Morning Industry QF-01SN Keypad Remote Deadbolt

Since nobody has made any comments, I’d thought I’d bring something up about electronic deadbolt locks. The comment has nothing to do with this particular brand but electronic deadbolts in general.

If they’re electronic deadbolts, don’t buy them. If they’re manual ones, like this one ISN’T, then they’re useable.

Why? If your opening or closing a manual deadbolt lock you hand is the “mechanism” to turn the key or the doorknob to move the deadbolt. So, if the deadbolt encounters some resistance the strength of your hand is enough to move the deabolt.

This doesn’t happen with an electronic deadbolt. The electronic version is dependent on the electricity that’s in four AA batteries to move a small motor that then moves the bolt open or shut. Oftentimes if the door shifts on it’s hinges the bolt will not be in alignment with the door frame hole that was orginally drilled to accommodate the bolt.This happens 100% of the time. Because of the misalignment of the bolt to the door frame hole a puny battery powered motor won’t be able to move the bolt enough to force the bolt into the hole, or out of the hole.

The has happened to me countless times. Reliance on battery powered motors to move misaligned bolts will never work. Fresh batteries will weaken over time until they need to be replaced. Towards the end of the life of these batteries there definitely will not be enough to power the bolt even in perfectly aligned holes.

So, if you’re wondering how you can use electronic locks, here is the answer I found. DO NOT ELECTRONIC BOLT LOCKS. I always use the latch locks, where you manually have to turn the latch open by turning a doorknob AFTER the electronic lock is unloced. This is the ONLY solution. I have to find an electronic bolt lock manufacturer that has dealt successfully with misalignment of the bolt to the hole.

And that is my two cents worth.

5 Stars over at The Home Depot

5 Stars at Home Depot, but less than 4 at Amazon with durability issues.

Amazon sale page

Seems to be a good price, though.

I bought one of these last time around. Like post earlier your door must not shift and can encounter problems from season to season. Mine did not work properly even when open with no resistance the deadbolt would stop halfway. I called customer service and he helped me through a bunch of trouble shooting steps and it still didn’t function right. They sent a new one, well I received a shipping notice on a new one that has not arrived yet. That was three weeks ago and I’m still waiting. They were out of stock. Maybe this sale means they are in stock and they will finally ship a replacement.
Bottom line, don’t buy if you are not handy. I have two different brands and had to alter and tweak my doors and hardware to make them work consistently.

it would be nice if they had other colors besides stainless steel

I bought an electronic one a few months back and installed it myself. So far everything is fine. You do make a good point about the strength of the motor. The door does have to be in a certain green zone for it to lock properly. If the door is to far open it won’t lock and if you aren’t listening you won’t realize it. If you are trying to open it and pressing on the door the latch can get stuck and you’ll have to let the pressure off and reenter the code. It took a couple days for me to get used to the difference. After a few months I have to say I prefer code entry over the manual. No keys to worry about losing and I can lock my ex-girlfriend out by changing the code rather than replacing the locks.

I had one put in (from another manufacturer) and it works perfectly but the point you make are valid- if it does not line up perfectly you will have problems. Fortunately the guy doing it put in many- it took him awhile with the existing hole, making another- who knows what he did but the cost of putting it in was as much as the lock and I paid twice as much at home depot for a schlaz (sp?)with custom finish which I wanted.
I do love it though- so easy to change codes- if you need to give someone your “key”- I would agree also, if your not handy fine someone that is, and very good at it. Don’t like an fob either - unnecessary-
I wish I had one of these when I had an x girlfriend, lol

And lets hope you aren’t mugged at gunpoint and forced to reveal the location of your home. That fob will let anybody in, unless it has built-in proof of life plus DNA verification. Or something.

I usually don’t comment, but how is that different than if you’re mugged and they take your house key?

Uhhhh…couldn’t someone do the same thing with your keys?

I have two of these from a previous Woot sale (for $67 if I recall). On the door I rarely use, the batteries die at 3 weeks. At the door I use more often, it lasts around 6 weeks. Either way, a good set of rechargeable batteries, or one of those 100 packs of batteries, would be a good investment.

Home security in general and door locks specifically are not places to ‘look for a bargain’. I have a Schlage zwave lock integrated into my Wink system. Been in place for almost a year now, never an issue. No fobs. I either use my Wink app (which is password protected) or the external keypad. Since Echo supports Wink, I can also tell Alexa to lock the door behind me.

Yes, I paid a bit more for this setup, but what’s a few more dollars when you’re protecting all of your stuff?

My wife and I prefer the ones that require a manual turn and NO motor to turn the bolt.

  1. It means a human confirms the lock engages.
  2. The ones without motors to turn the bolt can make a battery last for years. The ones with automatic bolt turning chew through batteries. Ask me how I know.
  3. A keypad is simple enough. The fob is a useless add on. If you’ve got a hand free to use a fob, you’ve got a hand free to use a keypad (or a key for that matter). The point is to eliminate the need for an actual key, and enable people to enter and exit.

Bottom line, pay for a good one where the only electronic mechanism connects the bolt to the knob, not turns it by itself. Also, get one with individual keys for each number.

I bought one of these the last time around and I had to return it:

  1. One of the screws that came with it was a “Blank” (no threads)

2)Once I got it together and on the door, I found that the motor would successfully push the deadbolt all of the way out, but only retract it about half way when opening. (this happened when the door was shut but also when it was open and I was just testing it)

  1. The top row of buttons did not work at all. Likely some sort of faulty board.

I am sure I got a faulty item, but they didn’t have any others to send so I just got a refund on it, otherwise I would be able to say for certain. Hopefully it isn’t super prevelant. Woot was great and paid for the postage and refunded me quickly.

I don’t really know if it is much of a convinience anyways if you have a garage door with a key pad. We went with a box set of deadbolts from the local hardware store and they have been fine.

I rented a place with electric locks about ten years ago and had a similar problem. In my case it was crappy old rechargeable batteries. Your issue sounds a lot different. Could be an actual defect with the device.

I bought two, and had the same problem. Changed the batteries, and everything was fine. It’s only been a month, so let’s see how they do long term. Still, works as advertised.

I have to disagree with the suggestion to only use manual bolts. I have a number of rental houses, and I put these locks on all of them. Well, not this specific lock, I use whatever is cheapest at Home Depot. Also I have never used this particular brand of lock. I haven’t had problems with misaligned bolt holes, and the tenants love the convenience of the locks. Plus I haven’t carried house keys in years.

bought the last one online by the company - does not work good unless you count the manual key. Sent a replacement that was different than the original product and did not work with other components!

Let me add a few more observations to my lengthy didactic above.

I DO use electronic latch locks. The brand in particular are the Schlage wireless keypad locks that wirelessly hook up to Z-wave modems. The actual closing and opening process is dependent on a user moving a knob or lever to physically move the latch. None of this reliance on a puny AA batteries motor to move a bolt.

One solution to a door shift problem that will cause a misalignment of the bolt to the hole in the door jamb would be to make the hole bigger vertically up and down. Not horizontally bigger. Vertically bigger would accommodate a downward shift of the door from it’s hinges over time.

Now, there is the issue of battery life. All these electronic keypad locks will emit a warning signal when used if the batteries are weakening and failing. They then need to be replaced.

There have been times when I’m not at a lock’s locations for months on end. The batteries weaken and die and eventually the motorized locks are inoperable. Even the latch locks are inoperable because electric power is required to unlock or lock the electronic mechanism. The manufacturers have made some of these locks accessible through the use of a … you guessed it … a traditional key. DUH.