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Install August Electronic Lock on Multipoint Trim

For years I have told people that electronic locks are not really made for multipoint lock door preps. Only recently have the manufacturers started offering extremely expensive replacements for their multipoint locks that work with keypads and they are thousands of dollars. There are other silly setups like a Burg Wachter euro cylinder that used some kind of radio and a remote keypad I remember installing five years ago. There have also been many dozens who have asked me to replace their multipoint lock with a keypad they bought at the hardware store but only one of them had me go through with installation after I showed him the problems that would result.

There is another type of electronic lock though, the August deadbolt. It isn’t actually a deadbolt, more of a replacement thumbturn that can be controlled via smartphone. They can be installed to work with American style multipoint locks that have a lazy action tailpiece. It is kind of a hack and you still have to lift up on the handle before locking the august deadbolt but it does work without keys.

The first step is to acknowledge that you will probably void the multipoint lock warranty by bolting an electronic controller onto it. Maybe you will void the August deadbolt’s warranty too although I can’t see how, none of its parts are altered. The following information is actually only written for the entertainment of a very small population of door hardware nerds and is not actually meant to be a guide, if you do anything described herein it is your full responsibility and I recommend putting on a hazmat suit and two condoms and maybe also a covid mask.

The second step is to replace the lazy action tailpiece on the lock cylinder with one that is long enough to go through the door and extend past the interior trim plate. The lock I worked on today had a tailpiece that wasn’t long enough. The first tailpiece from an Ilco key in knob cylinder was longer but not long enough. The GMS kik long lazy action tailpiece was perfect.

Third is to remove the thumbturn from the interior trim plate (because we are planning to use the August deadbolt thumbturn in its place). In most cases these are held on by either a pressed on washer or a snap ring. You can reinstall this later if you decide the electronic lock is a silly idea.

Fourth step is to reinstall the multipoint trim, put the August mounting plate on the interior trim and line up the tailpiece centered in the mounting plate hole. Now mark the through bolt holes by marking the center of these holes but on the multipoint trim. Now drill and tap the holes. I recommend #8/32tpi screws because the heads are flush after install with the August mounting plate.

I found that the #8 machine screw fit in the August mounting plate best.

Now you just screw the August mounting plate on and carry on with the install. It worked great for me. The biggest problem most likely will be trying to explain to people how to lock the door. Using multipoint locks is hard enough for people without the addition of an electronic lock. For many people just the mention of an electronic lock causes their forehead to crease and their eyes to narrow.

I will say though that for regular users of such a door this will be a huge convenience.

Interlock multipoint sliding door locks

Sliding door locks are notoriously crappy. Usually it is just one little hook holding the door shut and customers think that hook is going to keep them safe. Well I’m here to tell you that it won’t. Aside from the obvious shattering of the entire door a large screwdriver can pry the door away from the strike. The whole thing is screwed into vinyl usually and it is much less secure than probably every other door in your house.

Enter the Interlock sliding glass door lock. It has two hooks and two vertical rods to keep the door shut. This is ten times better than a regular cheap one hook lock from the hardware store. Unfortunately it is also a pain to replace these and you will have to replace them because despite its good design there are numerous failure points.

I made this video so that you don’t have to call Intertek. I’m not responsible for what you do.

This lock uses a cheesy little pinion gear made out of powdered metal. When everything is lined up it will work great but as soon as you get a meathead trying to use that door they will try to force the lock to work even if the vertical rods aren’t lined up with the holes that they are supposed to go into. The meathead may not be aware that there are even vertical rods so we can’t be too harsh with them, for they are used to the lower quality and more forgiving sliding point locks found more commonly in the USA.

I called interlock usa to ask them exactly how one gets their lock out. The receptionist forwarded my call to “tech support” to whom I explained my problem at which point the asshole promptly hung up on me. I immediately called the receptionist back who apologized for patching me in to their computer guy. She then suggested I call some third party company for tech support called GH2 Industries. That company cannot receive incoming calls according to the text message they sent me after I called.

This isn’t my first runaround with Intertek, I’ve spent thankless hours trying to get Intertek USA to support or at the very least point me to replacement parts. I’ve gotten literally nowhere with Intertek so at this point I gave up and decided to start prying the door apart. It came apart fairly quickly.

It turns out that this is probably the way you are supposed to replace this lock anyway. I think they probably would tell you to take the door out of the track so that you can unscrew the top guide for the vertical rod but I just bent the rod and pulled it out, it worked fine after reassembly. So just pry the edge off the side of the door the lock’s hooks come out of, then pull the top rod out, then pry the lock out of the door and disconnect the bottom rod.

Install the bottom rod back into the new lock, push the lock into the door, and reconnect the top rod. You might have to reconnect the top rod before pushing it into the top guide at the top of the door.

I recommend checking to see if the lock works properly at this point. Obviously the door has to be positioned over the holes in the threshold and ceiling or the lock will jam. Turn the square hub in the lock with a screwdriver and make sure it works before reattaching the trim and snapping the edge of the vinyl door back on. When reattaching the trim make sure that the pinion doesn’t have broken teeth facing the teeth in the handleset or it won’t work. You can rotate the pinion ninety degrees for fresh teeth.

At this point you should have a working door. Tell everybody how to use it before they break it again. Don’t let drunks or idiots or drunk idiots use this door. Though secure when locked it is easy to break while locking it. Good luck…