THE CONNECTED LIFE

Haven: A Smarter AND Safer Door Lock

John Sciacca  |  Feb 13, 2015

Smart door locks have become a new automation frontier lately, and for good reason. With a smart lock you can remotely let someone into your home, monitor who is coming and going with the use of different digital key codes, don’t need a physical key to enter, and can make sure the door relocks automatically or at night before you go to bed. I’ve got three of them in my home and they have definitely been a lifestyle improvement.

However all of these smart door locks have one major weakness in common, and it’s not their susceptibility to being picked, bumped, 3D printed keyed, or having their code-stolen. It’s the door jamb.

If you’ve ever looked at your deadbolt, you’ll notice that it is secured in place by about 1/2 to 3/4-inches of wood right at the edge of the jam and held in place by two pretty small screws. And if you’ve ever seen a movie or TV show with cops (or bad guys) breaking into someone’s home or apartment, you know that it is this crucial link in your home defense is just one firm kick or shoulder charge away from splintering into oblivion.

The Haven lock is different in that it is anchored at the strongest point of your door, inside along the width of the base of the door. In this manner it is impervious to picking and uses the structure of your home to maximize strength and security to prevent break-ins.

One of Haven’s co-founders has a background as an Army Special Forces aviator in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (the “Nightstalkers”) and he noticed that most important buildings around the world were fortified by simple steel gates or electronically activated pylon barriers. After a series of break-ins in their own neighborhood, he and his partner were motivated to find something to replace the existing and outdated deadbolt with new, safer and stronger technology, and they adapted these security measures into a form factor that would work on residential doors.

Beyond being a more secure door lock, Haven will also include all the brains of other smart locks, including the ability to integrate with Apple’s HomeKit and Nest Developer’s Program. It will also support iOS and Android control apps as well as a custom key fob that will automatically unlock the door as you approach. Should your Wi-Fi die, Haven can be unlocked locally via Bluetooth, and there is even a Web portal to control your account from anywhere in the world should you lose your phone.

Haven began life as a Kickstarter project, but only reached $116,298 of its $150,000 goal. Undeterred the company has gone ahead, and is now pre-selling HAVEN for a discounted $219 at the company’s website, with product expected to begin shipping in Fall of this year. The website features a video demonstrating Haven in action.

COMMENTS
samchitwood's picture
Submitted by samchitwood on February 13, 2015 - 8:41am

A locked door only keeps out honest people.

But on a different note, why is this being covered on sound & vision?

Rob Sabin's picture
Submitted by Rob Sabin on February 20, 2015 - 8:24am
Sound & Vision and its predecessor Home Theater have a history of covering whole-house automation, lighting control, and of course, dedicated audio/video universal remotes. All of these touch upon our love of movies and music, from multiroom audio systems (that were once available only with extensive wiring and installation costs and therefore restricted to the few), to automated lighting that can be used in our theater spaces or to create moods around the house with accompanying music, to our ability to simply and easily control our A/V systems with one-touch buttons that execute a string of commands that let us "Watch a Movie" or "Listen to Pandora." All of these things are now coming together in singular, dedicated smarthome systems that use the power of our touchscreen phones and tablets to handle not only these functions but also let us do things like control our thermostats; continuously monitor our basements for water leaks and get an alert on our smartphone from thousands of miles away; set-up a "Home" mode that might turn on your entryway lights, boot up your music stream in the kitchen, and turn up the heat 5 degrees when the system senses your phone has arrived home; monitor your security and give you access to cameras around your property from anywhere. Indeed, what had been the priviledge of wealthy Crestron and AMX and Control4 owners in the past is now available to all of us for a few hundred bucks investment in a hub and off-the-shelf peripheral devices. It's cool, it's tech-savvy, it enhances our lifestyle and our access to entertainment around our homes. And, for now, at least, smarthome remains very much a DIY-centric hobby. That fits our audience, or at least a decent portion of it, very well.

We've been covering smarthome developments for quite a while now, and it was one of the most significant areas for new product announcements at CES this year. While it's not strictly A/V, I do see it as a fair extension of what we've done in the past and an exciting new field of interest for readers, so you can expect to see us expanding our coverage while we continue to focus on our core A/V enthusiast subject matter.

Warrior24_7's picture
Submitted by Warrior24_7 on February 13, 2015 - 3:35pm

Until someone "cracks" one of these things and walks right into your house! Anything electronic can be broken into. Anybody who says it can't, doesn't know what they're talking about.

Tommylee99's picture
Submitted by Tommylee99 on February 14, 2015 - 1:09pm

Very interesting.
It's "jamb" though. Not "jam".

DaleC's picture
Submitted by DaleC on February 16, 2015 - 1:32pm

Don't forget the tiny screws on the hinges. They only reach into the door casing and should be replaced by longer screws that reach into the framing around the door. No matter how many locks or bolts you put on the door knob side, the hinge side can
be kicked off almost as easily as a standard door know and dead bolt..

Replacing the screws with longer screws, especially on the top hinge, can also correct sagging doors and locks that don't align properly.

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