Hey all first time posting.
I’m moving in to our first house in January. And I want to make it a smart home.
I have done loads of research on ST and Philips hue also the harmony hub. But my question is what door locks work with theses? I know where are some in the States that work but not sure about over here.
What I’m looking to do is when it’s bedtime I could say something like, alexa I’m going to bed. She would lock the front door, turn the lights off down stairs.
Thanks for reading.
Rob.
The Schlage Z-wave locks work well with Smartthings, and via IFTTT work well with Alexa.
Im not sure you can do your stated scenario with them though.
At present, echo does not support any locks natively. No matter where you live.
As @glen_king mentioned you can get to your locks through the SmartThings IFTTT/channel service, so it’s quite easy.
For your scenario, you would just set up a routine that did the locks and downstairs lights. Then you would have echo trigger that routine by turning on a virtual switch.
You do have to use the word “trigger” in your command so that echo knows that you want to go to IFTTT, but other than that you can call it anything you want.
So it could be
“Alexa, trigger bedtime”
“Alexa, trigger the goodnight routine”
“Alexa, trigger the drawbridge”
Or whatever.
As long as SmartThings can control the lock, You’ll be able to get to it from Echo via IFTTT.
It might also be worth checking with your insurance company about using a smart lock on the front door. They might insist on using a standard 5 lever mortice lock as well as the smart lock, which kind of defeats the point.
My understanding is that in the UK the Yale locks which are on the SmartThings compatibility list are generally acceptable to insurance companies. But of course verify this for your own situation.
Have you checked out DANALOCK v2?
Looks very neat!
Yale has two locks. It’s only the thin one (uPVC door lock replacement) that’s insurance approved.
But do you really want someone outside your house to be able to shout “Alexa, unlock the door” ?
If anyone is interested in the answer to that then this thread is useful.
I wouldn’t set a command for an unlock. It would only be for in going to bed I could give once command and she would lock the door turn lights off, 2tb and sky box. For safety reasons having a command for an unlock would be mental.
I have the Yale uPVC keyfree connected lock mentioned above. It won’t work in your scenario though as the only way to multipoint lock the Yale Keyfree is by physically lifting the door handle. Otherwise, all you’d be doing by saying “Goodnight” and sending a command to the Yale is making it ‘split’ it’s split spindle, which would deactivate the outside handle, but wouldn’t throw all the multipoint hooks and rollers.
In essence, you’d go to bed with your front door on nothing more than the single door latch the handle operates.
I’m hoping the above makes sense, as a door lock with it’s multiple parts is difficult to describe in text.
In any case, as far as the Yale Keyfree lock goes, it’s fantastic, you should buy one as it negates the need for a key, but don’t buy one thinking you can say a command to Alexa, and it will lock the door, as it won’t lock the door effectively.
Thank you for the info on that lock mate. Imthats good to know before buying one.
Wow, I was always under the impression it was motorised and throw the multipoint locks if activated. You’ve saved me a lot of disappointment there as I was planning on getting one.
It is motorised, in that if you connected it to Smartthings, the motor would engage, and disengage the split spindle which allows the outside handle to move the door latch and lock/unlock the door, but the motor would have no way of engaging the rest of the multipoint locks as it only operates the spindle, and absolutely wouldn’t be strong enough to throw the rest of the locks out as well. Besides, that would probably kill the AA batteries in a matter of days.
Having said all the above, I think it’s a great lock. I don’t regret buying it at all, and it’s simply a process of entering house, and lifting the handle up on the otherside which throws all the multipoint locks.
So much so, if you read my other post from the other day, you’ll see the lock, and Smartthings as a whole actually prevented a burglary at my house.
…although, having said that, due to the Yale Keyfree lock having a keypad, I do feel that it possibly enticed the burglars to try my house. I think maybe they thought it was an easier lock to break through. I say this from the point that in 13 years of owning my house, I’ve never had a break in. 1 month after installing the Yale Keyfree, someone had a try. I’m putting 2 and 2 together and assuming I’ve come to 4.
The lock may also have caused them to conclude that there was more high-tech stuff worth stealing inside. 
Yep, also a good point. But they didn’t count on Smartthings and several cameras monitoring my place.
It’s just good to know for all it’s faults, Smartthings worked when it mattered.
I’ve also just realised that my doors have the lift-handle action before I can lock, so there’s no way a smart lock can operate fully automatically. It would be restricted to letting people in when they’ve forgotten their key (such as last night, which is what made me think - kids went out, we went out, kids came back and were locked out so I had to drive home from the pub to let them in) which is a 1% use case scenario.
I think my 99% use case is being able to automatically lock the door when a Good Night routine runs, which is impossible on this type of door.
(I’d settle for having a “door locked” indicator, almost like an open/close sensor on the lock barrel “finger”… but that seems impossible too without having a bespoke door built)
Do you not raise the handle as a matter of course when coming in and going out of the house anyway?
We have multipoint locking door and always raise the handle when we come in but that doesnt mean the door is locked its just secured on the multipoint locks you can still, from the outside, just open the door unless we lock it eveytime from the inside (which the kids never do!).
My real benefit here is that the Yale would auto lock the door so that someone couldnt just try the handle. Which in my opinion is the most likely scenario for someone breaking in (opportunistic attack).
If we all dont need to worry about keys and alway lift the handle as default then the door is always securely locked and you dont have to bother telling it to lock at night as it will have locked just after it was closed.
Thats my thoughts, what do others think who has the system installed?
Do not discount mere coincidence. lol Seriously, it’s highly unlikely the thieves are out there looking for high-tech security to attack. Odds are your anode was luck of the draw, a random choice.
As great as the workaround of using IFTTT and TRIGGER phrases to unlock and lock a door are, the delay that some experience could have your door unlocking after you’ve long gone out.
Until Alexa devices natively support locking and unlocking doors which require a PIN code to verify the request, I’ll be leaving voice controlling my main door alone.
For anyone who does choose to voice control their front door, just make sure you use a code name for your door and not FRONT DOOR which can be guessed.
We don’t yet live in a world where voice control is that common that thieves are yelling through letter boxes Alexa unlock the front door, instead of just picking up a brick and putting a window through.