Add a key-fob opener to your door

posted Oct 14th 2009 11:30am by Mike Szczys
filed under: classic hacks, home hacks

key-fob-door-opener

It seems like creating an automatic dorm room door opener is a rite-of-geek-passage each fall. [Adam], a student at Vassar, passed with flying colors by creating this clean setup. We’ve got video, more pictures, and a description after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

Automated dorm room door

posted Jul 6th 2009 6:25am by Caleb Kraft
filed under: home hacks, iphone hacks

[Chris] wrote in to tell us about this project he did while living in the dorms. He built a system to automate his dorm room door. It handles unlocking and opening/closing the door via iPhone, secret knock, and even the key.  The lock/knob portion is handled by a servo while the opening/closing action is hydraulic. After living with it for a year, he says that it never gets old, but there were a few bugs. Apparently it would randomly open in the middle of the night sometimes. If you’re interested in doing something like this, but not damaging the door, maybe you should check out the RFID dorm door lock project.




RFID dorm room door

posted Jan 2nd 2009 9:47am by Caleb Kraft
filed under: classic hacks, home hacks

rfid_door

[Max] sent us his dorm room RFID controlled lock. While RFID door locks are nothing new, his implementation is very slick. The entire unit is attached with suction cups to a mirror on the inside of the door. It looks like it could be removed and put elsewhere in a matter of seconds. That’s pretty slick. Much cleaner than the touch sensitive dorm lock we saw last year.

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