Hi, I have 2 Schlage BE 469 locks on my house. After a year of troubleshooting, removing and adding, repeaters etc. I am ready to give up on one of them. The battery lasts less than 2 weeks, it looses connection etc.
What is in your opinion the best Zwave lock one can get (reliability) - also would prefer bronze finish but not required by now. Need to last at least 6+ months on batteries and not lose connection to HE so I can add/remove codes on weekly bases.
THX!
I have a Kwikset 914 in Venetian Bronze. The front door is about 3 feet from the HE hub. The door is unlocked and locked via the app 3-4 times a day. Batteries get replaced with fresh AA rechargeable cells every 6 months just like a smoke detector on a schedule. Owned the 914 for about 3 years and have had zero issues with it. Highly recommend.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071KLHWSN/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_137F3STQFDPF7FJD2W7F?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1]
i would get the kwikset as mentioned but aviod zwave and get zigbee if i were you.
But that means buying another set of repeaters as Zigbee suffers the same distance issues, right?
100% of my devices are zwave - 10 Leviton switches/dimmers, GE outside plugs etc. I was thinking the mash is stronger with more devices. If I only have 1 Zigbee lock would that not be a problem?
The 914 is available in both Z-Wave and Zigbee flavors.
It the lock is the only ZigBee or Z-Wave device, there might be issues because you do not have a mesh. Since you already have a Z-wave mesh, get the 914 Z-Wave.
I have an old 914 and 2 new Weiser Smartlock (Z-Wave+)
None have give me issues and 6 months on batteries or more; front door is the most used but still good.
Some people have issues with Z-Wave locks and change the boards with Zigbee but I've been fine. Locks are 20M from the hub through walls and floors.
Before you give up, consider swapping out the electronics module (the oblong plastic piece you see when you remove the inside cover) with electronics for BE469ZP, but only if you have a C-7, which can do S2 security (1/3 packets of S0). I was seeing similar short battery life on my two BE469, until I replaced my modules with BE469ZP. Batteries are now 98% after just over 6 months:
I’m expecting well over a year between battery replacements. I’m very happy after changing the modules for Z-Wave Plus ones.
You can get them on eBay, all BE469ZP modules are the same, regardless of lock model. Replace with 3 screws.
Occasionally you can find the inside-door piece sold separately from touchpad, or find one with broken touchpad. Just watch out for early firmware versions. One of mine is 0.11.0, other is 0.10.9, both work fine.
One was $39, other was $49. If you get one with just inside part, make sure you get the door mounting plate, or at least, as I did on one of mine, a photo of the sticker on the door side of the mounting plate, because that’s where the S2 DSK key is, needed for S2 inclusion.
Thanks for the info - I got C-5 hubs. So it seems upgrading the board does not make sense, correct?
Yep. Except that you could swap for the Zigbee version (BE468GBAK), which is also interchangeable. I’ve never used the Zigbee module, but it can’t be worse than the BE469.
It’s rare to see the Zigbee versions on eBay.
Another option is the Yale Assure Lock. I have the YRD226-ZW2-605 (Brass) but it also comes in a Bronze finish. While it's an S0 device (sadly), I've had it over 2 years with no problems at all and I think I've only changed the batteries twice so far. It's been extremely reliable.
https://www.amazon.com/Yale-Assure-Touchscreen-YRD226ZW2619-SmartThings/dp/B06VX45R2G
It's interesting for me to hear you're happy with your BE469ZP locks. I have 2, with Z-wave Plus switches right next to them and a strong mesh throughout the house and these locks constantly fail to send their status changes to the hub when manually locked or unlocked. One of the locks is even 7 meters from the hub with 2 z-wave plus switches between the lock and the hub.
I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on why yours are so reliable?
Install the Reliable Locks app and enable the option to "retry commands if the lock doesn't respond the first time". Once I did that my four Schlage BE469ZP locks got very reliable. I still sometimes face some long delays in responding to commands, but they always respond with this app installed and option enabled.
Thanks for this advice, my locks almost always respond to commands, they are reliable that way, but what they fail to do regularly is send their status updates back to the hub. Mainly if a door is unlocked or locked manually, they fail to send that status change to the hub.
Any thoughts on this?
The same Reliable Locks app also solves this issue auto refreshing the lock status on a configurable interval as well as refresh X seconds after last command. I use once every 10 minutes for the app to auto refresh each lock for status update. Give the app a try, I literally think it will solve all your problems.
I don’t know. I don’t know whether your Z-Wave switches near the locks are beaming repeaters, which seems to be required for the FLiRS locks. When I migrated to Hubitat from Wink just over a year ago, April Brandt, one of the forum members who has since been banned, recommended beaming repeaters near the locks, and that fixed my problems. I initially used Aeotec Range Extender 7 repeaters, and they worked fine. I later changed to Ring Alarm Extender Gen 2 repeaters because the Ring devices have internal battery backup and also report power fail so that an appropriate rule can shut the hub (on a UPS) down cleanly if the power doesn’t return in an appropriate time.
I was seeing similar issues, short battery life and missing response. The beaming repeaters fixed the reliability issues, moving to BE469ZP with S2, and changing my hub to C-7 (the C-5 could only do S0) fixed the battery life issues.
I’ve just accepted that the Hubitat’s antennas don’t seem to have the gain that the Wink and SmartThings hubs have, shrugged my shoulders, and put good repeaters throughout my house.
I don’t use any Reliable Lock or similar apps to compensate for issues.
I use the BE469ZP with a C-7 and all z-wave plus devices in my house and the lock has been rock solid with 98% battery going on 7+ months now. 95% of my house are Inovelli 2nd gen red and black dimmers and switches. Not using anything special as far as apps go beyond the built in lock manager, and no dedicated repeater devices.
Thanks for taking the time to reply with your experience. I too had no issues on Wink and have struggled with the locks since moving to Hubitat. Battery life isn't a big issue for me, but the inconsistent reporting of statuses is an issue. I've had it on my to do list to order Aeotec Extenders and see if that helped so I think I'll try that now. I guess I was being a litltle stubborn in hoping all of my Leviton DZ6HD Z-Wave Plus dimmers (and similar quality Leviton Switches) would have built out a strong enough mesh network that I wouldn't have to resort to occupying electrical receptacles with range extenders.
I also really appreciate your write-up about how easy it is to swap out the board in a Schlage Lock. I have a dead BE649 that I might just try and source a BE469ZP board for and see if that gives it new life! I was going to replace it with a Yale Asure Zigbee lock, as I've read these tend to be more reliable, but maybe the range extender should work.
Also good to hear you're not using the Reliable Locks App. Although that's a great workaround someone came up with, I would much prefer reliable and instant lock status updates.
Lastly, woa woa woa, April was banned? When did this happen and why? She was always so positive and active in the group! What did she do to get banned!?
I have had August lock retrofit. I had a lot of problems with it. I have been using Alfred and it works great. S2 with my C-7 works perfectly. I doesn't come on bronze but the black goes well with it as I have bronze too. I don't have a key option only the key pad.
