Install Keyless Entry to Your House, Building, or Office

Published April 5, 2020  ( 5 min read )

With the advent of newer and newer technologies, smart phones have become an essential tool in our day-to-day life. In addition to talking over the phone, it can help us in several other day-to-day tasks in life. Smart phones can also provide a key-less entry to our house or office building so that we do not have to carry keys with us any more.

Note:Presented here are the steps for installing access controller by DIY. Contact Us for full installation, configuration and maintenance for large premises.

In this blog, you will learn how to install a key-less entry system for your house, building, office, or any such restricted areas. With the wifisecureaccess system installed and configured, you will be able to open the door of your house or building using your mobile phone. The system uses encyption as well as password and two-factor authentication giving you the desired security. No un-authorised person will be able to open this door. If you use a 'Fail Secure' type of electric strike on the door, it is safe even when power fails. WiFiSecureAccess access controller has features to open the door in case of power failure or WiFi failure. You can also use your existing keys to open the door as well. Detailed documentation of this access controller is available here.

So, lets get stated:

Things we need

WiFiSecureAccess access controller can be purchased from eBay or Amazon. All the required parts come with the controller when you purchase the access controller.

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Electric door strike is an elecromechanical device that is fitted on the door to activate/deactivate the lock. The following figures give some detailed view of electric door strikes.

There are several makes and models of door strikes available in the market. You can buy from anywhere of your choice. Make sure that its voltage and current rating are 12V, 400ma(or less). A 'Fail Secure' type door strike is recommended so that the door remains locked in the event of a power failure or system failure. You can also use a 'Fail Safe' type of an electric strike, if you do the cabling as in Fig 5C below. Normal keys can still be used during such failures. Given below is a link from Amazon just to show one place where you can buy from. The link below is just an example, and not a recommendation to buy this. You can buy any electric door strike of your choice so long as its rating matches with the smart device. If this link is not avilable, search in ebay or amazon for 'electric door strike'.
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You can also use magnetic door locks instead of electric door strikes. Here are some pictures of magnetic door locks.

Here is a link where you can find magnetic door lock. This is just a link to show you what is available, and not a recommendation to buy it. You can buy any similar lock from any supplier so long as its rating is 12VDC 500mA.
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Here are some pictures showing how these can be installed.

Step 1

Install the door strike on the door as shown in Fig 4 and Fig 4A. You may get the help of a tradesperson to fit this on the wall, if you do not have enough tools and skills to do so. When fitting the door strike, its two cables have to be brought out neatly to the smart device. Then do the rest of the installation and cabling as per the pictures given below.

Fix the access controller anywhere inside of the house/building such that nobody can tamper with it from outside. It can be either near the door or anywhere far from it where there is power and WiFi. Run the cable from the electric strike's coil to the smart controller, preferably hidden within the wall.

If you want the features of the Scanner box, install it on the outside of the wall. If you want the Scanner box's full feature, run the cable from the scanner box to the main controller. This cabling may be done through the inside of the wall. You can use the 8-pin flat cable that came with the controller. The features of the Scanner box are: 1) You can scan the box using smart phone to open the door, 2) LED and buzzer on scanner box will show the status of the controller, 3) in case of a power failure or WiFi failure, you can open the door by applying 12VDC power at the scanner box and using the hotspot of your samrt phone. Refer to the full documentation here

Cable electric strike or magnetic lock to access controller. The following diagrams show how to cable the electric strike and magnetic lock to WiFiSecureAccess controller (normally off). This is a fail-secure type electric strike. It stays locked when the power is off. When power is applied, the lock opens.

if you have an electric strike which is fail-safe, that needs to stay powered on normally. When the power is off, or when the power to the electric strike is turned off, the lock opens. This is a normally ON cabling. The following diagram shows how this can be cabled to main controller,

If you have a higher power solenoid with current rating higher than 500ma, then you need an external power supply to match the current and voltage rating of the solenoid. If so, do the cabling as per Fig 18A, 18B and 18C. The cabling is done to the RELAY of the smart device. The relay terminals (COM and NO) have 10A current rating. It can take voltages up to 240V.

Next, install magnetic sensor on the wall and cable it to the access controller. This is optional. You need to install sensor only if you want to know if the door is currently open or closed accurately from remote. Sensor is also required if you want notifications to be sent by the access controller when the door stays open for a longer time. Here is a picture of the sensor installed on a door.

Then cable the sensor to D7 of the smart device (with one terminal of the sensor D7 and the other terminal to GND on the smart device). Refer to Access Control Documents for help with the installation of the magnetic sensor.

PS: In order for it to use the sensor to detect the current position of the door/gate, not only that you have to install the sensor, but also you have to enable either one of the notifications (either buzzer or email as per section 3.14 of Access Control Documents.

Note:Doors and gates can be operated even without the sensor. As mentioned earlier, the sensor helps in knowing the current position of the door/gate (whether open or closed) from remote accurately. You can also enable sending notifications or sound buzzer if the door remains open for a long time. Sending notifications are possible only if the sensor is installed.

Step 2

Once the installation and cabling of the electric strike and smart device are completed, put power on the device. If this is a brand new device, follow the steps given in section 3 (Installation) of the Access Control Documents. That section explains how to set up WiFi of this device. It is a requirement to have WiFi available at the door. If the above steps are completed successfully, you should be seeing the LED of the smart device red

Allowing multiple Users: After completing the steps in section 3, create a group of those who will be allowed to use this entry door. The steps are as explained in Section 4 'Allowing Multiple Users' of the same documentation. So, complete those steps. When creating a group, name that group with meaningful name such as 'My Family' or anything that you like. If you are using this on a door/gate of an office/building, have a look at all extra features and configurations available under Section 4 of the documentation.

If you have completed sections 3 and 4 of the Access Control Documents, your installations and configurations are complete and you can open the door using any of the methods given in section 3.0.

Please also read sections 6 through 9 of the same Access Control Documents to know more features of this controller.

Contact Us for full installation, configuration and maintenance for large premises.