Pulaski

I am old-school, especially when it comes to locks, and anything that connects my front door to the internet, Ain't. Gonna. Happen.

Internet- linked intruder detectors and alarms, yes, of course, that is a good use of internet technology, but AFAIKT no internet linked system of any sort has ever fully lived up to its unhackability claims.

I would be skeptical that an internet connected lock would be positive selling point on a home, and I would expect that the likelihood would be that when you sell it will be removed and replaced, perhaps with another internet-connected lock, as, just with physical locks, there are good reasons to replace the locks when you buy a home and tracing conclusively and removing all prior access with certainty may not be possible and therefore replacing would be a quicker and more certain solution.

Pulaski

All those are problems I am familiar with, and they are all cables (single core) which are very stiff individually, but linked together in groups of three or more become unmanageable. The best answer to that specific problem is to remove the wire nut, untwist them all, bend and move them, one at a time, to where you want them, then retwist and re-wire nut them. It takes time, for sure, but patience is the only solution I know of, and it pays dividends as a first step of the process, eventually, to carefully liberate each wire and straighten it out before moving on to the next wire.

The lack of space problem is a bigger issue, and a lot more problematic to fix. The solution I have used once or twice is to put a new one or two gang "old work" back box (there are different depths, so make sure you buy one that is deep enough, but not too deep to fit into the depth of the wall (3½" deep for a wall made from 2x4's), then install it near the existing back box (above, below, or next to is your call, but (i) don't make it to close or the plasterboard in between will break - I recommend a minimum of 2", and (ii) make sure it isn't on the other side of a wall stud.) Then you can link the two boxes with two or more wires, or even bypass the box entirely, depending on your needs. Drilling the holes in the side of boxes and threading the cables through also takes time and patience. I have used this technique to add a timer switch for the lights on the front porch, as the timer switch is much more bulky than a simple on-off switch.

The alternative of trying to remove and replace the back box is likely very difficult, if not impossible, at least without cutting a large hole in the plasterboard, unless the existing back box is already an "old work" box - one held in place with flip-out plastic tabs.

It is highly unlikely that there is any slack in the cables, assuming the cables were installed at the time of construction i.e. before the plasterboard was installed, because code requires that the cables are staple-clipped in place along the wall studs, so you should assume that the "tails" in the back box are all the cable you have to work with, and depending on whether the cables come from above or below may well determine whether you place an auxiliary back box above or below the existing back box.

petitefrancaise

I've just installed it - took about an hour.
The MAIN reason for getting a smart lock is the ability to check that it is actually locked. DD is a sweetheart but in world of her own and frequently goes out and leaves the house unlocked.
I also had a bit of a scare this morning - I am very careful about making sure the house is locked up at night before I head to bed. Last night, the dog was barking a lot and I thought it was just because of the wind/trees etc. Nope. I got up to find the front door open, not just unlocked but open. This is the door with the lost key.
I didn't have time to get a new lock before going out to work, so I jammed the latch on the inside with chopsticks so it wouldn't budge. I wanted a new lock before bed tonight....

Steerpike

Is your assumption here that all the neutrals are alike, and are probably tied together somewhere else already? Thinking more about this, in my 3-gang switch box, there are approximately 6 cables entering it (cable, in this case, meaning a package of live/neutral/ground wires). Three of the cables are from the breaker box - I PRESUME - and three of the cables are going to the switched devices (lights). Now, if I randomly picked any one of the 6 neutrals, I may be lucky and get one of the three neutrals from the breaker box, or, I may get one of the three neutrals from the device side ... which would not be good as that would disconnect the device's neutral and leave me with a useless wire going into my switches neutral input. But - if I could identify the three cables that are from the breaker box, then I could steal one of those three neutrals and not really impact anything.

Now, I said I was ASSUMING that three of the six cables are coming from the breaker box. I did notice that all three switches are controlled by the same breaker circuit, and my casual understanding of 'code' is that each separately controlled device must have a 'home run' to the breaker box - is that a fair assumption, assuming I'm 'to code'?

Steerpike

I can understand your uneasiness, but - every commercial building I've been associated with from an IT perspective has always used cardkey access systems. I guess they don't 'use' the internet to actually unlock the door; the administration is done over the internet but once 'programmed', the card-sensing, validation and unlocking are local actions - assuming you have a locally located security controller. So the cardkey systems can continue to function without internet access.

Just curious ... how comfortable are you with garage door openers? I know the early versions were easily hackable but the latest ones are ... supposedly ... more secure. I have my garage door programmed into my 'homelink' gizmo in the rearview mirror of my car. I DO make a point of not leaving anything in the car that carries my address on it just in case the car is stolen and the thief then tries to go to my home (which is contrary to the law, which requires you keep your registration in the car I believe ... I just carry the registration document in my wallet so technically it's in the car when I'm in the car!).

Is it battery only? I presume so, otherwise you'd have the ugly challenge of getting power to it!

Steerpike

Thanks for the suggestions. Further comments/questions below ...
Are you successful in straightening out the wires, having liberated them from the cluster? Do you try hard to straighten, or is it ok to leave them with the 'coil', since you are going to be re-twisting them anyway? On one of my attempts to deal with this recently, a wire literally snapped off when I pushed everything back in, and I put this down to 'metal fatigue'. So I'm reluctant to 'over-work' any wire. Also - is it worth NOT grouping ALL the neutrals in the box into one cluster, but rather, grouping just the neutrals for the circuit (light) in question? This would make the clusters smaller, but then introduces yet more wire nuts which themselves add volume!
Thought about that solution, but now you either have to sheetrock / patch over the newly added box, OR, put a blank face-place on it - correct? My walls are all textured and I'm nowhere near skilled enough in matching textures to try that! Does code allow you to sheetrock over a newly added 'junction box' (that is, can you have a 'blind' or 'hidden' box)?
All this pain makes the (relatively new) alternative of directly accessible bulbs quite attractive - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074K427TZ - about $8 each, but saves an awful lot of time. But this only works if you have a single bulb device. The job I just finished was a dimmer for my kitchen, which currently has a ridiculous number of lamps associated with it - 10 Halogens and 3 'globe' lights ... so I really need to control that at the switch. As an aside, I found LED replacements for the halogen GU10's which dramatically reduced the power load on that circuit, and the heat generated! - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MCRXT77 .

I'm also exploring the use of these devices - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XWT1L5S - 'nano' switches that are supposedly small enough to fit inside a switch box, behind existing light switches! I've ordered one just to see how it works out but I'm not too optimistic! Also, just saw this on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Incandescent-Fluorescent-Optional-Consumption/dp/B06XC4CH98 - NO NEUTRAL ! so I think I'll order one of those and check it out too!

petitefrancaise

looking at the nest lock, I think it is a very nice piece of work. I like that there is no key access- no way of picking the lock. As for when the house is sold - at least 18 months away if not longer, I've kept the old lock and will put that one back on and then take the nest with me.
Since you're all talking wiring...
I have a GFCI circuit - for some reason, the outside outlets+garage+bathroom outlets are all on the same same circuit. I blew the circuit doing some garden stuff a while back and for the life of me I cannot find the gfci outlet that is not re-connected so none of them are working. I've checked the fuse for the circuit and that is ok. Any ideas on how to proceed in locating this rogue outlet? is there a gizmo that will tell me this is where the circuit is broken? Do I need to remove the individual outlets from the wall to check something? Not all of them have the button to reset.

ddsrph

Steerpike

So basically, you have a bunch of sockets all wired 'downstream' from some GFCI socket that has tripped, and you can't find that one GFCI socket. This happened to a friend of mine; all her bathroom sockets went out, and ultimately it was found that there was a GFCI socket behind a cabinet in the garage! She found it by luck, though. In figuring out my own wiring, I bought this cheap device:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-To...T310/308709729
But it only helps you if the socket is live to begin with. There are some lovely devices out there that will help you track down wiring, using RF signals, but I could not justify the expense for my needs. In your case, since the sockets are dead, you could theoretically plug in an RF transmitter then find the other sockets by picking up that signal, and also tracing the wiring in the walls. But you'll still run into issues once the wires disappear from behind the walls into the floor or ceiling. By the sound of things, the offending GFCI socket could be 'anywhere' in the house so you are looking for a needle in a haystack. Typically, the GFCI socket would be 'close' to the breaker box, so I would focus more attention closer to the breaker box - maybe in the garage. So identify all the 'dead' sockets and see if there is any physical clue as to where the missing GFCI socket is.

And just to re-verify the obvious - you said you checked the 'fuse' for the circuit - do you have fuses or circuit breakers? Are you SURE there's no Circuit Breaker tripped? Tripped CB's only go to the 'middle' position so visually aren't always easy to spot. That would account for a whole bunch of sockets in different locations not working.

If you've identified the circuit and know the fuse involved, perhaps remove it temporarily and see what additional outlets no longer work; that would help further identify the 'physical path' of that particular circuit's wiring in the walls. And, removing the fuse and seeing additional outlets stop working would confirm the fuse is good.

Good luck with this - I'm currently unraveling my own home's electrical system and would like to know how you proceed!

ddsrph

celticgrid

I have learned by playing around how easily most door locks can be picked / bumped / whatever.

We moved to combo keypad and key locks some years ago so that kids returning to an empty house could get in without the need for a physical keys which could easily be lost. Now I am more aware of how vulnerable keyhole locks are the next time I replace it will be with keypad-only locks. But not internet connected ones!

zzrmark

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Yeah, that wasn't my best thought out idea. Probably best ignore that little gem!!

Maste

Now the midwest winter is finally over, projects are starting this weekend!

Aside from little things around the house, I want to get the back yard all finished and complete. This is going to involve taking down the old decking, breaking up the concrete, putting down new turf (Sorry, but I refuse to call it sod!), redoing the plant areas, and painting the garage. We will be getting rid of the decking completely, and installing wooden steps that will go down onto the new patio where the concrete was. Once this is down, and the planting areas have been done, then new turf can go down! Few questions:

1) Wife wants flagstone. I've never worked with that before. What are thoughts? Easy to install? I've read it's a case of making sure run off water goes away from the house, and you can just lay it on top of dirt. Is it really this 'simple'?

2) If flagstone isn't recommended, what would you recommend? Looking for something quick and easy to install!

2) The new steps. How easy is it to install just a set of steps from the back door to the ground? We just want some wooden steps.

Pulaski

I have only rarely broken a fatigued copper cable end, but it can happen. The reason I prefer to straighten them is that it can be the devil's own job to try to realign and fit together the twisted ends, they rarely seem to want line up again.

And to Ddsrph's point, I don't think there is a larger cap than the red ones, I have some blue caps and they are smaller than the yellow ones. Looking at your picture, as tightly wound as the cables are, I think you only have 14 guage wires. ... I you can see the end of the outer sheathing and it is yellow then you're looking at a 12 guage wire, 14 Guage wires have white sheathing.
As Ddsrph said, entirely concealing a box containing live wires is never code compliant. I have seen such a box, though covering it appears to have been accidental, or rather just sloppy work at the time of construction. In practice however it would be difficult to cover over an "old work" box because it is designed to be attached through the surface of the plasterboard - with fixed tabs on the outside and the flip-out tabs holding it in place from behind. That said, I had assumed that you would put the new switch-device in the auxiliary box.

Pulaski

It could be more or less anywhere - I went looking for the GFCI that covers our bathrooms and ended up calling my electrician, .... who found it more than 30ft from the nearest bathroom, diagonally across the house, about ten feet from the breaker box, ..... and OUTSIDE the house! So happy hunting! ... Knowing what I know now, I would start by looking near the breaker box.