[1479] Mechanical Keypad Deadbolt Decoded

[cycoholic]

Was once told by a mate who had a job in the security industry (in sales), that these types of locks are easily bypassed by mashing all buttons simultaneously. Sometimes it was made easier by using something flat and stiff such as a ruler.

One time, I was told to head to an ambulance station for a break when we were way out of our area. As such, our code didn't work on their lock.

I found a piece of scrap timber and placed it over the keys and hit the timber. From memory we got in on the second go.

[SocksAndPuppets]

One office I used to work at had two of these locks on the two entrances, with different codes - and in absent-mindedness I'd occasionally input the wrong code for one, and I'd know instantly because it "felt wrong"

I think if casual users can feel that there's a difference in regular use, it's always going to be easy to decode.

[victor-charlesscafati]

It is interesting to note that, mathematically speaking, most "combination locks" should really be called permutation locks (because the order matters), but these locks are truly combination locks because the order you punch in the numbers is not relevant.

[rehpotsirhic]

I have managed to get through one of these without knowing the code simply by looking at it from the right angle and seeing which of the buttons has greasy finger marks on it - just a reminder, that if you have one of these sorts of mechanisms, make sure your change the code regularly enough to avoid such an easy decode

[bexhillbob]

Used to be one of those locks on one of the rooms in my local train station, and I would often play with it while waiting for a train. It was always easy to open, as the room was used by decorators for storing paint and 4 of the buttons were covered in painty fingerprints!

[silvahawk]

This is my lock! Thank you for doing a video on it. I had no idea the order of buttons didn't matter. I had never seen another like it before and we got a new digital (probably less safe) deadbolt. This is awesome.

[mikelolol]

I have one of these similar locks on my office door but the handle turns freely if you don't put in the correct combination. After watching this video I just went and tried something. Turn the doorknob slightly, just so there is resistance but not too much that it frees up and fully turns. While maintaining the position of the handle, push all of the buttons once (don't push clear). Then release the handle and turn it again. It opens about half of the time.

[NihilisticZebra]

Thanks to you I weld my door shut every time I leave my house

[CelestisForgeUK]

This helped us so much! I’ve been watching your videos for years, but today it really paid off.

Staff has lost the code for the office at our petrol station, so we have been keeping it unlocked for months. Couple of times someone accidentally locked the door, and we had to jump over the counter to get it unlocked again. Imagine what it looked like to customers seeing staff do that. Very embarrassing.

Today I find this video and finally I could decode the lock and share the code with other staff members. No more getting locked out, no more jumping over the counter.

Thank you so much!

[bluekouki]

My 10 year old son and I have been viewers since video 500 or so. Got him the genesis set for Christmas this year, thanks for the bonding time!

[Nic-tgei]

Had to use one of these at work 25 years ago and as soon as I saw this the combination popped back into my head!

[treychiri]

I remember one time I was locked out of a shed that had a cheap wire lock with a 3 digit roller wheel. I used this method learned by you! I applied tension to the shackle and spun the wheels till it felt set correct. It worked! Ever since then i've realized any combination lock that allows you to use the shackle/bolt to apply pressure to the code is generally going to be very easy to decode

[netlegendstube]

I swear you could make a video on sequentially removing a jammed bottle cap and I'd still be utterly enthralled from start to finish.

[DigitalImpostor]

I've worked in a place that had one of these types of locks on the door to the office. Every so often they'd change the combination but it was always made up of the same four numbers, so no matter what order they said it was I just hit the relevant numbers in numerical order.

[Jammz]

I learned first-hand how these locks function when trying to replace a damaged button on one on an office door at work. It was a good experience going through the innards of a lock like this, and now I’m the resident “lock-picker” lol. Thanks again LPL!!

[sarahadams]

I have a suggestion, if you haven’t done this already. Master Lock sells these set your own combination locks. I had one for my school locker for a bit because I kept forgetting my combination with regular ones (yay, undiagnosed ADHD). Basically you couldn’t forget your combination because no matter how much you scrambled it you would be able to feel the tumbler click when you had the right number/ letter. Which was great until other people figured that out, multiple times. I don’t remember having anything stolen because I kept everything valuable in my bag. Presumably whoever it was looked at my moldering 90s public school textbooks in disgust and walked away. But I did go back to a regular lock (which was probably incredibly vulnerable to a simple lock picking tool but not vulnerable to just some teenager in the hallway). I looked it up and they still sell the same model in number and letter versions (which is what I had, which also made it way easier to guess a combination). The design for the school ones look about the same but they also sell ones that look like they are supposed to be used by adults for actually important things and I bet they are all just as easy to get into.

[harzemyalcinkaya]

I miss your old videos in which you used to disassemble locks and show us why your techniques worked the way they did.

[ChainFire]

Interesting to note this may only work on that specific brand. My shop has 2 different brands in stock and we just tried it on several different locks with no success at different amounts of tension and in some cases, the buttons completely bind up and don't have any springiness to them at all. The combination of this lock is changed by removing pins from the back that are color-coded and arranging them to where the red ones are coded and blue are non-coded with a combination of your choosing. We are guessing the shape, size, and possibly length of the pins, and how they fit into the lock may be the key to having that brand work that way, or possibly it may be a matter of wear and tear as the locks we tested were all brand new.

[NickChamberlain]

A company I used to work for had something similar on staff only doors, I used to do a lot of visits to different sites and couldn't remember all the codes, however I quickly learnt that jiggling the knob would causes the relevant keys to wobble slightly allowing me quick entry. When the loss prevention team discovered I was doing this they were understandably concerned

[TheMKCrab]

"I'm going to take my index finger out of my Hand Companion Set..."