Little Tidbits I Wanted to Share — Door Locks
August Smart Lock (media by Jeff Clos)
Jeffrey Clos is a participant in the Amazon Associates LLC associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. There are some links within this article to the described product.
In one of my previous writings Striving for the Ultimate Smart Home, I called out a set of locks within my home manufactured by August. I wanted to revisit this and give a brief update.
I love the size and smoothness of the locks, but in the latest model, they switch to the CR123 sized battery. As you may or may not know, these are not the most common battery but can still be purchased just about anywhere. My biggest beef with this intelligent lock is battery life. The advertised battery length of time is 3 to 6 months. More often than not, the battery life hovers closer to the lower end of the spectrum. I would feel blessed to get close to the three months.
Battery Replacement Time (media by Jeff Clos)
It is essential to share that I have kids constantly coming in and out of these doors. I have one of these locks on the front and garage man door. It would be worse if we did not enter through our main garage most of the time.
I will give kudos to August for two vital things. First, they will send an alert to your e-mail telling you to replace the battery. Second, there is no denying the ease of battery changing. It is as simple as pressing on the bottom portion of the front plate of the unit. This will toggle the plate and reveal the batteries (as pictured). It is a quick swap-out after this step.
They also give recommendations on the website to lengthen your battery time. They mention ensuring as little resistance to the deadbolt closing as possible. This is not a concern in my case, given it closes like “butter.” They also mention WIFI puts a great demand on the batteries. Depending on the reliability of your home WIFI, they say possibly purchasing the August Connect Bridge. Do I feel this will give me the extended battery life I am looking for? Not really, but it is an option.
August Smart Bridge
August Keypad
The keypads for the August locks are an excellent addition and do work well. Again, I have kids, and they like to find every excuse in the world to use these. Expect your battery time to be significantly diminished, although they seem to last longer than the door locks. I have only had to replace these AAA batteries once so far. A small screwdriver will help to pop the front off for quick change-outs.
There will always be another purchase you can make, but nothing will ever come with a guarantee. More is not always better, no matter how much I want it to be!