Digital locks are now common on apartment and villa main doors. Most problems come from fitting one that does not suit the door, or skipping the backup plan.
Match it to the door prep
Digital locks are built for a mortise body of a particular case size and backset, and a face cut-out of a particular shape. Check the spec against the door before you commit — a lock built for a 60 mm backset will not sit right on a 45 mm stile aluminium door. For narrow aluminium stiles, use a lock designed for a narrow-style mortise, or you will not have metal to fix into.
Always have a mechanical backup
Specify a lock with a physical key override and keep keys with the owner and the facility office. A lock that is app-and-code only strands residents when the electronics fail or the phone is dead.
Power and failure mode
- Most run on 4× AA cells for 8–12 months and beep for weeks before they die. Tell the owner what the low-battery warning looks like.
- Many have an external 9 V terminal to jump power for an emergency unlock — useful, but the key override is the real safety net.
- Decide fail-secure vs fail-safe: a home main door should stay locked if power is lost (fail-secure). Fail-safe (unlocks on power loss) is for controlled office doors on a fire strategy, not homes.
Weather and use
An outward-facing door in the monsoon needs a lock rated for the exposure, or a canopy over it. Touch keypads read badly with wet fingers — push-button or card can be more reliable at an open porch.
What to send us
The door material and stile width, the existing mortise size, whether it is single or double, and whether the client wants fingerprint, card, code or app. We will shortlist locks that fit the door.
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