This is a personal quest. I need to build a small rack for my home. I need to lock it so my kids do not crayon on everything, push the button on the Xbox a thousand times a day to hear the cool sound it makes, put money in the disc slot, etc. I do not want a key lock because the keys will get lost and what a PITA. My wife needs to be able to get into it so I cannot just put in a wall rack up near the ceiling...or I would. :)

Looking for a smallish lock that can easily be fitted to a rack door that uses fingerprint scan to activate. I thought about a keypad, but that would make the form factor larger than I would like. I even thought about NFC, but that is not ideal either.

Winchester builds eVault gun safes with a biometric lock. The form factor makes it very attractive. I need to see if they sell the lock kit separately or if they can tell me who OEMs it for them. GDI is a company that makes something that may work, but I have never heard of them.

Any ideas? I thought it might be beneficial on certain jobs as well. :) Put them on wiring cans so directv and cable cannot get in and bork things up.

It's a good idea but be sure to have a backup plan for when the fingerprint reader fails to operate or scans are not reliable (it will happen); i.e. a hidden switch that opens the relay on the solenoid lock. I don't have a recommendation for anything smaller than a single gang unit. We tried one that is quite small from e-key but the unit was very unreliable and got ripped out.

Way lower tech solution, Hide a magnetic switch behind an aluminum or plastic panel.

[Link: amazon.com]

I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for. But at least you could see who makes it.

[Link: pages.ebay.com]

Although, I do like the magnetic lock idea. This could be a good idea. Just hide the magnetic in plan sight. They wouldn't know where to use it.


KOT

What's your budget?
How many users?
Do you want keypad/RFID backup?
Do you want turnkey solution or are you willing to DIY it?
How will you manage access? Local, PC, controller?

You can look at things like biometric door locks. Fairly inexpensive, easy to take apart and turn the lock relay into a contact closure or even door strike release.

Also look at biometric cabinet locks. A lot of doctors/dentists use them where there are anesthetics, drugs, expensive drills, etc.