Helpful Hints -- the Kwikset 916 Lock

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
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Hi all,

I just recently installed one of the Kwikset 916 locks and after dealing with getting it to work with the User Lock Manager and the new device type, I thought I’d pass along some helpful hints that might help others in the future. I’m going off of memory, here, so if it’s not exact, I apologize. Also of note, my door and my hub are probably a good 20 feet away from one another through three walled areas on the same floor and the signal will reach.

  1. Get the Updated Device Type. First, head out to grab the updated Zwave device type (zwave-lock.groovy) on @ethayer’s [github] (https://github.com/ethayer/user-lock-manager). Copy the code from zwave-lock.groovy. Go into the SmartThings developer IDE and add a new device type under “My Device Types”. When you eventually add the lock to the network, this code will expose additional functionality that will allow you to add user codes, etc.

  2. Exclude the Lock from the Network. Okay, I know you haven’t added it yet, but this excluding the lock is what eventually let me include it later. Go into your ST app under “My Locations” --> (whatever your default location is) --> (scroll down to your “active” hub, click it) --> “Z-Wave Utilities” --> “General Device Exclusion”. Click this and then click the “A” button on the inside cover of the lock (it’s the one on the upper left). Just make sure that when you were messing around with installing it that it didn’t get semi-included in the network. The ST app may respond and recognize the door lock and state that it was successfully excluded. I’ll tell you – I tried to add my device over and over again on the network to no avail, and it wasn’t until I did the exclude that the ST hub was able to find the lock in the next step.

  3. Add the Lock Into the Network. Within your ST app, go into your menu to “Connect New Device” and let the app start to search for devices making themselves known on the network. Now on the lock, press the “A” button again. You should quickly get an “Identifying” message on the app and the new device will be called “Z-Wave Lock Reporting” because your ST app looked around for device types for this lock and found the one you added in Step 1, above, and says, “oh, so that’s what this device is – I’ll use the code you added for this.”

  4. Add @ethayer’s Lock Manager App.. Get yourself back over to the User Lock Manager site and open “user-lock-manager.smartapp.groovy” copy the raw code. Head back over to the SmartThings developer IDE and go into “My Smartapps” then add a “New Smartapp” then “From Code” and paste the code you just copied. Save it and Publish it “For Me”. This will make the app accessible from the “My Apps” area of the Marketplace within the ST app.

  5. Install the User Lock Manager App on Your Mobile Device. Take a look at how to find an app you’ve just created by following these instructions for installing a custom app. When you navigate to the “My Apps” section of the Marketplace, you should see the “User Lock Manager” available. Click it and you will be asked to specify the lock you want to manage (your ST hub knows about it now and knows it a device that is a “lock”, so you should see it available to select). You’ll be able to add codes, users, set code expiration times, add events to the door being unlocked, etc. A very handy app to have.

A couple of notes on adding user codes within User Lock Manager:

  • When you add users/codes, they don’t immediately show up on the lock. You’ll have to wait for the next poll for them to get sent down. Could take 30 seconds or a couple of minutes. Just be patient.

  • I found that if I had set a 4-digit code and then wanted to update to an 8 digit code, the lock seemed to be iffy on accepting the new code. So I would go into that user “slot” and delete the code altogether and wait for that deletion to get sent down to the lock. THEN, I’d go back into the app and add the new code and wait for it to update. It seems like new codes add pretty easily, but the “overwriting codes” process tends to be a little more fickle.

If anyone sees corrections that need to be made to this, please don’t hesitate to leave comments below and I’ll update the post accordingly.

6 Likes
2

Thanks for writing this. I am thinking to purchase this lock.

How do you find the lock to be so far? Is it reliable and doing everything is should be doing? Have you run into any hiccups?

3

Thank you so much for this post. I am new to custom apps, and am so grateful for the step by step. It took me a minute to figure out a difference between “Devices” and “Device Handlers,” but other than that went swimmingly.

Cheer!

1 Like
4

Quick question. Can I identify on SmartThings who is trying to access the device by the code being entered? Or if someone is trying to bruteforce it?

5

I can verify that the ability to provide logic on what codes are being used by who is there once you get everything setup. I use the Kwikset 916 Z-Wave Smart Deadbolt with the updated code on my SmartThings v2 hub and with how I have the push notifications setup can attest that the name I have programmed for each of my codes comes across exactly as I specified without a doubt.

1 Like
6

Thanks for the tips. I’m brand new to SmartThings so I really appreciate guided howto’s. In the interest of helping another newbie there were some discrepancies, probably because of the age of the original post and changes to the github and SmartThings IDE

In step 1: It is a new Device Handler that needs to be added, not a new Device.
A. The new device handler is zwave-lock-reporting.groovy located at https://github.com/ethayer/user-lock-manager/blob/master/devicetypes/smartthings/zwave-lock-reporting.src/zwave-lock-reporting.groovy
B. In the SmartThings IDE goto “My Device Handlers”, then “Create New Device Handler”, then “From Code”. Paste the source code obtained in step 1.a into the page and click “create”

Thanks again

1 Like
7

I could swear the second time would be the charm. As a total novice, I missed a few things the first time, so I printed off Erik’s 26 pages of directions and the second time everything looks right BUT on the ST app, under my smartapp Lock Manager won’t hold the information. I get a message that the lock is installed under locks, I add users and they show up under Installed, but when I leave the app and come back nothing is saved. I’ve also followed the string from JSandford that said to exclude the lock (see following)

Exclude the Lock from the Network. Okay, I know you haven’t added it yet, but this excluding the lock is what eventually let me include it later. Go into your ST app under “My Locations” --> (whatever your default location is) --> (scroll down to your “active” hub, click it) --> “Z-Wave Utilities” --> “General Device Exclusion”. Click this and then click the “A” button on the inside cover of the lock (it’s the one on the upper left). Just make sure that when you were messing around with installing it that it didn’t get semi-included in the network. The ST app may respond and recognize the door lock and state that it was successfully excluded. I’ll tell you – I tried to add my device over and over again on the network to no avail, and it wasn’t until I did the exclude that the ST hub was able to find the lock in the next step.

But it still doesn’t work.

Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks so much

8

Hi JSandford,

I just reinstalled my kwikset 916 along with the ST hub using your instructions. However, I noticed that after entering all my new users under marketplace->myapps->lock manager, everything I just entered disappeared. It appears as if I never entered it. The odd thing is all the codes I had just setup for different users all work currently. Do you know what’s going on here?

Sam