I notice there is a note on the Event-triggered Rule for unlocking a door when a Fire, Smoke, or CO Emergency triggers an alarm that limits the total number of locks to one. I tried creating a second rule to control second lock (for the same condition), but the lock control option is only available for arming and locking events (since I already have a rule for unlocking a door on fire).
It seems that there is no way to unlock more than one door due to a fire emergency. Is this true? Are there any workarounds? Ideally, ALL of my doors would unlock if the fire/smoke/co detectors trigger an alarm. That way everyone in the house could get out (and the Fire Department could get in) the best door for the situation without having to mess with a deadbolt.
Currently the way that rule works is that only one rule may be created and only one door may be selected.
I’m not 100% on the decision making that went into it, but it is described as a security limitation. It does seem to make more sense from a fire safety perspective to be able to unlock any door, but there may be an aspect I am not considering.
We will forward this to Alarm.com and see what they have to say! I’ll report back here.
So, Alarm.com reps have stated that the reason multiple doors are not an option is due to the seriousness of the action, basically that sending numerous door unlock commands is not as reliable and more taxing on the mesh network than sending one.
To ensure reliability in an emergency, they only allow one.
From ADC:
Currently, this rule is limited to one lock due to the nature of how z-wave commands work within the mesh network of devices. If the system is overwhelmed with several commands in a row (which is what multiple rules or multiple locks could create in these scenarios), this can risk a bit of a ‘log-jam’ within the network. To mitigate this risk, we can currently only select one lock.
Thanks, Jason. I’m no expert on the Z-wave network, so I’m not sure if the “logjam” results in dropped commands, or simply delayed action. I would probably prefer automation with a few second delay compared to no automation. Maybe some software improvements will allow this option in the future.
“Logjam” (network congestion) could result in either failed or delayed commands. Since this is a life safety situation Alarm.com is trying to ensure the front door will unlock without risking network congestion if it tries to unlock many doors at once.