Ring's Smart Lock Has A Hand Crank So It Works Even If The Power's Out

You can generate power by twisting the front latch back and forth.

Ring

Ring founder Jamie Siminoff thinks smart locks aren't popular because users are worried about what happens when they run out of power. Say what you like about keys, but you don't need to recharge them once every few months, and they have worked without power for millennia. That issue is what drove him to develop the Ring Smart Lock, which solves the no-power issue with a hand crank. On the front of the unit, there's a wheel for the latch that, if you turn it back and forth three or four times, generates enough power to run the lock for 30 seconds.

Tucked inside the hardware is a small motor and a supercapacitor that, after a few strong turns of the wheel, will generate around three volts. That gives the unit enough power to run fully, rather...

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