frame.

 The IBC (International Building Code) accepted and gazetted by many American localities, demand that the height of the operating door handle be 36" from the floor. When the original building code was written by the Army Corp Of Engineers in 1949, the average height of an American Adult was 5'6" tall, while today the average height (male/female) is 5'10" tall.

 Understanding a persons height is important because the average door is about 6'8" tall in North America. In many other countries, people install their locks significantly higher. The reason is simple. The lower the handle, the likelihood of you pushing down on the handle is higher and that continued downward pressure contributes to door sagging. The half inch screws in your hinges cannot take the weight of the door combined with constant pushing down on the handle, so the door drops. You often see this by the rubbing of the upper portion of your door on the frame and a wider gap at the top on the lock side than the gap on the hinge side. Also, sometimes your door will drag on the floor.

 I do a fair amount of commercial locksmith and door repair work and often see these electronic battery operated locks in the field. I often ask my customers as to their happiness with the products. Many, who have been using them for quite some time, have realized that the chore of constantly replacing batteries is becoming far too common and often and they make the choice to remove batteries altogether, preferring to go back to the mechanical, maintenance free key lock system.

 So what do i recommend?

I'm glad you asked.
I always ask the customer why they want a digital door lock in the first place.
Most simply desire the convenience of not having to carry a key and that they cannot be locked out if they have a combination.
I then ask how often they have had to replace batteries.
The most common answer I get is, "once every 2-3 months, sometimes more".

 When I press a little bit further, the clients who might have had them for longer, often indicate that after the fourth time replacing the batteries, they simply go back to using the mechanical key.

This indicates to me that many customers are now using their you beaut $250+ wireless battery operated door lock identically to when they simply had a mechanical key. Many keyed door locks cost significantly less than $250+, so that is a clear indication (to me) that they are not receiving the value for their money.

 With WiFi and Bluetooth and NFC components being included in many later models of battery operated door locks, there is more requirement for power to be able to use the products. Why would you rely on batteries constantly to power these power hungry products? Batteries can only last so long, no? And often they will fail when you least expect them or require them.

As to my recommendations on products that can offer the best of both worlds, you might consider the Kaba Powerplex digital door  lock that uses an electro-mechanical power module embedded within, that when the handle is turned, the unit powers up enough juice to enter your combination. No need to ever replace batteries yet still the convenience of electronic combination entry.
Certainly not cheap. Quality products cost more of course, but the Kaba Powerplex delivers where other products fail.

In the next week I will be repairing a customers back door mechanical door lock. They initially requested another electronic deadbolt for the convenience of not having to carry a key. (my service call that day to them was to unlock another digital door lock that wasnt operating. It was of course a flat battery) I recommended that they install a mechanical key box like the Supra brand wall mounted heavy duty mechanical digital key box to the cement wall outside their home and place their operating key inside. That way they can maintain the original lock on the door and still enjoy the convenience of not having to carry their key, for the paltry cost of about $35 plus installation.

The choice is yours. I'd be interested to hear your comments in the box below. Comments are subject to moderation.

Price War Begins - Customers To Win Big - Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock Price Drop - Now only $133

A price war has begun. A new player has entered the market and selling on Amazon.

They have dropped the price of The Lockwood  7444 Keyed Pocket/Cavity Door Lock to $135, so to combat them we are dropping to $133.

We have been selling this product for 7 years and honor the manufacturers warranty, unlike other re-sellers who don't.

The impending tariffs to be imposed by the current USA administration are expected to hit all consumer  prices in the coming months/years.

Besides inflation, which has been on the rise for years now (not according to Wall St though) and evident on Main St, seeing many manufacturers prices increases, some 3 times in the last 12 months, we small businesses are less immune to the price volatility than our bigger competition.

I know many colleagues in my industry who have not raised their prices (on service and labor) in many years. Some are still charging similar prices to the late 1990's.

It is not like we enjoy raising prices but when our competitors are vying in a "race to the bottom" mentality, we have no choice but to join or fail. 

Labor is and always has been a fixed cost, that rises with the CPI (Consumer Price Index), but for many years labor rates/wages have not increased while costs of consumer goods continues to increase rapidly. Businesses today find that they cannot compete with the eBay's and Amazon's and Wal-Mart's and Home Depot's, Lowes, K-Mart's, Target's etc in retail prices. The customer is the only beneficiary of  cheaper prices and while this is a good thing for them, the fact that many/most smaller businesses (the largest employer sector of the wider economy) continue to lose market share, is a really bad omen for the future.

I have been a continuing professional locksmith for almost 35 years, having worked on 4 continents and delivered service to many and varied customers. Quality and professional expertise can be costly, but what do you want? What do you expect? I know that when I call a service professional, I demand the best quality products and services at fair value prices.

Remember this, "If You Only Want To Pay Peanuts, Expect To Get Monkeys!"

Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock - Price Increase

Due to unfavorable exchange rates and increased materials cost, the manufacturer in their infinite wisdom are forced to increase the cost of this especially popular product.

We have not determined the new price yet for the product, but we anticipate a 15% price increase will be necessary.

We are currently sold out of the satin pearl color option as it is the most popular requested option.

We have about 15 units left in polished chrome that we will maintain at our original price of $115.00 + shipping. Compared to other competing products in this class, the Lockwood 7444 keyed Pocket Door Lock is still the most competitively priced option for use on pocket/cavity sliding doors.

If you are not concerned about the color, hurry and order today while the current price remains!

We are expecting a new delivery of the satin pearl option in about 2 weeks time. We appreciate your patience and thank you for your understanding.

EDIT 3/21/14 We only have 10 units left in Polished Chrome.

More On Bilock

More and more demand for simpler control of key systems is increasingly leading people to the intelligent purchase of our Bilock product line.
The Australian designed Bilock Extreme Security locking system.
Now manufactured under license in the United States, this competitively priced product CANNOT be picked or bumped.
The unique key design is available in your choice of almost 9000 color combinations.
The key system can be used in almost all existing lock hardware products in the market.

New Generation BiLock offers the security concious an innovative new look, twin bladed key which operates a 12-pin program of tumbler pins, six on either side. These pins, in turn, activate two side-bars to provide the end user with up to 16.7 million possible lock combinations. In addition to a space age moving element within the key an extraordinarily shaped, horizontally positioned security rod has been built into the cylinder core to activate the 13th locking dimension. Without the moving element, this 13th dimension cannot be activated, this adds yet another feature to BiLock's already exceptional level of security.




BiLock is the only one that is bump and virtually pick proof.

Rekey your own locks when you lose a key.
Rekey your own locks when you fire an employee.
Rekey your own locks on the spot.
Send the old cores back for rekeying and use again

Front Door, Back Door, Cabinets, Cages, Drawers, Showcases

Masterkey all of your stores with BiLock
     Employee Key - front door only
     Manager Key - entire store
     District Manager - territory stores
     Regional Manager - all stores in the state
     Corporate -  every lock in the chain


Bilock also provides a unique construction keying option, enabling construction facilitators 
and project managers to easily manage and secure properties during the different and separate stages of a construction project.

Clearly identifiable keyway inserts matching to respective colored key heads, can allow for secure access to particular trades at particular times. This means that a project requiring electricians access only could, say, be colored RED. Only RED keys will work the required access doors to the project. When the electricians part of the project is completed, the project manager can simply swap out cores themselves to, say, BLUE cores allowing access by plumbers. All others besides the plumbers and project manager are locked out until completion of their works. When the plumbers work is completed, the project manager can then use their core removal keys to swap cores to GREEN cores, say, for allowing access to finish carpenters.

All the while maintaining complete and total access control to the project, using conventional mechanical locking products. This directly reduces costs during the construction phase of your project and protects all parties from potential losses arising from unauthorised access.

Project managers can then re-use the color coded cores and keys on other projects and if they continue to use the same sources of tradespeople, can easily manage their other projects by knowing which stage each project is at, by the color of the keyhole and reducing costs by not constantly requiring to hand out new keys for future projects. 

Keyed Pocket Door Lock Sales Skyrocket - Demand Outstrips Supply

Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket/Cavity Door Lock - Sales Off The Chart

The fabulous Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket/Cavity Door Lock has arrived and is now in stock.

There are 2 colors available. Satin Pearl (formerly satin chrome) and Chrome Plate.

View the videos below to see installation instructions and a marketing video from Australia.

Colors

7444Chrome Plate $120.00 USD 7444Satin Pearl (satin chrome/nickel) $120.00 USD

Lockitron - Turning Any Deadbolt Into Wireless Keyless Access

A new product about to hit the market, will likely change the world of access control. Lockitron is the brainchild of a few young guys who have perfected the ultimate deadbolt lock accessory.

View the video (after the jump) for a great and simple explanation of the product.

The beauty of this type of product is that it is designed to work with your existing deadbolt lock. I foresee many and varied applications for this and expect the locksmith industry to jump on the bandwagon fairly quicksmart.

This product, I suggest will almost completely eliminate the need to hand out a spare key to your home or office in future.

Lockwood 7444 Keyed Pocket Door Lock - First Samples Arrived

In April this year we posted about Lockwood Australia's new 7444 Cavity (pocket) sliding door lock and have received numerous inquiries about it.

As the above video explains, this new product is tailored to allow easy onsite installation by a keen DIY'er or handyman (person).

Competitively priced, this product makes securing pocket/cavity sliding doors much easier.

The design of this style of lock is not made for replacement of the common square/rectangular pocket door catch, most common in the USA. The Cowdroy P697 Double Cylinder Pocket Door Lock is designed for that very purpose, to enable easy replacement of your existing pocket/cavity sliding door catch.

We just received our first samples of this new product and are putting it through our testing regimen.

The product comes in it's own blister pack that can be displayed easily on a hook. You will be required to cut the packaging to take the product apart, prior to installation.

It uses a 5 pin tumbler LW4 keyway, which is identical to the popular KW1 (Kwikset) key profile, prolific in the North American market. This means that the lock can be keyed alike with other similar branded keyway profiles. With a little modification, we can provide restricted key cylinders for use in a master keyed system.
The product cannot be keyed to Schlage or Yale keys at this time.

We are working out the final pricing details now and expect to sell this product for about $110.00 plus shipping.

(as you probably understand - many imported solutions incur significant duties and customs/shipping costs that directly impact the list/wholesale costs. Whereas, you may be able to purchase these products elsewhere abroad, whilst they may advertise a significantly cheaper price, it is important to remember that customs duties/shipping has not been included)

Reassembly And Installing Serrature Meroni Combina Entrance Set

[video removed]

Today I installed 2 new Serrature Meroni Combina Entrance Sets. I tried to record the reassembly and installation using my Android phone.

The Serrature Meroni Combina entrance set is a beautiful and functional product that is precision built to tight tolerances, ensuring top quality and long lasting functionality.

Credit Cards Used To Duplicate Keys

We first posted this article in September 2008, but have received many inquiries about our fabulous Bilock Extreme Security product that virtually eliminates this threat. Bilock  keys are unable to be copied surreptitiously in a similar fashion, due to the product using two blades with different key cuts on each blade. Combined with the patented Bilock interactive element, both in the key and the cylinder, security of both the key and lock are protected in an unequalled manner.

LAS VEGAS -- Life takes Visa, says the credit card company's catchy and ubiquitous TV ads.

And now, according to a group of security researchers speaking at the DefCon hacker conference in Las Vegas, Medeco high-security locks take Visa, too. As well as MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards.

To be more precise, the researchers say that plastic used in all of these credit cards can be easily fashioned into simulated keys that open three kinds of M3 high-security locks made by the Virginia-based Medeco Security Locks company -- locks that are used to secure sensitive facilities in places such as the White House, the Pentagon, embassies and other buildings.

"Virtually all conventional pin-tumbler locks are vulnerable to this method of attack, and frankly nobody has really considered it or looked at it before," says Marc Weber Tobias, one of the researchers.

Emtek By Assa Abloy Announce Price Increase Effective April 2, 2012

Breaking News: Emtek Hardware announce that effective April 2nd, 2012 their entire product line will increase in price.

Quotes prepared prior to April 2nd, 2012 will be honored at the old pricing for 45 days.

Emtek, owned by Assa Abloy have been producing beautiful quality and ornate door hardware for residential

Hoppe - Locks Of Distinction

Hoppe locks are a very well known high-end door hardware brand originally designed and manufactured in Germany.

Friedrich Hoppe started the company in the mid 1950's and has built manufacturing facilities in many other European countries.

Built to very exacting standards, these high end residential entry systems are often found in patio door applications across the world.

Europeans generally install their keyhole upside down...

Changing Locks - How Much Does It Cost?

Many locksmiths would prefer you not know how lock re-keying is done. This talented young fellow has shown exactly the steps involved.

Almost 4 years ago we posted a very popular article here explaining fees.

Locksmith publications usually publish annual accepted industry averages. These prices vary across the country from $12 to $55 depending on where you live.

We are pleased to say our prices have not increased in this time. We still charge $15.00 per keyhole including parts and labor. Master Keying is $20.00 per keyhole.

We also rekey car locks too. Often $30 in parts are required and labor is negotiable.

Many people are starting to look at wireless and battery powered digital door locks. It is important and vital to always include the mechanical backup option even with battery powered door locks. When your batteries run down, you still need to get in. This also explains why you should not just rely on your Remote Garage Door Control.

I cant tell you the number of times I have been called to open houses for people who cannot get in their garage. Usually, power loss is the cause. But they dont carry a house key and to make worse, often leave the garage-house entry unlocked too. Does this sound familiar?

Many Manufacturers Announce Price Increases Today

A recent memo from some of our suppliers informed us about many of the leading brand manufacturers increasing their prices for their products, effective February 1st, 2012.

Assa-Abloy, HES, Schlage, HID, etc are among the few who have raised their prices.

Lucky for some, we actually lowered many prices on our specialty inventory items.

It is a competitive market out there and by offering the identical products to everyone else online and offline, the only way to remain competitive, many vendors can only compete on labor charges.

Fortunately, by offering products that are less mainstream than brand named lines, we can offer super-competitive prices, as long as you are not fussed about having the brand named products.

We offer Cal-Royal, Carbine, LSDA, Baron, Emtek, Meroni, Cowdroy, Lock Focus, Bilock products that are often similar in application to the more mainstream brands but at more competitive prices.

We will also provide any brand, upon request if we can get it.

Serrature Meroni - Combina Hardware From Italy

Our new product line the fabulous Serrature Meroni - Combina, direct from Italy was showcased a few years in Europe. See how easy it is to operate this handle? It will surpass ADA requirements in both commercial and residential markets. The simplicity of design ensures easy operation by anyone.

No more twisting your hand to open your door, this stylish design is surprisingly, competitively priced compared to mainstream products available elsewhere.

We also offer the entire range of Serrature Meroni products. The choice of colors and styles is impressive.

We will be showing their range in upcoming features!

Wholesale opportunity for fellow locksmiths only.

Modern Master Key System Design

Traditional master key systems were designed primarily by architects or door personnel without necessarily much experience in locksmithing.

Many existing master key systems found today have been created by the Original Equipment Manufacturer and often do not or cannot be serviced by them, requiring assistance from suitably qualified and trained locksmiths.

The benefits of a locksmithing background are immense when designing, creating and building a master key system.

Traditional systems usually included one central grand master key designed to work every door/lock in a building or group of buildings. These buildings could be in the same location or multiple locations. Then there would be sub-master keys, held by individuals requiring access to only a designated area and not all areas. Next there were servant keys (a.k.a. Change Keys) designed to work the individual lock.

While traditional systems are still requested today, there are better methods available thanks to products like Abloy Protec and our signature product Bilock.

The modern approach to master keying is akin to the purpose of card access or fob access systems, whereby each lock in the system can be programmed to accept individual keys.

Unlike card access or fob access systems, Bilock and Abloy Protec cylinders work with traditional locksets, reducing the cost associated with new especially designed hardware and electrical connections, computer software programming, training of staff to implement and carry out changes etc.

With Bilock, we can tailor any system to as many as 16 million different keys per keyway. That means that virtually any lock in any building, campus or group of buildings, whether in the same location or multiple locations can be mechanically programmed to accept many different keys.

With Bilock, you can enjoy painless rekeying, thanks to the Quick Change Core function. Missing or lost keys can be removed from the system without affecting other key holders. The locks (mostly) never have to be removed from the applications (doors).

With Bilock, you can color code your keys to make them individual and original. Each key is only produced as an original and cannot be duplicated easily.

Cost is significantly cheaper than an electronic access control system, because electronics are not used, there is no wiring to overheat, short out, suffer from power outages. No circuit boards are used requiring foreign made parts to repair.
Your locksmith can usually repair or replace a faulty part instantly. Your maintenance person can often take the lock to your locksmith for instant quick repairs as opposed to waiting for a licensed, qualified electronic technician, especially trained in your electronic product category.

Breaking News - Bilock For Kwikset

8.00am EST Breaking News... Bilock announce final testing of a new replacement cylinder especially designed for Emtek, Baldwin and Kwikset Door Locks.

The ability for discerning customers to maintain the same hardware is a key motivator and cost savings factor to be considered, when updating to a 100% bump proof and virtually pick proof system that enables authorized signature controlled keys.

Bilock are constantly designing solutions aimed at reducing the customers cost for maintaining higher levels of physical security. To do so without largely buying new hardware is a chore that many competitors in the market are incapable of matching without complete hardware replacement.

By making use of Bilock's patented Quick Change Core system, you can increase the security of your existing door lock at the same time as having a self-rekeyable lock system.

We are expecting a test model shortly and will report more details later. Stay tuned.

Locksmith Hardware - Competing With Brand Name Products

Locksmiths across the world sell multiple different brands of hardware. The more well known brands, like Schlage and Kwikset are often found in the big box chain stores as well as locksmith shops, but often there are other less well known but competitively priced alternatives, that sometimes are manufactured from better quality materials that many customers will never see on the rack.

I really like the Cal-Royal brand products because they offer a wide range of hardware that is excellent quality and competitively priced to the mainstream big name brands.

I have also recently been using the LSDA brand of hardware products, because they are found more locally to

me and are stocked by local distributors. Pictured to the left here are some of the products in their range. LSDA are rarely found other than at locksmith companies, but their quality is exemplary and their prices are very competitive to Schlage and Kwikset. They offer the ability to key to either Kwikset or Schlage type keys.

When choosing to update your door hardware, it is worthwile to consider alternative brands to the big name stuff, because often the products come with significantly longer warranties than the brand name stuff and their prices are super-competitive.

LSDA product come with a lifetime warranty on finish (plating) and a 15 year warranty on mechanical parts.

The price point is super competitive and parts can be easily sourced by any locksmith in the country, so you are not required to necessarily shop at the one provider.

For interest in any of the LSDA range, please contact us and we will offer super-competitive pricing.

Baldwin 5205 Lifetime Brass Entrance Set

• Lifetime Brass Finish
• ADA Compliant
• 2 Nickel Silver Keys (Large Head)
• $99.95

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Baldwin 8011 Double Cylinder Deadbolt

• Baldwin 8011 Deadbolt
• Lifetime Brass Finish
• 2 Nickel Silver Keys (Large Head)
• $69.00

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Bilock Mortise Keyholes

• Bilock Mortise Cylinder 1-1/4" or 1-1/8" (Please Specify)
• Brass, Satin Chrome, Brown Finish (Please Specify)
• 2 Keys Supplied (with 1st cylinder ordered)
• Cams to suit your specific brand of hardware
• From $105.00

Bump Proof! Copy Proof!

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