Once the improvements to the Space door system are made, we will have a decent case to go forward with. I’ve already had an informal discussion with some of the members of the Boileroom staff, who have been intrigued by the idea. What’s important to note is that the entry system fails securely (loss of power doesn’t let you open the door), and it still allows any of the other BR residents to enter with their keys.
There are door strikes suitable for both the black door and the ‘fire escape style’ gate.
Once the improvements to the software are made, and I’ve tidied up the control circuitry so it at least doesn’t look cobbled together, we’ll be in a strong position moving forwards.
I think bonus points will come with the addition of the exterior lock visualisation I have planned. Whilst not required, a bit of ‘wow that looks polished’ factor never hurt.
Just for information, Joe from the Boileroom mentioned the other day that they were looking at the garden gate lock and made the observation that it is technically a fire exit, so may need special consideration.
Well, as we’ve said all along, our system doesn’t interfere with any standard operation of the doors. It just makes the door-jam disappear. Worst case is it fails and turns it back into a normal “dumb” door.
In that case it’s just a door-jam, like it is already. The emergency exit bumper will still work. Look at the one in our room - it’s just a door jam, that when triggers goes away. Without any external input, it’s just like an old plain door catch. If it fails, it just remains a plain old door catch.
Worst case would be if it fails “on” somehow, in which case it’s an open door - not a problem from a fire-safety point of view.
Indeed. And as the act of moving the catch out of the way requires power, and is the “on” state, it’s much more likely to fail in the “normal door” mode than the “open” mode.
Mark is entirely right though. From it’s conception I wanted a system that was as minimally intrusive to the rest of the Boileroom as possible.
In fact installation of the door strikes might not even be noticed by anyone, nor the RFID scanners. Probably the only thing that people will notice is that on a certain door you will actually be able to lock/unlock it without requiring large doses of luck
I know you do @Jagmills The use of phrase “fails securely (loss of power doesn’t let you open the door)” threw me, would that also be suitable for the black door ?
Sorry, catching up. Door strikes are easily reconfigured for them to fail secure or fail open; you can buy both models, but essentially inside you are reversing the latch - when the magnet is on in a fail safe, you unlock the door. When it’s on in a fail open, you are locking the door, and you keep it energised until something tells it to turn off and unlock.
Of course though, they do lock the fire exit door, so keeping with that theme it’s best to use fail safe for everything (loss of power means normal door mode is activated).
Haha sorry @stochastic_forest - it’s the door strike companies’ jargon, not mine. Fail safe is definitely much more apparent and easy to understand.
That would certainly be suitable for the black door but there will need to be one addition to it. If the power goes and the door is locked, you need a key to open it. A simple button with battery backup, or better, a mechanical method to open the door, will be needed.
We didn’t mean it glues the door shut. Have a look at our one and what it does. It should be fairly clear that pretty all failure modes just turn it into a standard door frame.
I think the issue Matt is highlighting here is something I’ve worried about - if someone enters the building with the door ‘locked’, uses the laser and sets fire to everything, they technically can’t get out of the black door without something assisting them.
The fire exit near the kitchen is of course the preferred method, but psychologically I’m sure most people try for the way they came in.
This of course, is no different than present time though - if the black door has been locked by the last keyholding exitee, they can’t get out.
Well, that has nothing to do with the entry system, and everything to do with the fire training. There should be clear signage everywhere for the correct exit procedure in the case of fire. Standard regs require that throughout the Boileroom.
I think I was just confused over terminology, so the electronic component of the back gate and space doors would be failsafe and the black door would be failsecure?
That’s a good point @Cylindric , we still need to make ourselves available for fire training with the Boileroom team.
Thanks for the explanation @Jagmills, I may be confused, but if the lock on the black door fails safe that would mean you couldn’t open the door without it having been previously unlocked by a key holder ?
What I meant above is that is really the case anyway - if someone came in without a key, and the door was locked up while someone was in, it’s the same situation.
I think a method to exit that way should be considered myself, but certainly something to discuss with the BR.
I’ll be along tonight for the first time in a while
