I know a lot of us have looked for smart locks for sliding doors. I'd settle for any sort of keyless lock just to allow our sliding door to be unlocked from the outside without a key. Since Zigbee and Z-Wave are out of the question, anyone find anything like that?
There are some products that purport to do that on Amazon, but curiously none have any reviews.
Thanks
Zwave (Anderson Doors but may work on others)
Tuya App
The Yale lock only works with hinged doors if I'm reading it correctly. Has anyone tried that with a sliding door? The Tuya one: Anyone modify their door to work wit this? The current latch lock has a much smaller cutout. I'm game if anyone has tried this with success.
Correct, it doesn’t work with slider doors. I haven’t searched in a few years but I was eagerly trying to find a smart lock for my Pella sliders but came up with nothing.
Dang I need that Zwave one for the Anderson door. But damn almost $400! My Anderson door has a busted spring inside the handle and I need to replace the whole assembly. For the last year we just manually lift up on the handle to secure the door.
I wonder if it works when you have the extra secure door with the top/bottom "dogs" that lock into the frame? I could probably just remove those things also if it didn't work with them.
@ritchierich
Please let me know if you find a lock that works on Pella sliders and can be controlled via Hubitat or even just via keypad.
Also, any chance that you have figured out a way to monitor the locked/unlocked status of the Pella sliders?
Unfortunately I haven’t found a product that will work with Pella. Once a year I will look to see if something new came out and disappointed every time.
You would think that Pella and Andersen would be trying to tap this market. I'm in the market for a new slider and if either of them had this option they would earn my business even if it was $1000 more than the others. Aftermarket sales would be huge also. At this point I think I'm resigning myself to something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXTPME0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A21C4U5X700J66&psc=1
And yes, I'll be sinking some long, long screws into framing to make it more secure.
I have a friend that works at Pella and there really isn’t much of a market for HA. Pella tapped into it with their automated blinds but pulled it, in fact don’t even offer blinds between the glass in as many products. They focus on glass and the door and window frames. All the hardware is 3rd party.
Pella offers something called "Insynctive® Technology"
They used to offer it on sliding patio doors; not sure if they still do, and if it will give you the locked/unlocked status.
@ritchierich I have a friend that works at Pella and there really isn’t much of a market for HA. Pella tapped into it with their automated blinds but pulled it, in fact don’t even offer blinds between the glass in as many products. They focus on glass and the door and window frames. All the hardware is 3rd party.
Tell your friend Pella seems to be confused. The reason "there isn't much of a market for HA" is because Pella selected a system that only works with other insanely expensive and proprietary systems.
From Smart Home Windows and Doors | Pella
Professionally Installed Security*
Professionally Installed Home Automation
Not Currently Compatible
You would think that Pella and Andersen would be trying to tap this market. I'm in the market for a new slider and if either of them had this option they would earn my business even if it was $1000 more than the others. Aftermarket sales would be huge also. At this point I think I'm resigning myself to something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXTPME0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A21C4U5X700J66&psc=1
And yes, I'll be sinking some long, long screws into framing to make it more secure.
The problem is that lock will not work with a Pella slider...Pella slider uses a different latch system.
I don't have a Pella door. Not sure why people assumed I do. It's a 26 year old generic builder grade vinyl slider.
@wiegout - Ah sorry. Since you posted about Pella and Anderson tapping the market, I figured you had either or both.
The fundamental issue is that glass slider door hardware is not standardized the way hinged door hardware is standardized. Each company makes totally different hardware, the door prep is totally different and the frame strike is totally different...
You end up not using their latch at all, but rather replacing the lock with this one. I bought one and will install. I'll document it and see how we like it. At least it provides what we want most, which is keyless external access.
I’m here because I’m (stillllll) looking for the same. I run this search once or twice a year to see if there any new products (same as some of you), and I’ve still got nothing. There were a few products on Amazon that had potential (yes, ignoring the lack of reviews), but the sizing wasn’t right. They were too large for my Pella vinyl sliding doors.
My doors function fine, though they are 25 years old, and I’m not interested in messing them up in a DIY attempt to kludge something together.
I’ll check this space when I search again. Would love to be able to share or read a success story..
I want one so bad. And I agree, really not looking for a kludgey solution.
I'm replacing my door and the one that I chose has a thumb turn thingy on the inside. There are a number of add on smart lock deadbolt adapters. I'm going to see if one them like this would work. Not ideal, but better than nothing.
Neat idea. My Pella also has a thumbturn, but when in the locked position, it is parallel to and UNDER the handle (red arrow), so this unfortunately won't work on what Pella calls their "Standard" slider hardware.
Well, after years of trying to figure out something I thought I would share what I did. I'm super happy with the functionality, about 50/50 on the "look" but as I didn't modify the door, I have a chance to rethink the "adapter." For those of you who care, here's what I did.
Original sliding door. Builder door. Vertical blinds. Internal latch with no way to enter the door from the outside. That's what we wanted though, a way to go in/out of the door without having to run to the front of the house, go in, go to the basement and unlock the door.
Brute force. Replace door with a new door that had a lock and thumb screw that could be automated. Meanwhile, much better insulation, operation and "lites" for aesthetics.
The new lock/handle. The trick is that all the add one deadbolt turners such as August and Switch-bot need room to mount and there's not enough room. The handle part is in the way.
The handle is removable.
First fitting of a PVC board that will allow me to move the handle out of the way, and give me a place to mount a Switch-bot lock so it can lock/unlock the door remotely.
Works perfectly. Looks are meh. I wanted to make it narrower, but need every bit of the width to mount the lock. Below the deadbolt not possible as it's too narrow. So 90 degree angle it is.
Finished assembly. Everything works. There's a keypad outside with fingerprint reader. So I can unlock the door from outside with a code/fingerprint/Siri (Apple Watch) or Switch-bot app etc. So, finally we can be outside and get in and out without a key or running through the front door.
Anyway, it works. And with it integrated through @tomw excellent driver I can also do things like make sure the lock is locked when we leave, warn if the door is ajar when we leave etc.
It's a way. A brute force way to be sure.
Additional notes: Door is an "MP Doors 72 in. x 80 in. Smooth White Left-Hand Composite Sliding Patio Door with 15-Lite GBG" from Home Depot. The curtains are also automated with a Switch-bot Curtain 3 motor. Also, after looking at these pictures, I'll probably cut the bottom 4 inches off the adapter. I made it long for symmetry, but I think that's a mistake.
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