Central locking for houses

[wizardofoz]

One of my friends has just asked me to put his house on a central locking system, just like his car.
This is not something I have looked at before, so as with all new things, I Goodled it.
It seems that there are no end of systems around, but to save me hours of trawling I was wondering if anyone has fitted any of these systems and what the ups and downs of them are.
If you haven't looked before, then a simple Google search of "central locking for houses" will bring it all up for you.

Thanks for help.

Wizardofoz.

[prag]

Its not impossible. The technology is available.

I've used a striker lock fitted with a reciever and transmiters. This way the clients front gate can be opened anywhere in the house instead of at one central point.

There is also an automation company that connects lights, aircon, etc to a central reciever that can be attivated by remote or via the internet. So you can be anywhere in the world and still switch your lights etc on /off. A burglar alway looks for signs of residents not being at home.

It should not be to hard to find door locks that can be run off this system.

I should also add that a manual override or key system still be in place incase there is a power failure.

[raimundo]

this type of system if I designed it would have the lock in the door frame and the striker in the door. If you mean to flip a switch and lock all the doors, you may have some problems if one of the doors is not fully shut, so there should also be a fridgelight switch somewhere to indicate if doors are closed.

It would make a good secondary system but I would still fit common deadbolts to each door, and these would overrule the electronic system.

[wizardofoz]

Yep - have to agree with that.
The ones that I have seen on the web look fine (there are fitting videos etc) but they in no way substitute the locks already there.
Seems to me that they are still a bit "gimmicky" right now and to replace good old fashioned deadlocks etc. you would have to be fitting some serious bank-like hardware!
Probably the way to go on new builds where they can be fitted by the manufacturers at source.

Wizardofoz

[Jaakko]

Search for Abloy Control. The least it can do is lock the house up when leaving and using the fob and the best it can do is to activate an alarm system and shut down appliances, but it requires quite much work and it would be best if done in the building phase.

About its security: The fob uses 3DES as encryption, so it is tested by time, but I have my doubts about it, it is only ~118 bit.

[prag]

I just spoke last week with our local suppliers and there is a system in use in here.
The web address is http://impro.net/
Lots of great gadgets for secuity and access control. The system used in SA is the "SUPA GATE" SYSTEM that is cost effective and quite reliable.

I see they have a distributor in the USA too.

[lunchb0x]

it would be expencive to do, but you could choose to either have your locks so that they are always locked so when the door is closed you will need a key to enter, then you could use electric strikes, or use electric mortise locks so you could leave the door unlocked and use an alarm panel to lock/ unlock and monitor the lock, so you can know if it is not closed, or have reed switches in the frame so you will know if the door is closed or not, an alarm panel that I know of that can do all of this is Challenger,this alarm can do everything for you, you can hook it up to your sprinkler system so it waters your garden, operate your elevators, lights and more, but it is very expencive to get and to set up.

If I where doing it for my house I would go for the electric mortise locks with reed switches, and a door closer, and find a cheap alarm panel that can monitor it, and even use a remote to lock/ unlock it.

[wizardofoz]

I am still looking at this as I haven't really convinced myself that it is a good or bad thing/gimmicky or not!
There is a system called Centralock which is on www.boltmaster.co.uk and also on another site which must be the same people with the address www.cedardell.co.uk
Neither website has a price, so I have just e-mailed them to ask.
On the sites there are some nicely produced videos and it all looks easy enough to fit and use.
The examples are on wooden doors....but where I am the vast majority are aluminium. I have these at home and I can't really see a way to fit this without making some ugly add-ons to bolt onto the door and frame or door jamb etc.
It would seem a great idea (cost permitting) to get a job lot of wooden doors and fit them up in the workshop and then sell them as a "complete" system - door and central locking. Just fit the door and away you go. You can add windows etc at a later date.
But as I say, I can't see it being much use to me here as most doors are aluminium, and if they are not, then old wooden doors on old houses where they would think I was from the planet Zog if I suggested central locking.
They would probably put me out the back with their donkey (we still use them here as well as camels!!).
I haven't come across any other systems yet - apart from high-tech commercial stuff which is way too expensive for one off house jobs.
I think for anyone out there with the right contacts in the manufacturing industry etc. there is a HUGE opportunity waiting to happen....too bad I am in the wrong place!

[mh]

interesting product! I wonder how the strength of the bolt compares to conventional locks, though.

Also I have one main concern with this: I can watch all of my car's doors at the same time. But that's not the case with all of my house's doors - so why would I want to unlock them all at the same time?

Cheers,
mh

[wizardofoz]

Fair comment, MH.
I think it is dependent on the type of property you live in.
The central locking thing would be great for an apartment with just a front and back door but maybe not so good for a big house with 3 or 4 or 5 doors etc.
I can see it as being something which we will probably be taking for granted in a few years.
Do you remember when you first got a TV with a remote control? Or when you had your first car you could open with the click on a key fob? I imagine my children will not have much use for keys in their lifetime....Maybe Locksmiths of the future will be more electronics experts than anything else....??

[prag]

wizardofoz wrote

Locksmiths of the future will be more electronics experts than anything else....??

I agree fully with what you stated. If you look at biometrics etc, a few years ago it would only be in the James Bond movies. Now its appearing in the near future. More now in commerce but later in domestic usage too. We were recently shown the S&G range of biometric safe locks. Impressive.

So yes, it is the future.

[Bump]

There was product on the market called "Centralocks" who had their system rigged with IR entry and automatic opening in the event of a fire. Problem was that all you had to do was puff smoke or chalk dust through the letterbox and "Hey presto!" you were in with a letterbox tool.

The general problem with all this electonic stuff is that it goes wrong -frequently- and isn't suited to the budget of the domestic market or have the robustness for the commercial one at aprice thats affordable.

[Bump]

Of course the other thing to consider is that currently you would still need to have conventional locks fitted to meet the Insurance Spec requirements.

Fitting the "Boltmaster" would only be considered as "secondary locking" devices.

In the event the customer hadn't locked the MPL on a UPVc door or mortice on a wooden door it would invalidate their insurance.