Lock Opened on its own

Good Morning.
I have 3 Kwikset locks in my home. I have them paired to HE with rules set up to lock at 3 specific times throughout the evening / night.

I do have some other integrations with the locks ( Echo Skill / Sharp Tools / Fabriq / Sonos) but those are for notifications and dashboard control.....no commands are pre set for open.

This morning i manually unlocked my lock to have my coffee on the patio. Cant say i specifically recall manually locking it when i came back in ...but it is a habit so i will have to assume i did.
A few minutes after i came back inside - i heard the lock activate. When i physically checked the status - the lock was open. I checked my rules and i have nothing for this time of the day to unlock..rather i dont have any rule that unlocks my door..only rules to lock the door.

I also have the reliable user app installed...but only use that on my dashboard for accurate status updates.
Really would appreciate if anyone can point out what i should be looking for.

  • 8:33..seems right for me manually unlocking the door
  • I don't see an entry for manually locking the door...but the fact i heard it operate shortly after leads me to believe i must have
  • 8:56....the patio door unlocked without command.

I dont mind a glitch in the vast majority of my automations and rules. If lights go on or off when not scheduled...no big deal....but a lock opening on its own...would really like to sort that one.

Appreciate any thoughts. I have the idea of having a lock open unintended.
Thanks
mac

Attaching screen captures of the logs

Reliable Lock Logs

Lock Device Logs

Lock Device page

Reliable Lock Device Page

It looks like reliable locks app is refreshing lock state every half hour (:26 and :56 past the hour). I don't see a lock event reported by the lock after the manual unlock at 8:33:23, and when the lock reported its state at 8:56:12, it was in the unknown state. My guess is the reliable lock app saw the unknown, and being inconsistent with its own internal last state of unlocked, decided to unlock the lock at that time.

Is it possible that the lock was not fully in the locked state (or it jammed) when you locked it?

I have a Yale Z-Wave Plus lock and it's been very reliable as-is. Unless you know you need the reliable locks wrapper due to repeatable unreliable locking or unlocking, I recommend you remove it. Your battery might last longer too without polling to refresh 48 times every day.

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I don't think the lock was jammed. I can usually tell that when closing.
I used the reliable locks as the status seemed to be more consistent with the actual status.
I may delete the reliable locks, monitor to see if indeed thats the case.
thanks
Mac

It may not have been jammed. The lock may not have reported its status correctly for whatever reason .....

Just trying to figure out my own lock quirks related to jams and "unknown" states.
Winter is coming, along with frost and snow and general threshold crud.

Sounds like this is the answer to your glitch.

Wasn't this the command?

Reliable Lock Logs
2020-21-18 08:56:15.191 am Lock Patio Door:unlocking

Not familiar with the Reliable Lock app but can you specify the response for "unknown" vs "locked" or "unlocked" states?

I think what i was meaning to say is that nothing was done manually nor by schedule to send the command to unlock at 08:56. Might try opening a ticket with the all developer. I would think that in the event of an unknown state - the default would be to lock...vs unlock as a safety protocol.

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Pretty certain this is an app by @jwetzel1492
Tagging to see if he can offer some input.
Thanks
Mac

I think the app tries to get the lock to match the state that the virtual lock has. Which is what @rabman pointed out ....

jwetzel1492 here. I believe @rabman is correct. The refresh saw that it was in an unknown state and tried to correct. I have two takeaways from this:

  1. There is a bug in my code. It's using the same code for the timed refresh and the refreshes it does after digital commands to make sure they were followed. That is incorrect. It should not try to correct the state on timed refreshes. I will make an update and push out a new version.

  2. If your lock is sending states of "unknown", that is a real problem. Also when it does not show the lock event that you did manually, that is a real problem. And it's not one Reliable Locks can fix. If a lock doesn't report manual events back to the hub, that can't really be fixed from the hub. (The time refreshes can fix a small amount of the issues this causes, but not the majority of them.) I assume your locks are z-wave? I had one z-wave Kwikset that absolutely refused to report manual events back to the hub. I ended up replacing its chipset with a zigbee one, and it works perfectly since. I am a big fan of converting kwiksets to use zigbee.

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Ok, I have posted an update. As usual, the best way to install it with Hubitat Package Manager. (But if you don't use HPM, the updated code is in my github: GitHub - joelwetzel/Hubitat-Reliable-Locks: An app that will create virtual locks that 'wrap' your physical lock devices, making them more reliable.)

2 Likes

Thanks Joel. I use the program manager. That option is great.
May i ask what the issue was that caused the lock to unlock?
Thanks
Mac

Sorry..i read the later post 1st.
Thanks for the update Joel.
Awesome as always.
mac

Thanks for that reply.
I know that the locks do update status back to the hub after a lock is locked / unlocked manually. I have an Inovelli red switch by the back door and have it configured to give me a red flashing light when any of the locks are open. I can manually turn the lock open and closed and immediately the status light updates with the proper flashing red or steady green.
They are zWave locks though (kwikset 888s) and my guess is they are old enough that they are not zwave plus so who knows how reliable that status is back to the hub.
I'd hate to have to change out the locks....but if i can find a reasonable zigbee replacement chipset....i'd certainly look into that.
Thanks Again.
Mac

The z-wave radio daughter card is replaceable without replacing the rest of the lock. Sometimes people purchase the amazon key edition kwikset conversion kit because it is relatively inexpensive (<$40) just to get the zigbee radio daughter card.

https://www.amazon.com/Kwikset-Convert-Smart-Conversion-Amazon/dp/B07ZY4Y2XB/

Just bought 3 of them :).

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I purchased two of the amazon conversion kits six months ago. Several years of lock frustrations cured; one of the smartest home automation purchases I've made! [I had non-plus Zwave cards.]

I’m surprised the conversion kits are so cheap. I seem to recall them being well over a hundred.
Looks to be cheaper then just finding the chip set itself.
Good thing is that I have 3 more of these locks in the fun drawer but the Zwave portion of them didn’t seem to be working. I can now take the motorized portion off the locks now and pair them up with the key pads and have a couple locks to use elsewhere.
Win win.

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Partial success.
My 3 conversion kits arrived today.

Turns out that these are not set up to connect to a Kwikset smart lock that has a key pad...as there is no where for the ribbon for the key pad to connect to. So they must be for converting a standard key lock to a smart lock..without the keypad.

so - was thinking of just using the zigbee board in by existing locks.
Was able to trade out the zwave board on my Kwikset 910 for the zigbee.. paired immediately and was easily able to program the pin number from HE

But...apparently the Kwikset 888 zwave locks do not use a removable zwave board...rather the zwave board is integral to the lock itself and not removable.
So - for now at least i'm stuck with 2 zwave locks...but glad one was able to be retrofitted.

Luckily i bought these on Amazon prime...so fully returnable.
I may put one on my second garage door.. thats a standard tumbler and thats what this looks like the retrofit is for...so maybe just return the one!

Cheers
mac

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Crap that's too bad! But at least you can send them back. My experience (and that of others) is that zigbee locks are rock-solid with Hubitat.

I'm a bargain hunter...i'll find something Zigbee now that i know they are superior to the zwave.
But...only way to know is to try so not that big of a deal to return.
Cheers
Mac

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