How does the emergency power supply method for smart locks evolved from 9V dry batteries to Type-C?
As an electronic product, the biggest difference between smart locks and traditional locks is that they require electricity to drive the door lock to operate. Therefore, for consumers, the most important concern is how to get home when the smart lock runs out of battery? According to relevant standards, smart locks must reserve emergency opening methods, also known as emergency mechanical keys.
But in general, after installing a smart lock, users rarely carry the key with them, so if the smart lock runs out of battery, entrance will still be rejected. Later, some companies applied mechanical passwords to smart locks, allowing smart locks being able to open even when they ran out of power. However, currently, there are not many companies that use mechanical passwords.
Therefore, in order to solve the problem of how to open the door and go home when the smart lock runs out of power, the smart lock has evolved in the long-term development process: emergency power supply interface and emergency power supply mode. Do you know what kind of power interface and method smart locks have used before?
1. Early emergency power supply method -9V dry battery
The 9V battery adopts a square structure design, with both positive and negative poles designed at the top of the battery. It is widely used in various fields such as electrical measuring instruments, medical measuring instruments, geological and mining, wireless intercom, wireless microphones, radios, etc.
In the era without smartphones and power banks, 9V dry battery emergency power supply is indeed a very good choice. Even many industry insiders now believe that 9V dry batteries are more convenient than the popular power bank power supply. You can buy 9V dry batteries at a small supermarket.
2. Micro USB emergency power interface
Later, with the popularity of smartphones, in order to solve the problem of insufficient battery life, power banks emerged in the market. The early Android smartphones used Micro USB data cables, and the smart lock industry also kept up with the times, using Micro USB power interfaces like smartphones.The biggest advantage of using Micro USB as the emergency power interface for the smart lock is that it can share data cables and power banks with smartphones. When the smart lock runs out of battery, emergency power can be provided through the power bank. Even if you don't bring the power bank, you can usually borrow it from neighbors.
3. USB Type-C power interface
Later, many Android smart lock charging interfaces evolved from Micro USB to USB Type-C. Smart locks are also keeping up with the times again, and the emergency power interface has evolved from Micro USB to USB Type-C.
Type-C has a faster transmission speed and larger carrying capacity, which is of course very useful for mobile phones. However, smart locks do not require high-speed transmission and fast charging like mobile phones. The use of Type-C interface in smart locks is mainly for better compatibility, allowing users to easily find emergency power supply methods.
In addition, the Type-C interface has a major advantage, which is that it does not need to pay attention to its insertion direction during use, and can be inserted in both directions and powered on.
4. Reverse power supply for mobile phones
Later, high-end phones also added wireless charging function, allowing two phones that support wireless charging to charge in reverse. The reverse power supply function has also been applied in some high-end smart lock products.
The smart lock with reverse power supply can provide emergency power through the phone. But there is also a drawback - only high-end phones on the market support reverse and wireless charging functions, so ordinary phones cannot power the door locks. Of course, many high-end smart locks, although equipped with reverse charging function, still retain the Type-C emergency power supply interface.
In terms of emergency power supply, Deshmann has an intelligent lock product that uses OTG reverse charging. OTG is a USB transfer technology that allows mobile phones to directly access files on devices such as USB drives or digital cameras through OTG data cables. It can also be connected to external devices such as keyboards and mice, and can be charged in reverse to other devices through the phone. It is worth mentioning that Deshman's smart lock product comes with a hidden Type-C data cable at the bottom of the front panel.
However, in the context of the increasing popularity of fully automatic smart locks, hand-held smart locks have gradually declined, so hand cranked power generation has no more practical significance.
5. Hand cranked power generation
In order to solve the emergency power supply problem, some companies also design miniature generators on the handle. When the smart lock battery is depleted, the power generation switch can be turned on and the handle can be shaken up and down a few times to charge the door lock, which is called hand cranked power generation.
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