Re: Central locking for houses

[Martin Howell <martin.howell@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've also had a good look at this, with the objective of locking the
whole house down and setting the alarm using a car-type keyfob.  The
wireless keyfob and receiver is kids play, but the rest of it comes into
the category of 'too hard' because -

- you need motorised/pneumatic/hydraulic mechanisms on all doors and
windows for full central locking (I would use pneumatics, but you still
have to hide the pipes and wires)
- also a mass of cabling all over the house that would be really hard to
retro-fit
- my doors (and those on most other newer houses) need you to lift the
handle before turning the lock snib, not impossible to mechanise but not
easy
- my windows have a locking lever and a crank handle to operate, more
complex mechanisms needed
- need major surgery on doors and frames to conceal the machinery and
cables, its probably never going to be pretty

I'm leaning more in the direction of having simple microswitches and
indicators on all doors and windows, with a microcontroller to monitor
them all and display the status on a small screen by the front door -
that way, you can see at a glance what's open before you leave the house
or go to bed.  It ain't clever, but it will be relatively easy to do, it
won't leave the house unlocked if it goes wrong, and I won't need to
demolish half the house in the process.

Regards
Martin


Martin Howell
ICT Project Consultant
07949 138454

Grizelli Associates Limited
working in partnership with Northgate Information Systems


Paul Gordon wrote:
> Only that this is a notoriously difficult thing to do... - I do recall
there
> was a TV programme on this topic a couple of years ago, - I think it
was
> reported on AutomatedHome...
>
>


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