Paxton Net2 on Classroom Doors

[richieh]

We have Paxton Net2 setup at our school for the external doors, gates and a few internal doors, the Estates team have been asked to look at putting it on all the classroom doors (over time) to restrict unsupervised student access.

 

They were looking at using Paxton Air Bridges and PaxLock wireless door handles, however the Paxton installer they are using has said the wireless solution does not work well on a high volume access door (if only teachers have door access to the classroom is it high volume was my question?) and are wanting to daisy chain Net2 controllers via RS485 in groups of 4 or 6 with network links back to the server.

 

My question is does anyone here have Paxton Net2 setup on the classroom doors for access? If so do you use wireless or wired and how to you find the setup?

 

Thanks

[mavhc]

Seems like wired would be better for classrooms, they're dense and indoors, what's the cost per door for each?

 

The Net2Air bridge operates on the 802.15.4

frequency band on channel 25 by default. In

most situations they will coexist without any

issues. If there is significant WiFi activity on a

site, it is recommended that WiFi channels 11,

12 & 13 are avoided which will reduce possible

interference.

 

Net2 Paxlock: Typically up to 50 uses per day

Normal power mode: 30,000 operations

Low power mode: 60,000 operations

 

Paxlock pro: Typically up to 75 uses per day

55,000 operations

[TechMonkey]

If you ever want, or may want, to do lockdown then don't go for wireless. You can not unlock or lock doors wireless paxton locks remotely.

[Edu-IT]

We have Paxton Net2 setup at our school for the external doors, gates and a few internal doors, the Estates team have been asked to look at putting it on all the classroom doors (over time) to restrict unsupervised student access.

 

They were looking at using Paxton Air Bridges and PaxLock wireless door handles, however the Paxton installer they are using has said the wireless solution does not work well on a high volume access door (if only teachers have door access to the classroom is it high volume was my question?) and are wanting to daisy chain Net2 controllers via RS485 in groups of 4 or 6 with network links back to the server.

 

My question is does anyone here have Paxton Net2 setup on the classroom doors for access? If so do you use wireless or wired and how to you find the setup?

 

Thanks

My last employer used PaxLock on classroom doors and it worked fine.

[howartp]

We have Net2 wired locks on all our IT Suites plus various other.

 

They're all individually wired, except one which is RS485 because there's two separate doors in the same room.

 

Most single doors are POE units, double-doors are powered units as they don't recommend POE for double mags.

[MatthewL]

Wired all the way for me, suspect its cheaper than a wireless solution too but never looked.

[robyholmes]

You also have to think about fire regs with Paxlock, as it only complies one direction (from memory). For classroom doors I don't suspect this will be an issue but if you have any classrooms which have fire exits out them, you might want to check your fire routes don't require people to use the door to then use the fire exit in the classroom.

[MatthewL]

The door of the room even if its into a corridor is the fire exit from that room so would need to comply. Paxton system needs to interface into the fire alarm either centrally or each controller to release on activation of break glass or alarm going off.

[robyholmes]

The door of the room even if its into a corridor is the fire exit from that room so would need to comply. Paxton system needs to interface into the fire alarm either centrally or each controller to release on activation of break glass or alarm going off.

 

My understand is the Paxlock does comply if your leaving the room (No card required), but doesn't if entering as although Paxton can be linked to the fire alarm, the wireless link isn't considered safe enough to make sure the door is unlocked if it needs to be used in a fire. Leaving the room however is as it doesn't stop people in this direction.

[psydii]

I'd trust the proposed design by the engineers. It certainly matches patterns I have encountered on both Paxton and other systems. In the long term, a design pattern that the field engineers recognise will be more important than swish locks on the doors.

[localzuk]

We've used Net2 for over a decade, all wired. Most of them are on RS485 lines. Then a few are normal network ones.

 

We control all of our sites from a single Net2 server on our central cluster too.

 

I'm not sure of the value of the wireless ones when running an RS485 line is very cheap and easy to be honest.

[Edu-IT]

We've used Net2 for over a decade, all wired. Most of them are on RS485 lines. Then a few are normal network ones.

 

We control all of our sites from a single Net2 server on our central cluster too.

 

I'm not sure of the value of the wireless ones when running an RS485 line is very cheap and easy to be honest.

Cost and convenience I think. You don’t need separate locks, readers, push buttons.

[mavhc]

You'd think they'd just make a wired in door lock, best of both worlds. Problem is buildings are still designed like it's 1900 and people don't need to run wires everywhere. A door with a wiring channel to the lock in a standard location should be a thing.

[richieh]

Thanks for all the feedback, very interesting, I am unsure of the costs for this project, however in the past when internal doors have been discussed I know they were looking at about £1000 per internal door which is why we only have a couple at the moment. The £1000 would cover the Net2 control unit, powered Mag Lock, reader outside, push button inside, fire alarm integration, break glass, fused spur and installation.

 

I think on the basis of feedback here I will not put forward any objections to the wired solution, I just didn't want the school to go down one route and find out that it wasn't the best route as they have a history of installing things here without researching them correctly!

 

Thanks once again.

[mavhc]

Each controller can do 4 doors I think, so hopefully the cost for 4 is much less. Combined with only 1 trip for the installers should be able to get an economy of scale. 1 power cable, 1 callout charge, if you're doing every door I'd expect more like £300/door, especially if no one's in so they can do it quickly.

[localzuk]

Thanks for all the feedback, very interesting, I am unsure of the costs for this project, however in the past when internal doors have been discussed I know they were looking at about £1000 per internal door which is why we only have a couple at the moment. The £1000 would cover the Net2 control unit, powered Mag Lock, reader outside, push button inside, fire alarm integration, break glass, fused spur and installation.

 

I think on the basis of feedback here I will not put forward any objections to the wired solution, I just didn't want the school to go down one route and find out that it wasn't the best route as they have a history of installing things here without researching them correctly!

 

Thanks once again.

Note, you don't have to connect every single door to the fire alarm. You only need to link up each building, and the main system.

 

We have fire links at each school, one in each building, and one direct from the fire alarm at the main site. So, you should be able to reduce a little bit of cost off that £1000 per door.

 

We paid about £800 a door IIRC, but that was a while ago now.

[Guest Guest]

We paid roughly £1000 when we had a door added recently. We dont link ours to the fire alarm as thats dependent on the server being available in the event of a fire to release the doors.

 

Each maglock is wired via a fire relay, when the alarm's triggered power to the lock is cut

[robyholmes]

We paid roughly £1000 when we had a door added recently. We dont link ours to the fire alarm as thats dependent on the server being available in the event of a fire to release the doors.

 

Each maglock is wired via a fire relay, when the alarm's triggered power to the lock is cut

 

As long as you have a emergency 'break glass' on each door your still compliant even if it's your server on fire. We have these which are monitored by the Net2 controller. If someone uses this break glass it sounds an alarm on the door (Built in to the break glass) but also emails our site team (Me included) and our student support team. We monitor when students leaving during lesson was well using a reader on each side with an alert to student support. So the break glass is the same in case they use that to exit rather than their card.

 

We've had the system in place 4 years I think it is now, we've only ever had LA cleaners uses those break glass buttons because they would forget their ID!

[MatthewL]

The bloke I've used for all mine in the past advises about using the link from the server as if it goes down it doesn't work, he's always wired a relay in either for each door or done one for each building, all depends on the setup as some doors you may wish to stay secure and then break glass if needed.

[Alis_Klar]

Get a good fitter.

 

Don't fit them to really old doors. They prefer new straight doors with new door frames.

 

If you get PaxLocks always get them with Key Override as they break down especially if they are not fitted perfectly. You can fit matched cylinders so multiple doors can be opened with one key.

 

Also do not press the handle before scanning your card/token/fob as it will break the mechanism eventually.

 

Keep on top of battery replacements too.

[Net_Man]

I am using a Salto system with battery operated locks on all of the internal doors. They take 3x AAA batteries each which I was having to change every year but I have managed to get up to 2 years from some by setting up a timed profile so the doors are unlocked during certain times of the day when the rooms are in use but someone leaves the room for a toilet break. It works well in a primary school where each room is in constant use but not sure about for secondary schools.

Online door installation costs were around £1000 each as well.

[mavhc]

I could see why a wired magnetic lock costs £1000, but how does a wireless battery powered in door lock cost £1000?

[Net_Man]

Salto is £250 with the euro lock versions at £300 both plus vat but bear in mind replacing the batteries in 100 doors yearly can be time consuming and costly as well.

[Aprice]

£1000 is a bit steep for a wireless paxlock, With us you would be looking in the region of half that with installation and a Net2 Air Bridge.

[PotNoodleTech]

I would avoid wireles on something as important as a door lock anyway. The single cat 6 to a "sub controller" and then run several doors off that controller seems like a reasonable way to do it.

 

Hopefully gettting paxton here later in the year too.