Can We Finally Say Goodbye To Bridges And Hubs (and Their Extra Costs) To Have Smart Door Locks In Our Home?
The latest smart locks set to launch this year will keep down the installation cost and streamline the setup process. These smart locks have a Wi-Fi chip built within the lock instead of in a hub or a bridge. This new idea will help save money on hardware.
Smart locks need a reliable internet connection so as to offer you uninterrupted access to monitor the activity of your locked door and to provide access to the occasional guests and service providers.
But the Wi-Fi chips necessary to make that connection have been notorious power hogs, so the solution until now has been to build those chips into a separate device—the bridge or hub that plugs into an outlet to provide sufficient power.
The lock talks to the bridge via Bluetooth or an alternative wireless protocol. The bridge then sends the signal onwards to the Wi-Fi router.
Wi-Fi chips are a more energy efficient method of getting the smart locks to connect to the Wi-Fi. The drawback here is that these smart locks cannot compete against the hub-based smart locks’ battery life. Some of the models of smart locks that will soon hit the stores are Array by Hampton, Emtek, Kwikset, Lockly, Schlage, and Altro.
Source: https://www.consumerreports.org
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