Hello smartthings hivemind…
I’m looking for a device that can lock a physical cabinet. Ideally it would be a padlock type device, but a ‘coffin lock’ device would work as well.
Either Z-wave or Zigbee is fine, and smartthings compatible of course.
Anyone ever heard of anything like that?
These exist, but they’re usually slide bolts on the inside of the cabinet. They work better on a wooden cabinet then a metal one. You don’t even see them from the outside. Would that work for your use case?
In particular, is the cabinet a single door with a latch into the frame? Or a double door? The slide bolts were great on the double door because you have a place to put both parts of the device.
Take a look at some of the dog kennel projects, they typically have a bolt actuator that can work for cabinets, especially if it’s on the inside.
You can also use a zwave Danalock on an interior turnbolt and it should work fine. The problem with those (besides the price) is they got pretty bad reviews when they were selling on Amazon, but there’s a new model out, and I don’t know whether it’s better or not. Amazon doesn’t seem to be carrying the new model. Make sure you get one with zwave if you want it to work with smartthings.
There are some Bluetooth padlocks, but they don’t integrate with smartthings, and you have to have a Bluetooth controller within about 30 feet. They’re nice quality, and they’re good for people like me who don’t have hand dexterity, but they won’t meet any use cases where you’re looking for remote access control.
https://www.amazon.com/4400D-Bluetooth-Padlock-Shackle-Diameter/dp/B01A65T96E
An electric door strike might also be a possibility, it just depends on the size of the doors and how much room you have to work with.
Forgot to mention also that any fail open electronically powered cabinet lock that you can wire to a relay could be operated from SmartThings. Basically you just cut power to it when you want to be able to open the cabinet. There are a lot of variations on this.
Ben used an Arduino shield for his secret bookcase door, for example:
Hi JD
Once again, you’ve provided very useful advice and information, thank you.
The internal sliders are perfect, and what I meant when I referred to coffin locks. The cabinet is has a hinged top, so these can be mounted on the outside.
The Bluetooth padlock is interesting, but as you surmised not great for this use case.
Thanks again
Rob
Do you know if they offer an outdoor padlock in either z-wave or zigbee?
None that I know of, I’m pretty sure the devices would be too big. Bluetooth can run on much smaller batteries.
