Hey, everyone. First post as I contemplate an upcoming HomeSeer setup. My wife and I are building a new home and have tried to get as much "right" as possible - prewiring, etc. etc.
Now that the house is getting closer - one critical element for my wife is keypad locks - our old house used lovely keypad locks from Sunnect that had no key slot and would auto-relock based on a magnetic sensor in the door jamb. Even better, they had a physical switch on it to temporarily disable that auto-relock (if you're going in and out 25 times, say). She really, really wants that functionality but Sunnect is out of business. I really want connected/HA-aware locks. So, my job is to make that happen.
So far I'm thinking to replace the pre-wired alarm panel with an ELK, which then gives HS access to the door sensor information. Then put a (motorized) Z-Wave lock on the door (Yale if we want to stay keyless, otherwise Yale or Kwikset or Schlage). To implement the auto-re-lock functionality, i'm imagining a HomeSeer rule (or Elk? But it seems like locks under HS control have more flexibility...) like "if the door is closed and the lock is open, tell the lock to lock."
Then, I also want to be able to do things like "hey, we're securing the house for the night, tell me the locks are all locked" or "show me the status of all my doors," which all seems doable from what i've gathered so far.
Three questions:
1. Is my basic approach sensible, based on everyone's experience?
2. One key thing that would be awesome is a simple switch on the wall or otherwise near the door that could temporarily disable the auto-lock rule of Homeseer for that door. Is there a device that's just a Z-Wave or Insteon switch that doesn't actually control anything, that HS could read or set the status of? Bonus points if it had a status light (red for on). Or can light switches serve this functionality instead of controlling a load?
3. If we end up with a keyless lock, is it possible for my wife to set up key codes from HSTouch type devices or am I doing that from HS directly? I'm imagining "make a keycode for the plumber for daytime tomorrow" type needs.
Thanks so much - excited to be starting this journey!
Now that the house is getting closer - one critical element for my wife is keypad locks - our old house used lovely keypad locks from Sunnect that had no key slot and would auto-relock based on a magnetic sensor in the door jamb. Even better, they had a physical switch on it to temporarily disable that auto-relock (if you're going in and out 25 times, say). She really, really wants that functionality but Sunnect is out of business. I really want connected/HA-aware locks. So, my job is to make that happen.
So far I'm thinking to replace the pre-wired alarm panel with an ELK, which then gives HS access to the door sensor information. Then put a (motorized) Z-Wave lock on the door (Yale if we want to stay keyless, otherwise Yale or Kwikset or Schlage). To implement the auto-re-lock functionality, i'm imagining a HomeSeer rule (or Elk? But it seems like locks under HS control have more flexibility...) like "if the door is closed and the lock is open, tell the lock to lock."
Then, I also want to be able to do things like "hey, we're securing the house for the night, tell me the locks are all locked" or "show me the status of all my doors," which all seems doable from what i've gathered so far.
Three questions:
1. Is my basic approach sensible, based on everyone's experience?
2. One key thing that would be awesome is a simple switch on the wall or otherwise near the door that could temporarily disable the auto-lock rule of Homeseer for that door. Is there a device that's just a Z-Wave or Insteon switch that doesn't actually control anything, that HS could read or set the status of? Bonus points if it had a status light (red for on). Or can light switches serve this functionality instead of controlling a load?
3. If we end up with a keyless lock, is it possible for my wife to set up key codes from HSTouch type devices or am I doing that from HS directly? I'm imagining "make a keycode for the plumber for daytime tomorrow" type needs.
Thanks so much - excited to be starting this journey!
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