Electric door strike, double doors

[AceCannon]

My house plans call for the "front door" to be two 3080 wooden doors in a double-door configuration. Any ideas or experience installing an electric door strike in this setup (for instance one of these)? I presume it owuld have to be installed in one of the doors, so I'm not quite sure how the cabling would work.

 

[86turbodsl]

My house plans call for the "front door" to be two 3080 wooden doors in a double-door configuration. Any ideas or experience installing an electric door strike in this setup (for instance one of these)? I presume it owuld have to be installed in one of the doors, so I'm not quite sure how the cabling would work.

Good luck. My new house has double front doors too and I couldn't figure out a way to do it.

 

[jaysonc]

I have been thinking about this as well. I think you are right that the electronic strike plate would have to mount into one of the doors, and that door will have to have power to activate it. I have only come across two possible options for getting power to the strike plate in the door.

The first is a hinge that can transfer the power. Here is a link that shows one I found through Google. http://www.sdcsecurity.com/series.aspx?id=110

The second is something I have seen in commercial implementations, but have not as of yet found a source for. Effectively there are some spring loaded metal studs mounted in the door and matching metal circles on the surface of the frame. When the door is closed, the two parts connect and allow power to pass from the frame to the door. When the door is opened it breaks the connection.
These things were small; only about 1/4 of an inch in diameter.

--
Jayson

 

[paulw11]

Hi,

"Power Transfer" is the keyword. There are a few alternatives here and you can probably find others. Most locksmiths should have a jig that allows them to drill through the core of the door to run the wires.

Paul

 

[pkoslow]

I've had good luck getting power into doors for Schlage electrified locksets using the brass contacts that make connection in the door jamb.

 

[86turbodsl]

I've had good luck getting power into doors for Schlage electrified locksets using the brass contacts that make connection in the door jamb.

Interesting. The larger issue IMHO however, is the drilling through the door. Unless the door is a solid wood door, you're likely to
get into trouble on this. It amounts to gun drilling. A tiny bit off trajectory and you trash the door. With what my door cost, I'm
not too interested in something like drilling the door.

 

[heffneil]

Ok we use strikes in several double doors in our data centers. One of the things is you can have te door company drill it out for you. We have always done this but it can be done with a long thin drill bit and a steady hand. They also make a hinge with the wires pre-ran that are absolutely beautiful. I think the hinges are like $500 and that was years ago. We just surface mount a contact block and a durable cable to the channel on the door and the jamb. Since it is a commercial application it is fine.

I hope this helps.

Neil

 

[ASIHome]

What about a double door mag lock like this one?

http://www.seco-larm.com/E941DSA.htm

 

[pkoslow]

Interesting. The larger issue IMHO however, is the drilling through the door. Unless the door is a solid wood door, you're likely to
get into trouble on this. It amounts to gun drilling. A tiny bit off trajectory and you trash the door. With what my door cost, I'm
not too interested in something like drilling the door.

Drilling the door is really no big deal... I've done it myself to five of my exterior doors without issue.

Here in California a specialty license is required for electronic access control. For both residential or commercial access control jobs I've done for customers, I've always brought in the right people to install all the door locking hardware while I provide interface and control.

 

[pkoslow]

What about a double door mag lock like this one?

http://www.seco-larm.com/E941DSA.htm

The original poster mentioned this is for the front door on his home... I don't know anyone that would be pleased with mag locks in a residence, especially on the front door.

 

[AceCannon]

The original poster mentioned this is for the front door on his home... I don't know anyone that would be pleased with mag locks in a residence, especially on the front door.

No, maglocks don't seem ideal. .

The biggest issue I see here is the drilling of the door that will require power (the one with the electric strike). It appears there are several ways to get power to the door, but it then has to get from the hinged side of the door, through the door, to the latch side. Someone mentioned that most locksmiths can do this. Someone else mentioned it is very hazardous. Someone else mentioned it was "no big deal."

We haven't even picked out the specific doors yet (I know the size will be 3080, times two doors). I guess I can always wire for these strikes and worry about the hardware, door drilling later.

 

[Photon]

The place I work for retrofitted an electric lock on the door to a fancy conference room. The center area of the door was off-limits to any mods. The installers used a router to create a dado/groove all the way up from the lock housing, around the top of the door, and down near the top hinge where they installed the button contacts. They glued the wires in place followed by some wood splines that filled the dado. The paint crew stained the edge to match, and I wouldn't know it was there if I hadn't seen it being done.