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How are Smart Locks Powered? All About Smart Lock Batteries

How are Smart Locks Powered? All About Smart Lock Batteries

How are the smart locks powered? What should I do if the smart lock is out of power? How to charge the smart lock?

I am sure you have already encountered these problems; this article will explain all the issues about how the smart lock is powered and help you better extend the use time of the smart lock.


Last Updated on May 2, 2024 by Vincent Zhu


Usually, smart door locks are powered by batteries. The intelligent door lock battery is divided into dry and lithium batteries.

Dry Battery

The dry battery for the smart lock is divided into the following parts:

  • A single group of 4 AA batteries for the power supply
  • Dual Group: dry and lithium8 batteries, four batteries in one group, power supply in turn).
  • A single group of 8 AA batteries powered.

A Single group of 4 AA batteries

This smart door lock battery power supply method is the most common; the power supply is stable, and the later power supply cost is almost negligible.

Under normal circumstances, the smart key door lock battery life of 4 AA batteries is 6-12 months.

However, the industry’s quality differs, and each motherboard’s energy consumption is generally less than half a year. All this belongs to the product design, which is unreasonable or unqualified.

Dual Group 4 AA batteries

This smart lock battery power supply has a hidden danger of leakage!

The original intention of using this power supply was to compensate for the lack of power supply in a single group of 4 sections. However, it is still a supplementary means that the product’s energy consumption is too high and cannot be optimized.

The design principle is this: the system automatically starts the second power supply group when the first power group is low.

The smart lock battery life of Dual Group 4 AA batteries depends on you not removing the low-power battery in time (because when the first power group is low, you don’t know when it is exhausted), and then leakage will occur! Leakage can erode the appearance of the circuit board, causing product failure!

A Single Group of 8 AA Batteries

This kind of intelligent lock battery power supply is not shared. It is mainly used for large torque power supply solutions.

It mostly solves the lack of power supply for fully automatic locks. No major brand I know has such a power supply solution. It is mainly tiny brands that replace lithium batteries in certain areas. But more comments.

Lithium Battery

Use lithium batteries (1 or 2) to supply the smart locks.

Another part of the fully automatic smart lock products uses a relatively old form of an external high-power motor to drive the lock body, so the power consumption is relatively large.

If you use dry batteries, eight batteries will not last for five months, so they use large capacity Lithium battery or polymer battery, with a capacity above 3000mAh;

This smart lock battery power supply method is mainly used in fully automatic smart locks that have only become popular in two or three years. Refer to mobile phone batteries for stability and durability.

The explosion of lithium batteries is not a patent for mobile phones, and smart locks are also available (there is almost no safety hazard with dry batteries); watch the video.

Don’t be surprised: the smart key door lock lithium battery exploded.

After being applied to the product, the high-power motor will be overloaded, which will shorten the motor’s life, further affecting this type of smart lock’s overall life.

Conclusion: It is still the best single-group power supply method with four dry batteries. No one is universal, stable, easy to buy, and low cost.

How long do batteries last in smart locks?

A smart lock’s battery typically lasts from 4 months to 2 years, depending on the smart lock’s brand, type, connectivity, and battery type.

How do you charge smart locks?

If you are using a dry battery-powered smart lock, you need to replace it with new dry batteries when the smart lock alarms when the battery is low.

If you use a lithium battery-powered smart lock, you need to use a mobile power bank to plug into the smart lock charging port to charge the intelligent lock when the smart lock has a low battery alarm.

Suggestions for intelligent lock battery

From the perspective of science and safety, it is recommended to choose smart locks powered by dry batteries for the following reasons:

(1) Dry batteries are mature and stable, with high brand recognition, and users can configure good-quality dry batteries themselves; lithium batteries are another matter.

The lithium batteries cost several thousand mAh is not low, so manufacturers equip the lithium batteries.

The quality and reliability are a question mark, not the user’s self-discrimination. Low-quality lithium batteries may blister, smoke, or catch fire.

(2) If it is a semi-automatic lock, there is no need to install a lithium battery; dry batteries are sufficient (unless the smart door lock design is defective and the power consumption is high).

(3) If it is fully automatic, choose the second-generation smart house lock with low sound, low power consumption, light, and convenience.

It is not recommended to select the first-generation fully automatic smart house lock. The disadvantages are that the sound is loud, the action is slow, and the power consumption is high.

For more information about buying smart locks, please read this article: Buy Smart Locks: What Need to Consider and How to Buy?

What should I do if the smart lock battery drains?

The smart lock design considers that the power supply is out of power and is equipped with emergency unlocking methods.

(1) If the smart lock battery drains,  your smart lock will not work. Now, you can use emergency power supply unlocking or mechanical key unlocking.

For example, you can use the mobile power bank to re-power the smart lock through this USB port, and then you can open the door. Individual intelligent room locks support the method of mechanical password disk;

(2) If the electronic part cannot be opened due to failure, mechanical key unlocking is supported, and some smart main door locks support mechanical code disc mode.

(3) Smart locks also have a low-battery reminder function. When the battery is low, the user is prompted by voice, sound, and light to replace it. The lock can be guaranteed to unlock at least 50 times.

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Vincent Zhu

Vincent Zhu Vincent Zhu has 10 years of smart lock system experience and specializes in offering hotel door lock systems and home door lock system solutions from design, configuration, installation, and troubleshooting. Whether you want to install an RFID keyless door lock for your hotel, a keyless keypad door lock for your home door, or have any other questions and troubleshooting requests about smart door locks, don't hesitate to contact me at any time.

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