Our house has four exterior doors, all with standard deadbolt locks. I haven't seen the need yet for automatic keypad locks, so we still have the standard deadbolts. Two doors are in the garage, and two in the house. When locking up when leaving the house, or when retiring for the night, it takes a minute or two to check all the doors to ensure they are locked. So, I've been thinking about how to automate the process for some time now.
Two weeks ago I tried my first
Insteon Hidden Door Open / Close Sensor to control the lights in our utility room when the door at the bottom of the garage stairs is opened. I was quite impressed with how small, simple and effective this sensor is. The sensor is 3/4" in diameter (body), and the mounting flange on the head is 1" in diameter. I checked, and the mounting flange would fit in the 1" hole drilled behind my deadbolt strike plates.
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| Deadbolt recess behind the strike plate - already has a 1" hole bored for the deadbolt. |
The hidden door sensor is 3 1/8" deep, behind the flange. I did some carefull measurements and calculations to determine how deep the 3/4" hole would need to be for proper engagement with the end of the deadbolt. I then drilled the 3/4" holes behind the strike plates to EXACTLY THIS DEPTH, so that once installed, the Hidden door sensor will sit at the correct depth, without having to rely on the engagement of the flange on the head.
I also decided to drill the 3/4" holes BEFORE ORDERING the hidden door sensors - this way, in case I hit an obstruction - nail, screw, electrical wire, etc. I would know that I have the installation space available. 3 of my 4 doors had enough space for installation of the Hidden Door Module.
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| I simply drilled a 3/4" hole centered behind the deadbolt hole. |
I then ordered and received my Hidden Door Sensors. I did my standard routine of labelling them, and linking them to my ISY-994i, and testing their functionality.
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| Labelled and ready for installation |
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| Hidden Door Sensor Mounting Flange, with Screw Tab |
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| Remove the screw tab with a set of side cutters |
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| The hidden door sensor inserted in the door, sitting at the correct depth. |
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| With the door strike installed, the sensor virtually disappears. |
Using the ISY-994i "options" tab for the device, I made some small changes to try to optimize the battery life of these units. I deselected the "LED" box (no need for LED indication of operation once buried in the door frame), and I also extended the heartbeat interval from 1 hour to 21 hours - this should greatly reduce the number of wireless communications daily.
I'll report on the actual battery life in the next year, when I have to change the first set of batteries.
I then created a simple scene and ISY-994i program, which
illuminates one of my Keypad LEDs if one of the three deadbolts are "open". This gives me instant indication when locking up the house that one of the back or side doors are unlocked.
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| The yellow LED indicated an open deadbolt on the side or back of the house. |
UPDATE - AFTER ONE MONTH OF USE - This is turning out to be one of my favourite features of my Insteon system. Before going to bed, a quick glance at the keypad in my Master Bedroom indicates whether one of the exterior doors is unlocked. Very useful, and comforting.
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