Electric time lock padlocks

[Tinker D]

Yes, I know.
And I told you about it last year.
Didn’t know I could copy and paste a YouTube.
But I do now.

[Anne]

I had one of these locks but the battery died after a few uses. Then I decided to do some destructive testing before throwing it out to see if I had been worrying over nothing. These are very easy to break, just one average pull and it came apart. No real strength needed. Only usable for self bondage if you lock something where you will not be able to apply any force to it.

[Kit-Katt]

Not gonna lie: seeing info on how to break one of my favorite pieces of hardware makes me a bit sad. 😟

[Like Ra]

Metal timer padlock
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A2Tsu5

Has anybody received the new metal time-lock yet?

[essanym]

Metal timer padlock
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A2Tsu5

Has anybody received the new metal time-lock yet?

Yes, I received it yesterday but haven't had time to sit and dive into it's inner workings.

[essanym]

I needed to take my mind off of other things so I decided to go ahead and unpack this lock.  The first thing I noticed was that is feels sturdy.  The whole casing is made of metal and doesn't feel cheap like the previous locks feel.  Also, it doesn't have a release button to open the shackle.  Under normal operation, it only opens electronically.  Before I took it apart, I checked it for weaknesses.  I've been watching too much lock picking lawyer so I can tell you that it's vulnerable to a bumping attack.  I can hold the lock in my right hand and smack it against the boniest part of the heel of my left hand, as fast as I can, and it will pop right open.  Of course, if you're wearing the lock or bound by the lock, this particular method becomes impossible, however, you may be able to take a hammer and knock the right side of it and it will open from that as well. It's also probably vulnerable to a shim attack if you have one thin enough.

   

Much like the previous locks, this lock is fastened by hidden screws as there are none exposed.  The difference is that there is one additional screw on the bottom underneath the "inspection" sticker in addition to the two normal ones under the adhesive display window.  After popping the window off, I looked for the expected 'lock reset pad' like the other locks had but there's only a small hole.  I couldn't see it from this point but soon found out that there is a 'reset pad' underneath a sewing needle sized hole on the right side of the display.  That makes resetting this thing much more complicated as you would need to have a needle pre-bent with a 90° in it to be able to make contact on both poles of the contact pad.  I was able to test the reset pad after I disassembled it more and it does work although it gave me some concern that I'd bricked the lock.  I reset it and it went completely dead until I finally plugged it in to charge, then it came back to life.

       

After popping the screws out, I was able to pop the faceplate and circuit board out together.  At this point, I could easily see that this lock as a much larger battery.  I don't remember exactly what battery the other locks have since I threw mine away but I'm 90% sure this new metal lock has approx.4x the capacity of those other ones.  Further examination reveals that this lock has a small motor that rotates to pop the shackle catch which is similar to the old locks.  The difference is in the old ones, the motor rotates both directions depending on whether it's locking or unlocking whereas this new lock it only rotates in one direction.

       

Other interesting things I noticed on the circuit board is a piezo element for beeps and a switch which I assume gets activated if the motor spins to open the shackle.  I honestly have no idea if it matters as I was able to get the lock to function just fine with the circuit board dangling out by it's wires.  The piezo element was interesting to me because my lock had not made any sounds whatsoever since I'd taken it out of the package.  I remembered how my old lock could enable or disable beeping sound so I tried that on this one.  Sure enough, if you hold in the middle button for a few seconds while the screen is on, it will enable and disable the beeping.

   

I took the circuit board off the front metal plate just to have a look at what's there.  That's when I discovered the reset pad that I couldn't see earlier and gave it that test.  Other than that, there's nothing of note on the front of the circuit board and I don't recommend anyone else take there's apart since the LCD is rather sensitive.  I had difficulty getting the display to work right as I was putting it back together even though I was very careful.

   

All in all, it seems like a decent lock although If I lived alone, I probably wouldn't use for any super restrictive self-bondage.  Unlike the older locks, if you get stuck with this one, you won't be able to just break it since it's not plastic.  I almost forgot to mention this, but you can set the timer and then lock the shackle at your leisure.  It will happily countdown while it's wide open leaving you to fumble with it however you want.  When you close it, though, you're in for the count.

[zentai1234]

Thanks for the great review!

[Anne]

Ok, I'm getting two, so if one fails the other can still open.

[Like Ra]

you can set the timer and then lock the shackle at your leisure.

Wasn't it the case with the previous version?

[Like Ra]

   

Is it a button contact pad in the top right corner?