How To Pick The Correct Keyless Door Lock For Your Home
Electrical locks work by means of electrical current instead of mechanical methods and have the distinct advantage of being able to “change the lock” without having to physically re-key the lock itself.
These locks are becoming more popular with homeowners as they eliminate the need for using a key relying instead on numeric keypads, rfid tags or biometric inputs such as fingerprints to unlock the locks.
This gives you flexibility over who can unlock the doors while maintaining a high degree of flexibility. Limited use access codes can be setup for repairmen that can be deleted once the task is completed eliminating the possibility of keys being lost, stolen or copied.
An electric doorlock shouldn’t be mistaken for what is normally known as a keypad lock as most door locks that utilize a keypad or set of buttons for entry are mechanical and require manually turning of a lever or handle to unlock the lock after the codes are accepted.
True electronic doorlocks will retract the deadbolt electrically once the proper authentications are validated and are not subject to mechanical failure because of wear and tear of lock parts.
There are many electronic lock keys with the numeric pad being the most popular. An good example of this type of doorlock would be the schlage keyless where a sequence of numbers (typically 4 to 6 digits long) must be entered in the correct order before the lock mechanism will actuate. On some pricier locks a phrase or password is entered in place of numbers.
Additional keyless locks will use a so-called token embedded into a card or “key” which must be passed over a sensor or touched to a special sensor plate near the lock. These tokens are encoded magnetically with the appropriate access codes and are similar to modern day hotel keys.
RFID tags are growing in popularity and merely requires someone have a tag within a few feet of the lock for it to unlock automatically. A good example of this lock is found on cars where you only need to keep your electronic “key” in your pocket or purse to unlock the door.
The last type of access mechanism for electronic doorlocks is through the use of biometrics. These involve futuristic technology like fingerprint or eye scanning coupled with voiceprint identification and are commonly featured in TV series and movies.
In addition to being more expensive than other electronic locks they are also more error-prone especially when used outdoors with the lock being subject to background sounds and the weather.
Regardless which style of electronic lock you decide on almost all of them have one fatal flaw and that is they have a regular key that is utilized as a backup method for opening the door. What t means that in spite of being more convenient to unlock the doorlock it is no safer than a regular lock and is vulnerable to lock picking and lock bumping.
There is one particular doorlock though that while being entirelyelectronic also provides for maximum security because there is no keyhole in the lock and that lock is the Sunnect AP501 electronic lock.
