I think it’s safe to say that mechanically, apart from my articles on 3D-printer kits and Laser Engraver kits – this is going to prove to be one of the more involved blog entries.So firstly, Switchbot sent me the “Switchbot Lock Ultra Touch Combo” and the “Switchbot Keypad Vision” box all in one package.I’m leaving the latter to the end as I’m having a little pairing difficulty.
You know, “Switchbot Lock Ultra Touch Combo” is a real mouthful so I’ll refer to it from hereon in as the SLTC.The SLTC consists of a box containing the lock, batteries, instructions and an initially overwhelming number of adaptors and stickers – I’m sure as time goes on it’ll become second nature.On opening, I noted a pair of CR123A batteries – these go into the keypad unit (right, photo above) and are supposed to be good for a year.
.The lock itself has batteries built in and due to the USB-C connector on the bottom of the battery pack unit, the latter is rechargeable.Inside is a CR123A battery which acts as a backup for the rechargeables – and a capacitor to act as a backup for that.
These guys have thought about just about everything.That’s the battery pack, photo above, bottom central unit with an instruction sticker for removal.Ultimately that fits into the lock itself and is removed by a simple orange control under the black plastic flat front – which may later have a wood effect cover if I care to use one of the three supplied (different grain) facias.
I just wrote about how I love the new HUB3 as against the earlier HUB2 units and a HUB Mini that is identical to the mini-hub supplied with Lock Ultra all of which Switchbot recently sent to me.Thankfully I don’t need to get into the Hub Mini that comes with this lock kit as the SLTC will work with HUB3.I do of course have the Switchbot APP and I recommend to anyone considering the SLTC to get the APP downloaded before opening the box and to create a free Switchbot account and become familiar with it.
All very easy.Pairing the HUB3 to the APP (OR if you have no other Switchbot kit, the Mini HUB that comes with the lock) just seems to happen – I didn’t do anything yet as you’ll see at this point I was about to have a working lock.Now to take the lock and basic keyboard unit (without any fittings) used, I paired the lock to the APP.
A single card that is part of the packaging tells you now to do this.When you add the lock, the keypad will automatically be paired.Thankfully it looks like they’ve supplied the unit at least partially charged.
WShen I say basic – it’s not that basic AT ALL.So, I’m in the APP and among the things I can add is the LOCK ULTRA.“Connect device”.
Oh, failed to connect.Maybe I left it too long between taking the shipping battery tab off the lock and trying to pair, or did I turn of my phone Bluetooth? No, I’d taken the battery pack out of the lock and left the backup battry as shipped with tab – silly me.Battery pack back in – there’s a blue light flashing on the lock – and “Important Firmware Upgrade”..
I sure hope that battery IS charged… and I hope the “upgrade” notice is talking about the lock – it doesn’t say specifically….“Upgraded successfully” less than a minute later.I had nothing to fear except my phone going flat – quickly taken care of before hitting the UPGRADE button on the APP.
Finish.“Make sure there are batteries in the keypad”.I was one step ahead.
It also turns out that it was me, not the missing battery problem – as they have a battery backup for the battery would you believe.If the main rechargeable battery pack is not charged – the unit will continue to work on an internal CR123A battery which you have to undo a screw to replace.The unit also beeps from time to time to warn you the main rechargeable battery pack has been removed.
Sensible – that backup battery is not going to last forever.Next I had to pick a room.Did that..
next – “Now lets start to install your lock Ultra”.I’m going to leave the hardware installation until later – as I learn more, it looks like one option is to put the key inside the lock and have it use THAT to lock, unlock the door.WELL, I didn’t expect that.
That of course is only one of MANY options depending on the type of lock you have.If THAT works then this thing can handle anything.My key (deliberately covered up to protect the innocent) is a weird one.
Later.Back to the point..Right now the lock was going ballistic as it was not attached to anything.
Around and around it went – eventually claiming that the lock was abnormal – well, not being attached to anything it would be.I put one my key in the lock and the lock on my door… and it stopped badly rotating.Thank heavens.
As I later realised it is better to fix the lock to your door before setting up – once I did that – manual calibration was easy.Goodness I can see this is going to be fun… After a lot of trial and error I got to the point of seeing the LOCK/UNLOCK option in the APP and the cylinder rotated appropriately after doing manual calibration which boils down to (eith the door open) rotating the dial until the deadbolts in my case were locked – NEXT – then rotating counter clockwise until the door would have opened if closed – and releasing – actually a lot easier than I was expecting.However that taught me just how many variations of mechanical locks there are out there.
You get no less than 8 different adaptors with the Lock Ultra.I didn’t need any of them.At this point I should show you what the APP looks like (lock entry) – ignore the “Door status abnormal” message – in the image below left – it would be… no door.
So now I had a button in the APP – if I pressed it to unlock, the lock internals would rotate a little one way, if I pressed to lock they’d turn a little the other way.Good start – but what about this keypad? Personally I’m happy using my phone to lock/unlock the door.Hitting the button in the APP locked the door and I saw a brief white flash around the lock – same when hitting it again to unlock.
As you see on the left, the keypad is, as promised – automatically paired with the lock.This keylock is more than meets the eye as it has a keypad, a fingerprint sensor and a card reader.Now to try to set it up.
AH, in the APP -Set a password – set a fingerprint, set an NFC card – that’s what that black card is for!! As I suspected, it was all coming together nicely.I needed to add in a passkey first, then I tried the fingerprint and then the card.I tried my usual pin – too short – but it will accept a 6 digit pin… and passwords can be made permanent, one-off or temporary – this thing is really flexible -REALLY handy as I’m going away in a couple of days and we have someone coming to work on the house – and the key they have will no longre work as an external key in my case doesn’t fit 100% when the other key is permanently inside the Ultralock.
Youll see in the keypad photo at the very top of this blog entry – it has keys 0-9 – a LOCK key and a kind of OK/Arrow key..To unlock the door, put in the passcode followed by the arrow key.To LOCK the door simply press the lock button.
Either way, at the top of the keypad, green lights show you what is happening.Fingerprint – I was itching to try that… just like my phone I went to the fingerprint section and hit + to add a fingerprint (you can have LOTS of them) -it took 4 impressions of my finger – done.THAT was easy.
NFC card.Right..no clue initially..
I picked up the black plastic card that came with the lock.You can add their card or a Switchbot wallet-finder card (whatever that is) or an NFC-enabled mobile phone… but – I asked myself – if I have the phone handy with the APP, do I need to use NFC? Anyway I pressed ahead in adding the card that came with the lock – just by pressing the add button + in the APP… and touching the card to the keypad for a few seconds at which point the App said “Added successfully”.It seems you can add up to 100 cards – we’ll only need 2 or 3.
What started as a daunting idea – writing this blog and learning how to assemble-use the lock – actually turned out to be easy and fun.And yes, I did try the card – it is used for unlocking – touching the LOCK button on the keypad then locks the door again – or indeed going into the APP and touching the big round LOCK button in the Lock Ultra section.I could not however get the reader to recognise any of my Spanish cards, ID cards or my S22 Ultra phone which definitely does NFC payments.
I nedd a break before opening up the KEYPAD VISION – an add-on which is a rechargeable keypad, NFC reader, fingerprint recogniser (just like the keypad that comes with the Lock Ultra up to now) and crucially – face scanner.So with this – you simply look at the unit mounted on the wall and the door unlocks.Magic but I’m not touching that, it’s had the recommended 6 hour charge but cannt seem to find the lock in the APP to pair to.
I’ve left a message with Switchbot.Meanwhile – I wonder if my Home Assistant – which already has the generic Switchbot integration, is going to magically know about the lock? WOW initially IMPRESSED.Inside my Home Assistant – the Switchbot integration asked for my Switchbot account details to add a new device – and… Why I see 2 identical looking entities in Home Assistant? Lock/unlock and lock status I guess….
This is going to keep me busy for weeks playing with the Home Assistant integration alone – assuming I can lock and unlock the door etc in Home Assistant which right now I can’t the response rate is ABYSMAL – again I’ve left a query with Switchbot.If this works, I won’t need to give my wife a new APP to play with – it’ll all be on her Home Assistant mobile APP though she could always use the keypad which is now mounted on the wall outside!! More on this very soon.And of course – if you have Google Home Voice and/Or Alexa set up in Home Assistant OR Switchbot – then you have voice control as well.
Not sure I want to beg Google to open the door at midnight after returning from the pub – I think the more subtle facial regogniser or keypad makes more sense.Meanwhile – pics of the installation… forgive the photo quality – we are having one hell of a hot day here in Southern Spain.Note the thin outer shield on the lock – not QUIET wide enough opening for our lock… and outside, the keypad metal plate went onto the wall with 2 simple screws then the keypad just clicks into place – a tiny hole at the bottom (like a SIM hole) allows for easy removal.
I fixed the Lock Ultra internally with the high quality tape that came with the kit – you ould use screws but I didn’t want to take our doorlock apart – just in case.I should say I was a LITTLE disappointed that with the Lock Ultra in place with a key, my other key would not QUITE fit (and wouldn’t turn anyway) outside which means I have to give a couple of people codes pretty quickly.
