Re: Filing Cabinets That Use Electronic Access?

["Bill" <billnomailnospamx@xxxxxxxxx>]

"W" <persistentone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:YoOdnYUKp4FP9BjTnZ2dnUVZ5gednZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> "Bill" <billnomailnospamx@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:9ejdtqF4lnU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> "W"  wrote in message
>>>I have been looking for years for any vendor that makes a high
>>>quality office filing cabinet that allows access by a programmable
>>>passcard system. Keyed access as a backup is fine.
>>>
>>> I want this because keys get lost, and you end up with so many
>>> keys for so many cabinets that it becomes hard to track them all.
>>>
>>> As obvious as this application is, I have looked for years for
>>> this and cannot find it.    I have tried various locksmiths and
>>> asked them to retrofit Hon brand lateral cabinets, but all of them
>>> claim they don't know how to do it and the locks are hard to match
>>> to the cabinet.
>>>
>>> I want to check back once a year to see if any manufacturer has
>>> decided to enter the 21st century yet.      Does any manufacturer
>>> have a unit close to what I describe?
>>>
>>
>> I've not seen any.
>>
>> You could hire a "microcontroller programmer" to do this for you
>> here...
>> http://forums.parallax.com/forum.php
>>
>> Ask in the "Parallax Semiconductor" discussion area. They have
>> access there to "RFID tags" and readers.
>>
>> And you would need an existing filing cabinet which had an
>> electronic combination lock which could then be modified. These
>> guys are very good at the electronics/programming end, but may not
>> be good at designing the electric-mechanical locking mechanism. So
>> best if that is already in place so it could be modified.
>>
>> And if you come up with a working design, perhaps you and the
>> person you find could approach a filing cabinet manufacturer. Maybe
>> they would decide to manufacture it and make all the parts "look
>> pretty"?
>
> I can't get into the idea of a real-time software development
> project and custom hardware retrofit to prototype a commercial
> project, just so we can have 20 office filing cabinets with
> passcards for internal use.
>
> I toyed with the idea of using CyberLock - which puts intelligence
> into the lock and cleverly powers up the lock with a battery in the
> key.   But even with the dozens of locks that CyberLock offers, none
> of those apparently fits off the shelf onto a standard Hon or other
> popular brand lateral filing cabinet.    I contacted CyberLock
> specialists, and none offered much hope of retrofitting a Hon
> lateral filing cabinet.
>
> --
> W

You added more to your original post...

["We do want a true passcard system where each employee carries a card
with a unique ID embedded on it, and a central computer system is
programmed to say which locks that unique ID is allowed to open. If
the employee's card is lost or stolen, you can instantly invalidate
it."]

That changes things a bit and moves it back to this group of people
here...

For that I would find a regular card access system run on a PC.
Something which is used to open doors in a building. And that could
have a separate card reader for each filing cabinet. You could monitor
who is going into which filing cabinet. Restrict access to certain
filing cabinets. And easily remove access from all filing cabinets.

That above system should be out there and off-the-shelf, the only
thing is it would be designed to open doors, but that could easily be
switched to open filing cabinets instead...

A knowledgeable security alarm person could run wires* from the PC to
each filing cabinet and install card readers on the wall next to each
filing cabinet...

*Metal filing cabinets would block signals from any wireless device,
so wired would be necessary.

Then all you would need would be to add an electric locking mechanism
for each filing cabinet. A gizmo called a "relay" would simply
complete the circuit for the filing cabinet electric lock. So instead
of opening a door, the access control would instead open the filing
cabinet.

You could make this setup more/less secure. Less secure would be just
shorting the wires to each filing cabinet and that would open it. Or
applying say 12 volts DC to a wire going to a filing cabinet.

But someone who knows about this could easily gain access to the
filing cabinets by shorting a wire or applying power!

More secure would be to use a cable with say 4 conductors which are
all the same color. Two of those conductors would be 24 hour alarm
wires. A short or open on those two wires would trip the alarm.
Someone opening the cable would not know *which* wires were which as
they would not have colors.

The more knowledgeable people here could set up such a system for you.
Or a local to your area knowledgeable security alarm type.

More secure would be to send an encrypted "code" to open each filing
cabinet. For that you would need the help of the above microcontroller
programmers. You would need electronic modules inside each filing
cabinet to receive the code. You would also be wise to also have a key
lock to bypass the electronic control should it fail.