Frulk
Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2018
- Messages
- 1,599
Just to recap...we (THR) had an ongoing discussion about the pro's (if any) and cons of electronic locks (touchpads) on safes and vaults recently. When I bought our vault door I opted for the keypad because I wanted the wife to have the option to use it as a quick access panic/safe room.
We also had a discussion thread going that is now locked on the incident recently when Liberty gave out a code to the Fed's without a warrant. That there was a backdoor code was a big surprise to a lot of people (including me). I'm not addressing that topic in this thread as its been discussed, Liberty changed their policy and the mod's have put that point of discussion to rest.
OK...Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago: I opened the vault on a Thursday PM and electronic touchpad worked just fine. Tried to open it Friday and didn't work. No problem...more than likely the battery...swapped it out. Didn't work. Tried another new battery...still didn't. Now it's a BIG problem. It's a 3-4 step process to change the combo number so I knew that wasn't the issue and that I hadn't changed it by accident.
Called Liberty Friday afternoon. As luck would have it somebody actually was working for a living and answered the phone. After verifying I was who I said I was and giving them the serial # of the door the lady gave me the 'backdoor code'. Punched it in...Didn't work. Tried it again and nothing. There's a timeout that takes place if you enter the code wrong a couple of times so you have to wait approx. 5 minutes before you can try again.
Liberty rep said our door was out of warranty by about 15 days (one year) but that they would cover it. Asked if this was a pressing issue as we were going into the weekend and to get a locksmith out to our house might be difficult on a Friday PM. I said it wasn't an emergency (I had my CCW on me). Rep stated everything would be covered and to expect a call from the locksmith if not today then after weekend. OK, all good so far.
Locksmith called me Tuesday (again, nothing pressing required me to get in there on Monday so I wasn't concerned...yet) and had he not called I would have called on Wednesday to see what was going on. Locksmith said he would like to stop by in the PM after work and take care of door. Told him I wanted a quality dial instead of keypad and he stated he had a Sergent manual lock that was just the ticket. Asked if I had a preference for a finish and told him what color and he had one in stock. Said he would be by around 5:30PM.
Locksmith shows up at appointed time. Clean-cut, mid 50's, well-spoken and polite. This really put me at ease. Took a look at the door and attempted to punch in code...Didn't work. Pulled off outer ring of keypad, popped it off the door, put on exact keypad but new out of box and had me punch in code...Presto...Door opened. Turns out the touchpad is much like a keyboard for data entry and there is a hard drive on the other side of the door with all the info stored and the actuator mechanism in it. Told me that usually, if these touchpads fail it would be in the first year...usually.
This is when we had a prolonged discussion about dial vs. touchpad. He pointed out with the manual dial we would not be able to use the vault as a safe/panic room as you can't lock door except from outside and that there was no manual override. He then showed me an upgraded touchpad of higher quality than what I had on the door. Difference in cost (about $70) of the basic one was all I had to pay since Liberty was paying for the service call and to replace the stock touchpad. Thought about it and decided to go with the upgraded keypad so wife could still access room quickly should the need arise. Locksmith replaced hard drive/actuator mechanism on inside of door, adjusted it, then put new touchpad dial on outside of door. Explained to me to only use Duracell PRO batteries as they're rated for 10K opening cycles but even so good idea to replace it when smoke detector batteries are changed out.
The whole time he was working he wasn't looking around in the vault, never commented on anything. I asked if vault doors/safe rooms were a common thing he dealt with and he said yes. Told me I'd be surprised at the number of new homes that have had them put in. He did say that things have slowed down recently. When he was done, he explained the process to put in a new code and had me enter it a couple of times and then test it while the door was open. Once confirmed everything was fixed to my satisfaction he got all his gear together and left.
Pretty happy with how Liberty treated me and the locksmith they hired or have in their employ in my area was a top notch professional.
We also had a discussion thread going that is now locked on the incident recently when Liberty gave out a code to the Fed's without a warrant. That there was a backdoor code was a big surprise to a lot of people (including me). I'm not addressing that topic in this thread as its been discussed, Liberty changed their policy and the mod's have put that point of discussion to rest.
OK...Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago: I opened the vault on a Thursday PM and electronic touchpad worked just fine. Tried to open it Friday and didn't work. No problem...more than likely the battery...swapped it out. Didn't work. Tried another new battery...still didn't. Now it's a BIG problem. It's a 3-4 step process to change the combo number so I knew that wasn't the issue and that I hadn't changed it by accident.
Called Liberty Friday afternoon. As luck would have it somebody actually was working for a living and answered the phone. After verifying I was who I said I was and giving them the serial # of the door the lady gave me the 'backdoor code'. Punched it in...Didn't work. Tried it again and nothing. There's a timeout that takes place if you enter the code wrong a couple of times so you have to wait approx. 5 minutes before you can try again.
Liberty rep said our door was out of warranty by about 15 days (one year) but that they would cover it. Asked if this was a pressing issue as we were going into the weekend and to get a locksmith out to our house might be difficult on a Friday PM. I said it wasn't an emergency (I had my CCW on me). Rep stated everything would be covered and to expect a call from the locksmith if not today then after weekend. OK, all good so far.
Locksmith called me Tuesday (again, nothing pressing required me to get in there on Monday so I wasn't concerned...yet) and had he not called I would have called on Wednesday to see what was going on. Locksmith said he would like to stop by in the PM after work and take care of door. Told him I wanted a quality dial instead of keypad and he stated he had a Sergent manual lock that was just the ticket. Asked if I had a preference for a finish and told him what color and he had one in stock. Said he would be by around 5:30PM.
Locksmith shows up at appointed time. Clean-cut, mid 50's, well-spoken and polite. This really put me at ease. Took a look at the door and attempted to punch in code...Didn't work. Pulled off outer ring of keypad, popped it off the door, put on exact keypad but new out of box and had me punch in code...Presto...Door opened. Turns out the touchpad is much like a keyboard for data entry and there is a hard drive on the other side of the door with all the info stored and the actuator mechanism in it. Told me that usually, if these touchpads fail it would be in the first year...usually.
This is when we had a prolonged discussion about dial vs. touchpad. He pointed out with the manual dial we would not be able to use the vault as a safe/panic room as you can't lock door except from outside and that there was no manual override. He then showed me an upgraded touchpad of higher quality than what I had on the door. Difference in cost (about $70) of the basic one was all I had to pay since Liberty was paying for the service call and to replace the stock touchpad. Thought about it and decided to go with the upgraded keypad so wife could still access room quickly should the need arise. Locksmith replaced hard drive/actuator mechanism on inside of door, adjusted it, then put new touchpad dial on outside of door. Explained to me to only use Duracell PRO batteries as they're rated for 10K opening cycles but even so good idea to replace it when smoke detector batteries are changed out.
The whole time he was working he wasn't looking around in the vault, never commented on anything. I asked if vault doors/safe rooms were a common thing he dealt with and he said yes. Told me I'd be surprised at the number of new homes that have had them put in. He did say that things have slowed down recently. When he was done, he explained the process to put in a new code and had me enter it a couple of times and then test it while the door was open. Once confirmed everything was fixed to my satisfaction he got all his gear together and left.
Pretty happy with how Liberty treated me and the locksmith they hired or have in their employ in my area was a top notch professional.
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