Hi guys… this is Bruce from Padio Systems. ( I know you are thinking… that it is about time!)
Yes we just launched our Kickstarter Campaign. http://goo.gl/XLJxo2
Thanks Tolik for mentioning that already.
I will try to address a few of your thoughts and concerns about what PaDIOLOK will do for you.
PaDIOLOK was originally conceived of to simply provide two-way keyless use of sliding patio doors while improving security and safety. We saw this as a huge improvement in functionality for people who would benefit from being able to go out their slider and go somewhere like to their car, then to come back in that way with groceries. We see this as a huge unmet need.
Then you nerdy awesome home automation folks found us and helped us understand the advantages of a connected system. We love it. As several of you mention capabilities above such as remote passcode management, remote monitoring of status, remote unlocking and locking are all awesome. All these things come with costs though. Size, battery size, battery life, and $ cost. Plus of course there are constraints of how much space is the on the narrow stile of a moving panel and underneath screens etc. Then also limits on what people will pay. So we have had to weigh desires and constraints and trade them off against each other.
We believe the market size for non connected locks is larger than for a connected one but that those non-connected homeowners mostly haven’t gotten off their couch yet and are not yet looking to improve their sliding door lock. Whereas you, the automated community is up and motivated already. So both markets are important.
PaDIOLOK is a viable valuable product without connectivity and that is the base product for the buyers who don’t need connection and remote management. That will provide two way entry and exit via a keypad and lever on the outside and lever on the inside. The mechanism will work on 95% of the existing sliders today and we strive to up that to 98%.
Yes we won the Z-wave dev kit competition. At that time we were very interested in Z-wave and wanted to learn and become more informed before choosing our technology direction. We think apps and blue tooth are sexy but don’t think they really are as useful as they look. This isn’t a product that you are going to want to replace every 5 years and spend time upgrading versions etc. to keep it working with the changing technology. Users also will not want a different app/system for every device in their home. Automation is only valuable if it improves and simplifies life. I personally don’t think people even want to unlock their door via their phone (some will argue this and I’m OK with differences of opinion and the discussion) For me it just doesn’t seem as convenient to get out the phone and maybe turn it on but at least to unlock it and to find and open the app and to unlock then open the door. Remembering and entering a 4 digit code seems faster, easier, more reliable and has some extra security advantages too. So the whole blue-tooth app thing seems sexy but in truth not as useful (to me and I think most). So yes we have focused in on Z-wave now. The base product that we are doing as part of our Kickstarter funding goal will be upgrade-able to Z-wave when we get the Z-wave done. It will be a simple PCB replacement. If we hit our stretch goal we will do Z-wave as part of the campaign!
Howard549 your perception is correct that PaDIOK’s base product and the intended Z-wave enable models will NOT have powered automatic remote locking or unlocking. There isn’t a motor which drives the lever to latch or unlatch it so adding z-wave has no way to perform that remotely. Wouldn’t it be awesome if it could do everything! To explain… for the non connected version there are a bunch of advantages of requiring the levering to be done manually. Most obviously is the battery life. Secondly is the feedback that you know its done. When you throw the lever manually its faster and gives you the feedback. If a push button power locked it, people would tend to push and depart. But when the door isn’t in the right position, they’d tend to walk away thinking they’d locked it. So we like the manual levering.
Further, as beckwith notes above, patio doors are sometimes finicky. Some latches take a bit of force to operate, The door can look closed but they can still be 1/4’ from the require position for latching. Even if they are 1/8" out of position it is sometimes a forceful levering that pulls them in the last bit. Swing doors don’t generally have this problem as they have a latched position that is the same as the closed bolted position. Your kids will NOT close sliders to the required position for auto latching more than 10% of the time. So we were less interested in automating a lock which won’t succeed a significant % of the time. Making a device which fits the huge range of different door and latches was hard enough. Auto driving those latches is too hard for now at least. If it can be done, we think it will require a larger mechanical device,an extra and sizeable motor, larger battery etc. So beware about expecting or hoping for that capability soon. The initial version of PaDIOLOK that is to be Z-wavified will not have powered remote locking. Maybe in the future we will be able to do it for some select new doors. I doubt it will ever be realistic within the costs and constraints for normal buyers for existing doors.
Hopefullly many of you will be happy with remote monitoring, logging, management and even unlocking which might be the creation of a temporary code or such and requiring the user to still operate the lever.
And if you are still interested, hurry over to our campaign link above and get the best Kickstarter deals!