I have the deadbolt feature set for “auto lock” which locks after 30 seconds and only has the option of “on” or “off”. 30 seconds is the only option for time on it.
I have my phone set for a presence sensor so my lock will unlock automatically but by the time I get to the door it has already locked back.
Is there some way of changing the length of time the deadbolt stays unlock for. Maybe by a “Smart app” that I can turn off the "auto lock feature on the deadbolt and the “smart app” would have a feature that gives different time limits to choose from to keep the deadbolt unlock for.
I feel like I can’t be the only person that has had this issue/problem. Anyone know of a solution?
One) change the parameter that is configured in the lock itself. You can’t do this just from the keypad, but it can be done by sending Z wave configure commands. IIRC, it can be changed up to 255 seconds. This would require a custom device type handler to make the change, but once you had configured it in the lock I believe you could go back to a standard device type handler.
Yale locks aren’t quite as popular in the community as Schlage, and I’m not sure if such a device handler already exists or not.
@rboy sells licenses for some of his advanced code and he might have a paid version that can configure the setting. Or someone might know of a free version.
instead of using the lock’s auto relock feature, disable that and use a SmartApp to lock the door instead. this is certainly doable with just standard routines, but I wouldn’t recommend it as the reliability just isn’t there yet.
Just as an example, even if everything is working perfectly SmartThings pushes out code updates from time to time that take the hub off-line. There was one on Monday this week. We usually get a few days notice that such an update is coming, but there’s no way to postpone or refuse it. The system can be unavailable from anywhere from about 15 minutes to several hours.
Since most people who use auto relock consider it a critical safety feature, I wouldn’t want to depend on a control method that I know will stop working every so often.
The Bus Stop Problem
By the way, I had exactly the same problem at my house that you are having. I use a wheelchair, and it often takes the bus driver several minutes to get me unloaded from the bus. During that time, the house would recognize me as “home”, unlock the door, and then it would be locked again by the time I got to it.
I solved this by switching to a combination of two devices to define when the lock should be unlocked and using I beacons to capture my arrival just at the wheelchair ramp at my front door.
So that kind of approach is another alternative if just changing the relock parameter doesn’t solve the problem for you.
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RBoy
(www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)
3
@hockeydan, this DH support enabling/disabling the autoLock feature on the Yale locks:
It also exposes a custom command enableAutoLock and disableAutoLock which can use along with CoRE to enable/disable autolock using rules.
As @JDRoberts pointed out there upsides and downsides to both strategies, there are also SmartApps we’ve written and on the community to control locking / unlocking through SmartApps but that puts a bottleneck on the ST cloud/internet. However CoRE controlled autoLock has similar issues also.
My 2 cents, after spendings years with Schlage, Yale, Kwikset and other locks I’ve found Yale to be reliable and more flexible for something like ST compared to a Schlage. Schlage some locks exhibit some firmware bugs also, overall I prefer Yale when it comes to configurable parameters (like settings autoLock timeout, invalid code notification thresholds etc). Schlage has an Alarm feature built into it which is pretty cool, so it really comes down to what’s important to you.
Can your DTH also change the relock time parameter?
(I originally chose the Yale lock because the touchpad is a true capacitive touch pad, like a smart phone, while the Schlage requires actually pressing on it which is physically harder for me to do. Also the Yale is a little quieter. But Schlage comes in more colors and both Yale and Schlage are good locks. )
RBoy
(www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)
5
Schlage is definitely good esp the BE469 but like I mentioned Yale is just more flexible.
Yes you can configure the auto relock timeout in seconds through the DH preferences page. You can also configure the invalid code reporting limits.
@JDRoberts I guess I’m still a little confused. Are you saying your phone communicates with the beacon first and then the beacon communicates with the lock?
Making the lock have a longer time period to stay unlocked?
Sorry for the confusion! The details are in the thread I linked to above. But essentially what I use the IBeacon for is to make the area of detection smaller than it would be with other presence methods. So the lock is unlocked for the same amount of time, it’s just that the system does not detect me as being “home” until I am within about 3 m of my front door. (At the base of the wheelchair ramp there)
The phone detects the IBeacon when I am about 3 m away from it instead of the 15 m of the SmartThings arrival sensor or the even longer distance of regular phone Geopresence.
Because it detected that particular IBeacon, the phone sends a message to SmartThings. Then SmartThings unlocks the door.
Estimote Ibeacons allow you to customize The signal strength of the Beacon, which in turn lets you change the detection area.
i wrote a super basic app (using the tutorial as a template) to auto lock when no motion has been detected in X minutes. You can replace motion sensor with presence sensor in the code where applicable if you’d like and i’ll be happy to share the code.
@RBoy I’m new to posting, so hopefully this is correct place… I just installed your DH and Smartapp for my Yale YRD240, and I want to turn on the auto re-lock. The guide references Rules Machine, but that seems to be no longer available and I’m not familiar with it. Is there a way for me to turn on auto re-lock remotely, or is best practice to set this at the physical device? If at the physical device I presume I can update the seconds to re-lock remotely?
RBoy
(www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)
10
Yes you can use CoRE instead of Rule Machine. In fact CoRE is more friendly then Rule Machine.
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