Transcription
Who doesn't like a good cheat code in a video game for like unlimited ammo? Well, my smart lock now has unlimited power. As in, the batteries will never die. New cheat code unlocked. Get it? Unlock because it's a smart door lock.
Anyways, so how did I make my lock have unlimited power? Well, I added something called We Charge. And this has been around for a few years. I've shown it in my CES videos, but it's only worked with Alfred locks. I haven't seen it work with something like a Schlagen Code or Encode Plus. And this video is not sponsored. I actually have one really big issue with this, which I'll share with you in a second, but they did send this out early because you can't order it just yet. Hopefully, by the time you watch this video, you will be able to order it.
All right. How does this thing even work? It's pretty simple. There's a transmitter that beams infrared light over to the receiver on the lock, which also includes a rechargeable battery. That way, the infrared light keeps that rechargeable battery topped up at 100% 24/7. So, you're never going to run out of battery. And I was thinking that this infrared light was going to be some massive laser beam looking thing if I viewed it on a security camera that can view infrared light. And I set one up. It was disappointing. It's just this wimpy blinking dot. I was expecting this massive laser beam that you would see on the Death Star, but I guess it makes sense since this is safe. And if you stand in front of it, the infrared light turns off temporarily until it can see a clean line of sight to the lock, then it'll turn back on. So, yeah, there's nothing to worry about.
When it comes to setup, this is probably one of the easiest smart home devices that I've ever set up. Basically on par with installing a smart light bulb, if you've ever done one of those. The only thing that you have to do is make sure that you get the right style of your lock. So, it comes in three different styles. You pick that and then you slide off the cover for the Schlage Encode or Encode Plus. Pull out the battery pack. Then, you replace it with this rechargeable battery and cover that's all one piece. Put it on the lock and you're almost done. The last thing you have to do is plug in the transmitter. And the only thing you have to keep in mind with the transmitter is it has to be 3 to 33 feet away. Can't be under 3 ft and just right up against the lock. Has to have a little bit of space. Like here it's 7 to 8 ft away, which is perfect. And you don't have to worry about the transmitter being too low or too high. As long as it can see the lock within an 80° field of view, then you'll be just fine. And all I did is kind of adjust the transmitter, like eyeballed it to point it at the right direction, and then it locked on all by itself. Lock on. Yeah. And the light on the transmitter changes from white to blue once it's beaming infrared to the lock. So, there's no app or anything like that. Like I said, it's super simple, very easy to set up.
But there is still one massive issue I have with this thing. So, I'll be honest with you. When We We Charge reached out to see if I wanted to try this in my own house, I almost said no. And the reason for that is I only want to review things on this channel that I would really consider buying for my own house. And this didn't fall in that category right away. But I thought about it a lot and once I fully wrapped my head around what this thing does, my mind changed. And so the reason I was so hesitant is the price. The early bird price is $150 for this and you can almost buy a brand new smart lock for that price. That's a tough pill to swallow. However, all those locks as well as the amount of rechargeable batteries you could buy for that price. Still have the problem of needing to swap out the battery and for it to potentially die when you need it to work. So, this completely eliminates all of that. If you need your smart lock to work 24/7, say you need it for your kids when they come home from school or an Airbnb that's far away or you have it at a grandparents house that they are not going to be swapping out the batteries on their smart lock and they need caretakers to come over every once in a while. The list goes on. If you fall in that category, this price might be worth it for you. However, if you don't care if your smart lock runs out of battery because if it does, you'll just go through the garage or something, then you do not need this.
After thinking about it, I realized how awesome that you just never have to touch it again. Once you set it up, the lock will just keep working indefinitely as long as obviously your house has power and is charging it up. I like that it's retrofit. So, if you already have a Schlagen code or encode plus that you really like, I've been using ours for a few years and love it and it's pretty sweet that you can just add on to it and make it even better. I think this technology is amazing. I would love to see it in other devices around my smart home like sensors that are always dying. I would love to see infrared just keep those topped up on battery. But curious what you guys think if this is something you would use or where you would like to see it else in your smart home. Let me know down in the comments. Thanks for watching.
>> Unlimited battery. Nothing's going to stop it.
>> Hey guys, it's the four. Okay. Hey, who put this tree here?