Yesterday I finally replaced my old Biometric lock that I have been using for the past 8 years with a newer model. The old one was still working fine for the most part but gave a fright a few weeks ago when its batteries died (I think that is what happened) and I couldn’t unlock the door. We did have a manual override key for the lock but I guess I don’t know my own strength because I broke off the key (in the lock) when I tried to unlock using the key. It looked like I would have to break the lock to get in but thankfully I remembered at the last minute that the lock had the option of providing power externally and was able to unlock using a 9 volt battery. Due to this and other small issues that were cropping up in the lock we decided to replace the lock with a newer version.
Searching online I found a lot of locks available but decided against most of them because I didn’t want the lock to be internet connected. There are enough security issues with the apps and I don’t like the idea of random folks being able to connect to my lock remotely for fun and profit. Finally narrowed down to two options, 1st was a godrej model and the other was the one we got. The Godrej one looked good but as per their support team required a door with a min thickness of 42mm and our door is only 35mm. We could have gotten extra plywood put in to thicken the door but since the other option was 10k cheaper, had more functionality and didn’t require modification we decided to go with that one instead.
Ordered the lock online and it was delivered in ~3 days, installation took a while because they took a while to assign a technician for some reason but after yelling at them for a bit (and offering to return the lock) it was finally installed yesterday. The installation person was pretty good and the whole thing took about 40 mins to complete.
Now with the new lock I can unlock the door with Finger prints, pin, RFID card and manual override key. In case of power going off it has the option of using a powerbank as external power so that is a relief. Plus it doesn’t require dismantling the handle to get access to the override key so that is a big advantage.
The new lock’s sensor is a lot more sensitive and processes faster than my old one. Thinking about what to do with the old one, one option is to send it to my parents place in Delhi another is to use it for secure storage here in Bangalore itself but that would require work and I honestly don’t have that many valuables that would require a biometric storage locker. In any case for now it is going into storage.
Well this is all for now, will post more later.
– Suramya
PS: I didn’t specify the lock model / make in the post specifically because I don’t think I want to make that public. But if you are interested in discussing more or are planning to buy you can reach out offline and we can talk in more detail.