Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by RickHull 4982 days ago
I'm curious how it works. There must be some servo activating the physical lock, right? How can it operate if the power goes out?
2 comments
gigantor 4982 days ago
It's powered by 4x AA batteries, claimed to be good for a year. If that's true it's unbelievably efficient considering the hardware store models also run on 4x AA batteries but don't have a Wi-Fi + Bluetooth radio running all the time.

https://lockitron.com/pdf/lockitron_manual_knob.pdf page 5

link
mikeash 4982 days ago
A backup battery would seem to be an obvious solution there. Every lock like this that I've seen also has a standard physical keyed lock as a backup.
link
schiffern 4982 days ago
Lockitron is entirely battery powered and has no external components. It looks like they can send you an alert when the battery runs low.
link