Reddit reviews UHPPOTE Electric Strike Door Lock Fail-Secure for Access Control System Deadlatches or Cylindrical Locksets

door openers are not cheap.

if you want to open doors that have knobs, you also need to add an electric strike, or electrify the trim... which i've recently learned is what locksmiths call door knobs.

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here's an opener on amazon, that is about 1/3 the price of a commercial unit.

https://www.amazon.com/Olide-SW100-Electric-Automatic-Operator/dp/B00VJXBCIG/

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and an electric strike to release w/standard interior knob, this is about 1/3 the price of a commercial unit.

https://www.amazon.com/UHPPOTE-Electric-Strike-Fail-Secure-Control/dp/B00V45GWTI/

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you will need to provide power for the opener.

depending on the complexity of the controller for the door opener, it may be able to directly control the strike.

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once you have the opener and the strike, you just need any smart relay to use your phone.

such as, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078GDFYTY/.

i don't know anything about the different ecosystems, i'm sure apple homekit has a relay as well.

Short version- it's probably cheaper to buy a 2nd robot vacuum, unless you go total DIY route.

Medium version- Unless the hallway is an outside hallway (IE one of the hallway walls is on the outside of the house) you probably aren't wasting any money heating it. If the hallway is surrounded by heated rooms, then the hallway itself won't bleed much heat except maybe through the ceiling and that's probably to another apartment.

Long version: Locking and unlocking doors is fairly easy. Unlatching doors is a bit harder- motorized doorknobs aren't really a common thing so you'd need an electric security strike plate. That would probably require cutting out a lot of the door frame to mount it. Then you have the issue of actually opening and closing the door. It has to open and close with enough force that it pushes the latch through the strike plate, but also should have some safety mechanism so it can't cause any harm to a human or pet. That's one reason why automatic door openers (like you see at the supermarket) are quite expensive- you need a powerful motor but you also need a bunch of sensors to stop the motor before it does any damage. Those things are quite expensive and require custom mounting. They're also fugly- this is the smallest most attractive one I could find and it's $530. You could use something more like an automatic gate opener but that's still $289.

If you were to do this, the DIY route is probably the way to go. The strike plate is easy enough, you can get that on Amazon for $23. That just needs 12vdc to unlock it. The opener is the harder part. You'd probably want something like a long stroke linear actuator. Alternatively you could make something using some gears and stuff- there are a few ways to do that.

But when you put all this together, you are still spending a good amount of money. Even if it's just $100 (which I'd put as the absolute bare minimum for this) how long will it take you to realize $100 worth of energy savings vs just leaving the hallway doors open?

How thick is the door and how wide is the door edge bit (where the lock is)? I don't think I've seen a lock that will be a drop in replacement, but as long as there's enough space next to the glass you should might be able to use something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D1M5YTG/

Otherwise, you can use an electronic strike that goes into the door frame: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V45GWTI/

They're usually meant for business security so you won't find many people using them for homes and I haven't seen one that has a z-wave or zigbee radio module (they usually need a dedicated access controller and power supply).

If you have an existing "turn to open" type lock that latches into a slot in the door-frame, you can replace the slot with one of these. It has a solenoid that locks shut and only opens when you send 12v into the solenoid. You keep the door itself permanently locked (with the existing key) and only open the slot using the solenoid. If it's similar to the slot already in your door-frame, there should be minimal damage to the frame, just a few screw holes that you can easily cover up with wood-filler when you leave. Then wire up your Pi to send 12v via a relay to the solenoid (get a pre-built relay module if you're unsure about how to wire a relay to the Pi).


There's also a version that's normally open, and locks itself when you send 12v to the solenoid. Its linked on the same product page.

2nd this. Although could just use a key fob or the nfc chip in the phone, or in your schools id badge. I'm a big fan of rfid for access control. I used something like this: UHPPOTE Electric Strike Fail Secure NO Mode Lock a Part For Access Control Wood Metal Door https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V45GWTI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.z2zybSC6GNBH
With an hid reader and programmed it to accept my school's id badge. Badge in and push the door open. Now I'm renting though and I don't really like any of the rfid dead bolts I've seen on the market, so no current smart locks for me.

I have my doorbird connected to an electric door strike. I am using the doorbird's relay to click a button on an access controller to release the electric strike.

On the Doorbird the relay you can set it up as NC or NO.

You can use the the doorbird to open the electric strike directly.

There is a doorbird with builtin keypad.

Keypad https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DGN1FL6/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_awdo_cO6YCb8ZPYT64

Electric strike - fail secure (No power = strike is locked
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V45GWTI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_ZT6YCb67H4592