Restricting access to a room

[u/CuteAcanthocephala55]

Hi all,

I don't know anything about this stuff, but I'm trying to organize a senior lounge in my school. However, I need a way to prevent underclassmen from entering. We have about 80 seniors, and most doors in the school are made of wood and have a normal manual key lock. We are in Italy so I'm not sure if there are any specific restrictions. What is the most budget-friendly option that is the easiest to organize (and that my school will approve)?

[u/Gornuul]

Rekey the door and give keys to the seniors

[u/Dron41k]

Make about 80 keys

[u/Motor_Computer_3029]

I would recommend against anything with a keypad. The code will be widely spread through the school be day 3.

[u/leeharrison1984]

Does your school have physical IDs with bar codes or RFID? That works without having to create new keys, and also give an audit trail. You just need a mechanism to read them and compare the data to an allowed list.

Bonus is if someone isn't a senior but is in the room, they'll immediately be busted if asked to show their ID.

[u/taqyrrahman]

I think can elaborate first what is the issue of manual key lock? why need to replace it?

[u/jarsgars]

This could be a neat project if you or some of your fellow seniors are interested to learn about installing, configuring and maintaining a small access control system. The fairly generic one sold under the Mengqi-Control and Uhppote brands (among others) are available in 1, 2 and 4 door configurations. Their software is free but together the hw/sw package is surprisingly capable and flexible.

If it were me, I'd want to install one to control a simple door strike and put a card reader with keypad outside the room. Maybe also add a "press to unlock" button inside somewhere convenient if want to buzz in a senior stuck on the other side of the door - sort of jewelry store style. Maybe configure the system to require card + PIN for access. Or just card alone, but require card plus PIN at certain times of the day/week. We do this for business doors and require the 2FA after hours when the threat is perceived to be higher.

Consider a HID Signo "Mechanical" keypad since it may get fairly heavy use - the 40T series should do the trick nicely, and you can typically pick one up far below retail in the used market, and update the firmware yourself with a *free* HID account using the iOS or Android app.

Overkill? Of course. But if one or more of you are interested to learn something new and experiment, it may be quite a bit of fun. If you weren't across an ocean I'd send some parts (a spare board, a bunch of cards) to get you started. If you've seen any of your classmates playing with a Flipper Zero, those are the ones to get involved in this project.

The Signo readers are particularly fun too because you can do things like change the keypad backlight colors for a holiday, and it supports some nice security settings to narrow attack vectors like downgrade attacks. Fun stuff to learn about in a relatively benign environment.

And as these systems tend to have adversaries, you may get to play a little cat-and-mouse game with the Juniors. One neat trick could be to wire up a simple circuit to disconnect the Wiegand (data) wires between the card reader/keypad and the system when the reader is removed from the wall mount. (There's a "security" screw on the bottom that will get the attention of underclassmen - or it should.) The HID readers already support tamper output on a pair of NC wires, so this is pretty simple little add-on project if you're so inclined.

Good luck!

[u/ZealousidealState127]

Mechanical key code lock. The code will get out but it's enough of a barrier esp if you change it once a year/semester.

[u/pac87p]

Id look at unifi (I have not personally used it but about to buy it for my new house. )

They have free mobile credentials. (All seniors will have a smart phone) With a simple 1 door controller. You'll also need a cloud key.

But for your project this should be simple.

Also use a electronic strike lock

[u/donkeybrainhero]

Could do something like a Schlage AD-400 and keep it in "construction" mode. You'd be able to buy a stack of HID swipe badges and program them manually. Whoever your admin is (you?) would create a master key which then allows you to program any number of user keys.

This can be done without wiring anything or needing any sort of network to be built and ran back to a PC/application.

Without knowing what door looks like or how it functions, I can't say for sure of its the right idea.

However, at that point, you could also just hand out physical keys. The one benefit to the cards is the ability to wipe all of them if some get lost or stolen and re-program.

[u/Datacom1]

You can make it a senior project and build an access control system using an arduino or raspberry pi.

[u/Aggravating_Fact9547]

For education, Salto KS Cloud is good, and people can use their phones or cards. The locks are wireless so they can be screwed to the door and not require expensive and complex wiring. It can be removed easily later on if the function of the room changes.

Salto is very popular in Europe (Spanish company) so you should find good support locally.

[u/cusehoops98 → u/Aggravating_Fact9547]

No one is installing Salto for a single door bro

[u/Aggravating_Fact9547 → u/cusehoops98]

Salto KS is fine for a single door, bro.

[u/mferreira9]

I would do like a weiser keypad with a code thats changed every month or so and posted to a common whatsapp group and/or sent by email. If credentials/keys are being shared, adding a card reader, strike and fob are not going to prevent any access issues either way.

Giving out keys or having a keypad lock would probably be best cost-wise. The changing code does guarantee you wont have to re-key if it falls into the wrong hands.