fail-secure electric door strike question

[IVB]

If you have a fail-secure electric door strike, how do you get in/out during a power failure?

I'm trying to figure out how a pin/prox reader can be used in a residential install to alleviate being forced to use a key for the front door. If you don't have a key option on the outside, I'm not sure how you could use it in that above scenario.

 

[wanted]

HI IVB

I was just checking out some electric strikes last night and came accross this site.

http://www.trimec.com.au/padde/choosing_strike.html

This is where the humble strike falls into it's own. While other forms of locking may be cheaper to install, (eg a magnetic locks) the electric strike when set to fail secure provides the most secure access control solution.. When used with a mortice lock that has selectable hub locking, the inside lever can be set to free egress when power fails, whilst still preventing entry and thereby preserving the audit trail and access logs of people movement within a building.

Hope this helps

Anthony

 

[tech-home]

Open the door as normal. A strike still lets you use it normally.

Brian
http://tech-home.com

 

[tech-home]

Oh yeah I was going to state I do this now with Keyfob and Elk.

And set them up fail-secure as I can still use my key to get in and handle to get out.

Brian
http://tech-home.com

 

[IVB]

Oh yeah I was going to state I do this now with Keyfob and Elk.

And set them up fail-secure as I can still use my key to get in and handle to get out.

Brian
http://tech-home.com

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what I see in the pictures then. It looks to me like the door strike is just that, a door strike, and there's no corresponding deadbolt into which to insert a key. Is there a seperate purchase required for the deadbolt, or can I just use my current, regular deadbolt?

This is the picture I'm talking about: http://www.automatedoutlet.com/product.php...49&cat=0&page=1

EDIT: One more question about running power inside the door.
Q) Do I just use my 54" 3/8" drillbit to drill a hole lengthwise in the door until I get to the doorstrike area, and also widthwise to get to the door jam, and run wiring down to the crawlspace there? Not sure how else to get power in a way that doesn't impact door opening/closing.

That also insinuates that when I'm physically re-installing the door, I have to leave a ton of extra wire after the hole in the door so I can feed it into the crawlspace first, then physically mount it. Sounds like a PITA, esp as my front door is a solid heavy thing.

 

[tech-home]

http://www.smarthome.com/manuals/51921.pdf

Here is a manual for one, I have one (actually 2) that looks very similar. Typically you use your already installed door handle. I haven't seen them installed on the dead bolt.

Okay to install it wasn' tthat bad for me. Here is what I did. I removed the trim. I chised out enough of the door to get the strike put in. I then drilled through the frame (just large enough to pull wire). After that I just drilled down into the crawl space to run the wire.

Iif you want I'll take some pics and send them to ya.

Brian
http://tech-home.com

 

[Digger]

If I remember correctly these types of devices are regulated in Florida and are required to meet hurricane force winds etc. Also I beleive Miami/Dade county has even more requirements.

Just in case anyone lives in the Sunshine State...........

 

[Quixote]

The door strike is installed in the frame. A regular deadbolt cannot be used. I found this out when I ordered a strike in preparation for an RFID entry system project that I wanted to do. If you use a regular deadbolt, the strike will release the deadbolt, but you will then be unable to close the door without unlocking the door and then closing the door before locking it again. Kind of defeats the purpose of having it set up that way. You'll need a lock like this:

It's considered less secure than a deadbolt, but most physical security is an illusion anyway in my opinion.

 

[Zang]

On my application, I turn the handle and open the door. I also have a key in the handle so I can use the key if the strike has no power. With no power it acts just like it would if there was no special strike in place.

 

[IVB]

The door strike is installed in the frame. A regular deadbolt cannot be used. I found this out when I ordered a strike in preparation for an RFID entry system project that I wanted to do. If you use a regular deadbolt, the strike will release the deadbolt, but you will then be unable to close the door without unlocking the door and then closing the door before locking it again. Kind of defeats the purpose of having it set up that way. You'll need a lock like this:

It's considered less secure than a deadbolt, but most physical security is an illusion anyway in my opinion.

Thanks for all the replies. I looked into that schlage that you posted, i'm not following how the electric door strike mounted in the door frame would work with this. How can you have both this barrel and that door strike?

 

[IVB]

Okay to install it wasn' tthat bad for me. Here is what I did. I removed the trim. I chised out enough of the door to get the strike put in. I then drilled through the frame (just large enough to pull wire). After that I just drilled down into the crawl space to run the wire.

I think I've been thinking about this wrong - I was envisioning putting that door strike inside the door and latch out to the doorjam, just like my deadbolt works. This requires wiring to be run inside the door.

Are you saying that you put the strike on the door frame, and a metal latch plate inside the door, so you didn't have to run the wires inside the actual door?

 

[gcimmino]

In my case, I'm using a regular lock set on the door, with handle and ability to use exterior key. There's an RCI electric strike in the frame, controlled by the elk and set to fail safe.

As said before, if the power is out, use a key to enter. One can exit with the handle at any time.

Instead of a prox or fob, I'm using an Essex exterior wiegand keypad connected to the prox input on the interior ELK KP.

This means I don't have to have a physical fob/card and no one can "borrow" my fob/card and get in. I can also remotely program the M1 with additional users to let in friends, relatives, workers, etc. when not there.

See the last link on the M1 Documentation Page for my calculator to program the user codes.

 

[IVB]

Ok, now that's interesting, and I think I'm going to heavily plagiarize you. I happen to have a prox reader, but I can install that on the backdoor and go with an exterior keypad for the front.

In your case, do you not lock the regular lockset normally? Otherwise, you'd have to punch in the code AND use a key.

 

[gcimmino]

The lockset is left locked all the time.

When a valid user code is entered to the external keypad, a rule in the Elk energizes the fail-safe electric strike to "open" it and disarm the alarm.

At this point, one can simply push the door open. The lockset is still "locked" and the bolt simply goes "through" the open strike.

I used a 6 series strike from RCI.

I can't remember the exact model, but believe it was this one. Take a look at the great installation instructions and it might be more clear that I am!

 

[gcimmino]

p.s. I used the LMKM option, which includes some switches to show the status.

One of these can be wired back in to the M1 input zone available on the KP.

Also, the strike is driven by low voltage and a wire from OUT3 in my case, or you could use a relay attached to the KP's output.