Electronic front door with fingerprint entrance

You mean an automatic lock with an electric opener.

If you want to prepare, it is of course important to provide power to the door to switch the opener or motor lock. The rest takes place at the facade (FP Reader) and its control unit.

Be careful with the systems of the "well-known" German manufacturers. There are definitely systems that can simply be bypassed. Ridiculous stuff.

I don’t know the exact technical term right now. I mean a lock where the door locks automatically. As if you were always locking it with a key. Is that an automatic lock with an E-Opener? What would the E-Opener be? The fingerprint?

I have already heard about bridging and it’s still on my to-do list. I only read that there are safety relays for this. I don’t know for sure. But you seem to know more... Which "well-known" manufacturers do you mean? What exactly is the problem? What does the solution look like?

These are 3 different things:

- Automatic lock: mechanically locks when the door is closed, so the door is considered locked (possibly also combined with a motorized locking)
- Motor lock: electrically unlocks the door lock upon impulse, the door can then be opened like by turning a key
- Fingerprint/code pad/card reader, etc.: does not open itself at all, but gives an impulse to the motor lock. In old and cheap systems, this impulse merely consisted of closing an electrical contact. If you unscrew the box and short-circuit the control line --> impulse to the lock. Today it works via a separate control unit; short-circuiting no longer helps.

I don’t know the exact technical term. I mean a lock where the door locks automatically, as if you always locked it with a key. Is that an automatic lock with an electric strike? What would the electric strike be? The fingerprint? I’ve already heard about bridging and it’s still on my to-do list. I only read that there are safety relays for this. I don’t know exactly. But you seem to know more... Which "known" manufacturers do you mean? What exactly is the problem? What does the solution look like?

The automatic lock works mechanically at first and extends two additional bolts when closing the door. The door is then considered locked for insurance purposes. An automatic lock doesn’t lock by turning like a key would. That’s what a motor lock does. Motor locks are more expensive and more prone to faults than automatic locks, so I wouldn’t prefer them. The electric strike electrically retracts the bolts extended by the automatic lock and the standard latch, as if you were pressing the handle. The electric strike only needs a power impulse for this. How you trigger that is secondary. The main thing is that power is available in the door and leads, for example, to the electrical distribution. You can then connect whatever you want there. For example a control unit from eKey, a relay, whatever. The fingerprint reader sends a signal to its control unit when a finger is positively recognized. It does nothing more. And that’s a good thing. There are systems from well-known manufacturers that simply close a contact when an authorized finger is successfully read. If you remove the reader and bridge the contacts, that leads to the same result. It’s as smart (and secure) as an ignition switch from the 60s. For example, eKey solves this smarter by having the fingerprint reader not directly control the electric strike (or the motor lock) but having a control unit in between. The communication between fingerprint reader and control unit is encrypted. Simply connecting the contacts there does not lead to the door opening.

We have installed a Fuhr motor lock in the front door together with the FSB handle. From the door, there is a power cable as well as two other cables running to the meter cabinet. The Ekey control system is then connected there. Conveniently, when closing the front door, I can simultaneously open the garage door.

It’s a cool solution if you, as the builder, are competent and manage to assert yourself against the specialist. The first big problem was finding someone who could handle a control unit located outside the door. I received a rough quote which was unaffordable. In the end, I obtained the handle myself, persuaded the door manufacturer, and did the rest myself, but it still cost a good 2500-3000 € for the motor lock, handle, and Ekey technology excluding the front door, plus the same amount in labor.

Thank you for the explanation. For me, automatic lock and motor lock were the same. For understanding: Option 1: Automatic lock with e-opener, since with only an automatic lock ekey cannot open the door. Option 2: Motor lock

I now have to find out what was offered to us.

I can’t quite follow why the experts resisted this and especially why it cost 2,500-3,000€. Maybe it’s because of the handle, but we have an offer for ekey with control unit in the door for 1,300€. A second offer is similar. Here there is also the option to only install the lock. Costs about 600-700€. ekey would then be connected to the doorbell and the control to the sub-distributor. Costs:

Lock: 650€ ekey: 500€ Control unit: 300€ KNX connection: 400€ Total: 1,850€