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DIY keyless entry?
mehmehmeh
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So my family business purchased a building with an old kelyess entry system, where you would swipe a keycard and an electronic strike plate would let you pull open the locked door. We did not get any keycards though, the building has changed hands a few times since they were used and no one knows where they are.
the strike plate was made by rofu, I took it out of the door jam to examine it. It looks like it is a 12vdc solenoid, where you momentarily apply 12v to the circuit and it will allow you to open the door.
I am trying to figure out a cheap way to hack the entry system. I thought about using a prepaid cell phone connected to a relay, calling the phone would trigger the relay unlocking the door? or buying and modifying an add on garage door remote system?
I've looked at a few of the keypad systems , but they seem expensive and running the wiring through the thick brick building exterior or the aluminum frame around the door seems like a lot of work.
edit:
found this RFID project on instructables - looks promising. I don't have any soldering skills but it's something I've wanted to pick up.
the strike plate was made by rofu, I took it out of the door jam to examine it. It looks like it is a 12vdc solenoid, where you momentarily apply 12v to the circuit and it will allow you to open the door.
I am trying to figure out a cheap way to hack the entry system. I thought about using a prepaid cell phone connected to a relay, calling the phone would trigger the relay unlocking the door? or buying and modifying an add on garage door remote system?
I've looked at a few of the keypad systems , but they seem expensive and running the wiring through the thick brick building exterior or the aluminum frame around the door seems like a lot of work.
edit:
found this RFID project on instructables - looks promising. I don't have any soldering skills but it's something I've wanted to pick up.
mehmehmeh on
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Regardless, you might be able to use existing wires to modify it. Is the card reader built into the lock or is it separate? If it's a separate reader from the door lock, then is there a separate controller as well?
There are already hole drilled into the frame for running wires to the strike plate from the ceiling, I can either reuse the existing wire or run a new line.
the rfid Arduino project is interesting, will cost me about $80-$100 to get all the parts plus time to set it up, extra rfid tags are cheap, they're small and don't need batteries.
12v remote on ebay $10
another ebay kit $25
These look like they will work, they're cheap and pretty quick to install, but they only come with a couple of remotes. Don't know if I can get more remotes and they will need new batteries eventually.
I'll pour over that RFID thing later. I breezed through it but the pictures of it leave something to be desired. Apparently, I can't view the smaller pictures without being a member, and those smaller pictures look like the schematics for the circuits.
But as far as soldering goes, if he is using the type of breadboard I think he is, then everything just kind of snaps into place and there is very little soldering involved. And really, basic soldering (like wires/components to boards) is actually quite simple. A cheap little $20 iron from Wal-Mart works wonders. Just don't get one of them stupid Cold Heat irons or anything battery powered, and you should be good.
I am getting around that by mounting the control unit behind a glass window, it should be able to read the RFID tags through the glass and then unlock the door. and if someone was willing to break a window they would already have access to the building.
Re: the existing system
Following the card reader and strike plate wiring there are various locked metal boxes bolted to the internal wall of the building that probably contain a central control unit, a battery backup etc. But we didn't get keys to those boxes either. I'm sure if we were to pry them open We would find the card writer in one, but would probably need some sort of pin number or master key card (which we don't have) to program another.
edit:
the alarm system is separate from the door entry system. We have alarm panels by the doors motion sensors throughout the building, when you walk in front of a motion sensor the alarm panels will beep and you have 15-30 seconds to enter the disarm code. And we did get the codes for the alarm system when we moved in.
Probably because even though he has access to all the components, programming new cards into the system isn't trivial. Remember, it didn't come with instructions. A lot of COTS security equipment is hard to identify. Moreover, a lot of it takes specialized software to program. Sometimes you can get it, sometimes not. Sometimes, it's so antiquated, installers keep special (highly obsolete) equipment to run it on.
You'd probably have to make inqueries on something closer to a security system board. Post good pictures, but I suspect unless you find someone who is familiar with that system, you're going to have trouble. Most stuff doesn't have markings, and what markings they do have, usually aren't relevant to identification.
And that assumes it's still operational. It could have been abandoned because it just doesn't work.
I took out the door strike this morning and hooked it up to a 12v power supply and it works as expected. the RFID retrofit will be cheap and it will do what we need. I'm sure the old system has some nice features like logging entry times and time restricted access for certain cards but we don't really have a need for anything fancy.