Airbnb's preferred smart lock vendor accidentally bricks 500 door-locks

Re:Airbnb's preferred smart lock vendor accidentally bricks ... by busterarm on Monday August 14, 2017 @05:22PM (#15013057)

Where are we going to put a car battery and the means to charge it in your door frame?

Are you going to operate a crank to recharge the battery? I'm not too keen on wiring mains power up to something connected to my door handle.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Airbnb's preferred smart lock vendor accidentally bricks ... by PhantomGremlin on Monday August 14, 2017 @07:24PM (#15013937)

I'm not too keen on wiring mains power up to something connected to my door handle.

This is a solved problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_transformer

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Airbnb's preferred smart lock vendor accidentally bricks ... by busterarm on Monday August 14, 2017 @08:18PM (#15014278)

They can fail though (and I've seen it happen, overload, excessive moisture, etc.,). How do you know this before you touch the doorknob and get the (possibly final) zap of your life?

If the failure mode is potentially "you die", then we're probably better off low tech.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Airbnb's preferred smart lock vendor accidentally bricks ... by post_break on Tuesday August 15, 2017 @09:17AM (#15017900)

I would just run constant power to my door if it means I get to walk up to it and it unlocks.

[ Parent | on HN ]