Eneloops would only last about 3 weeks. And disposable last 2 months. This door is used a lot and since it has Zwave and a door open sensor it sends info on every open.

Bonus, since it can handle the lipo AA batteries that put out 1.8v and it gives the motor more oomph I made the battery pack give 7.2v and it never sticks anymore.

This is a garage-door so its not critical access but is used a lot.

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[–] 25 points 1 day ago* (17 children)

Imagine being locked out of your house because you forgot to bring keys with you.

Like, I'm sorry if you disagree with this, but holy shit, having electric locks on your doors where you can get into your house based off a fingerprint or a code is a fucking game changer.

I have two on my doors, one on the front, one on the back, and I installed them at a week or two apart, so if one of them starts complaining that the battery is low, the other one's still good. If one of them goes dead while I'm on vacation, the other one's good.

Not to mention that you can unlock the door from your phone in case somebody comes over unexpectedly, or if you have a friend coming in from out of town and you're going to be at work when they arrive, you can create a code for them to unlock your front door and come in while you're not even there.

Plus they still have key locks that I can use if the batteries are completely dead and they can be powered by a 9 volt battery in case I don't have the key with me.

They're freaking awesome and I am glad they exist.

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  • [–] 33 points 1 day ago* (3 children)

    You can't lock yourself out of the house with a deadbolt, they require the key to lock

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  • [–] 8 points 1 day ago (7 children)

    Yeah and it makes it pathetically easy to break into your house. Just search online for some of these “security locks using fingerprints”. Its even easier to break into sometimes than a regular shitty lock.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    Unless you've got a steel reinforced frame bolted into the foundation backing your steel reinforced door, a strong leg and a sturdy boot will get through practically anything you can buy at a hardware store, and a crowbar will take care of the rest.

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  • [–] 2 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

    Electronic mechanisms are more prone to people being able to be able to access areas without evidence of tampering using simple scripts from the internet, whereas lockpicking is not employed by most burglars. (And as stated previously, level of commitment is greater when destruction is involved, which deters most.)

    Having a noisy break-in also means you are more capable of responding if the need arises.

    If all you care about is deterrence, just own a shotgun and have a loud dog at home.

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  • [–] 3 points 19 hours ago

    To me it's more like the Kia cars where insurance can easily roll over if a pathetically easy bypass is found. Most people won't care until houses get cleaned out without evidence of forced entry. Domestic abusers also tend to love persistent access to these things too.

    Overall not a fan.

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  • [–] 1 point 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

    Most analog deadbolts are also pathetically weak and can be bumped or picked quickly with no sign of entry. Networked electric locks just let people have another avenue as well. Some dont, as being electric doesnt mean people network them. The good networked ones tend to use secure zwave (so called zwave s2), which is an improved security protocol that is not as easy to hack as "run some scripts." The skills needed to breach it are going to be "high effort" compared to a kick.

    Some electric locks have gone keyless, so they actually invert this. Generally these locks have a way to plug in a USB C cable to power them if the batteries die, but have no key access. This power port has no data access. Mixed with a secure network protocol or none at all, they are likely more secure than many analog options.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago* (2 children)

    So does me forgetting to lock the door.

    I once left my garage doors open all weekend with thousands of dollars of tools in it, along with my motorcycle with the key in it. My garage at the time was quite visible from a very busy street. I got lucky and nothing was stolen. My garage doors are smart now, so that doesn't happen any more. Sure, someone could hack my home assistant server and open the garage, but that's way less likely than my continued pattern of forgetfulness.

    Based on that logic, my house also has smart locks now that automatically lock when I leave. I will say that they aren't cheapo who-knows fingerprint locks, they're made by a real company and just have a keypad with a lengthy entry code. The only added vulnerabilities should be my home assistant server and the entry code.

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