Doors

Doors in the Kisi system represent entry points into a facility. They are configured in the Kisi dashboard by assigning Kisi Controller inputs and outputs. Kisi Readers can also be assigned to doors, allowing authorized users to use cards, phones, and other credentials to unlock them.

Each door in Kisi corresponds to a physical door and is connected to up to four relays on the Kisi Controller Pro. In the admin dashboard, it's crucial to associate each door with its corresponding controller, relay, and reader to ensure proper management. The number of doors to be created in the admin dashboard will vary based on the number of controllers in the system and whether there are other devices such as elevators, gates, and turnstiles.

Electric strike locks

Electric strikes block a door's latch. They are installed at the level of a door handle and are by far the most common electric lock you will find on metal or wooden doors.

Electric strikes can be fail safe or fail secure:

• Fail safe: the lock remains unlocked without power
• Fail secure: the lock remains locked without power

Read our Fail Safe vs Fail Secure article for more details about these methods.

You may also check the Kisi Academy article on how to install an electric strike or watch the video below:

Magnetic locks

Magnetic locks have two main parts that are installed on the frame and the door so that their magnetic sides are facing each other. They need to be wired to the access controller to know when they are being prompted to open.

As magnetic locks are fail safe, when triggered they cut their power to unlock. So when the access control readers send an impulse to the lock, the power will be temporarily cut and the door will open.

You may also check the Kisi Academy article on How to Install and Unlock a Magnetic Door Lock or watch the video below:

Wireless locks

Kisi is a wireless lock ("smart lock"). It needs the lock and the key to work.

Wireless locks are hardwired directly into a door frame. This requires the installation of a reader and a controller to communicate with an access control system.

In contrast to a traditional lock-and-key system, here the key is not a physical one, but a smartphone or a special fob/card configured explicitly for this purpose. It wirelessly performs the authentication needed to automatically unlock the door. Also, it supports automatic locking when the user is on a distance level where the signal transmission is exceeded. Another benefit of wireless locks is that they allow to monitor and track who is entering and leaving a facility.

To know more about wireless locks, check the Kisi Academy article on How to Install a Wireless Door Lock watch the video below:

Door restrictions

To have more control over how and when users can access a door, Kisi offers configurable door restrictions. For more information, please read our article on restrictions.