Disabling front door lock when door is open?

Recent convert from ST. Have a Kwikset 914 smart lock and a Dome contact sensor on that door.

Yesterday my wife left and the presence detection noted the exit and locked the front door. Not a big deal but I was home and the front door was open. If I had not been in the room to hear the lock rotating, I could have blindly closed the door not paying attention to the deadbolt sticking out like a sore thumb waiting to make a nice dent in the door trim.

Is there anything other than IFTTT or a way to only lock the door when both of us are not home? The way the RM has it there is nothing like this.

I can't comment on the specifics of the devices, but I expect in RM you would want to include conditions in your actions, if you are controlling the locking through RM. i.e.

Triggers:
Your Wife Leaving
or
You Leaving

Actions:
IF (You are away)
AND (Your wife is away)
THEN Lock the door

Would that work?

Others may have a better setup. I don't have to deal with multiple occupants or security....

Simon

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I've done something similar for our basement. Do you have an auto-lock feature on your lock that's enabled?

What I do is simply test for the locking event then check the contact sensor. If it's open then I unlock the lock. At that point you could also notify yourself if you are away.

Note: Auto lock is not necessary because you can mimic the behavior in the rules using the contact sensor's "closed" event. This is what I do.

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I do the same. Test if the contact sensor is closed before locking the lock.

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Yes you can easily do this in RM. There are multiple ways to write this, but this should work.

The key is in your conditional statement you need to make a new condition and after selection all your presence sensors, tic the radio button for "All of these"

image

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Checks to see if door is open before locking, retries if locking fails, and also checks to see if it was manually locked.

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Agreed.
This app makes it super easy to use and do this (only auto-lock when the door is closed)

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Oh nice, the original author moved over from ST.

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Lots of great suggestions. Thanks! One thing I liked about ST was their IDE that allowed me to do anything remotely that I am required by HE to do locally. Still learning so if there is a way to modify and create rules and apps remotely, I am all ears. The way it is with HE, I have to wait until I am home to do this.

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I use a VPN to make changes remotely.

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That is the flip side of keeping your data private. The way around it is to VPN into your home network as @lewis.heidrick suggested. Lots of folks here use OpenVPN for that purpose. A smaller number use WireGuard.

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@TomG, if your router supports a VPN it's a great option to have generally, both for HE access and for security if you're using Wi-Fi networks outside your home. I've used OpenVPN and Wireguard and currently settled on WG as it's absolutely fast and has been 100% reliable for me.

You could also set WG up on a Pi if your router doesn't support VPNs, and of course there's also PiVPN as well.

Obviously depends on how important it is to you to configure remotely. These days I think most of us aren't remote very often, due to reduced travel due to Covid. :frowning:

Oh, and I use the Auto Lock app as well. Perfectly simple and reliable.

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Just another example for you. The trigger would be different but the actions could be the same for you.
This rule covers if the door was open and also if the door was closed enough for the sensor to think it was closed but the bolt hits the jamb and doesn't really lock.

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Any suggestions on good reference material to dig into setting this up?

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I lock the door on mode change to Night or Away (which only gets set when both of our phones leave) and if the door is closed. I get a notification if the door is not closed. I also get a notification if the lock changes while we're not present.

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@lewis.heidrick. You make it sound easy. :grinning:. My experience with computers goes way back to 300 baud modems and “who will ever need more than 640k?” You telling me to “just set up a VPN” reminds me when we visited my Air Force son when he graduated from basic training. He wanted to show us where he lived and said “oh, it’s right over there” and after walking 15 minutes in the heat we finally arrived, only to turn around and go back. “Right over there” to him when he was used to 15 MILE hikes with a 70 pound rucksack is like your “just set up a VPN” to me. Apparently this 65 year old brain is deteriorating or has no more room. :grimacing:
Your suggestion is appreciated though.

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Thank you! I am lazy and looking for something simple. Willl give this a try.

Update I am getting this error when trying to save the code “ No signature of method: Script1.definition() is applicable for argument types: (java.util.LinkedHashMap) values: [[name:Auto Lock Door, namespace:chris.sader, author:Chris Sader, ...]]”

Tried it several times. Have several drivers already installed for other devices, so what am I doing wrong? (Go back to my introductory post and read the part about being a n00b). Can’t say i didn’t warn you folks. :crazy_face:

Update. I was trying to install a driver. :grimacing:

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Hmm..
So you went to Apps Code, and then created a new one?
I'd try again (delete anything you have from this app), click on import and past in the URL
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/csader/AutoLockDoor/master/AutoLockDoor.groovy

See this gif:

The even easier alternative is to install via the HPM app.

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Yep, did that. Several times. And again. Remember, I am coming from ST and have copied and pasted many times for their device handlers. There is something stupid reason for this that I will be ashamed to admit.
I am doing this on an iPad. Tonight I’ll fire up the PC and do it from there.

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