Order and orient the keys on your keychain
31 comments
·October 22, 2024tzs
If you keys are on a keyring like those in the illustrations in the article where the keys can easily jangle and that gets annoying I found a good way to address that.
• Get some small magnets. I used these 8 mm diameter 1mm thick disk magnets [1].
• Attach one to each key near the hole for the keyring. Orient the magnets so the each is attracted to the magnets on the neighboring keys.
When hanging on your keyring your keys will then form one unit which won't jangle.
You want magnets that are strong enough to attract through the keys. If yours need a little help you could try putting a magnet on each side of the key.
I held them on by wrapping some tape around the key.
Cthulhu_
There's alternatives to keyrings as well, holders so your keys become their own swiss army knife.
whirlwin
I haven't owned a keychain for many years now. After renovating our house, we installed a Yale Doorman. It's the best $300 investment I've done that I can think of: - Don't have to carry a keychain at all anymore - I can give strangers (think AirBnb, or cleaners) time-bound access codes - I can remotely unlock/lock the door for someone if they need immediate access - Kids can get home without a key - Kids losing their key not a worry anymore - Work office is keyless too (xlock) - We always keep a small 9V battery outside in case the battery goes flat
It was after a painful deadlock situation that we initially retro-fitted an electronic lock into the old front door which we carried over to the new door once we renovated the entire floor.
mxuribe
I've always been tempted/curious to adopt a sort keyless of approach. I dislike carrying keys...and have had to carry (what to me feels like too many) keys always throughout my life. But without really researching the option you referenced, i have fears about failure modes for this type of keyless kock. For example...
* If/When the battery dies, does the lock default to locked setting? I assume so, but how annoying would this be?
* Being a privacy nut, does the lock come with a pre-determined code, or can you generate your own? I assume you should be able to create your own, but figuried I'd ask.
Instead of answering my questions, if you have an online reference that you might have used to decide going this route, would be great if you could share. Thanks!
cyberax
> * If/When the battery dies, does the lock default to locked setting? I assume so, but how annoying would this be?
Typically, the home locks are just actuated mechanical locks. So the lock will stay in whatever state it was when the battery died. If you want to get into commercial-grade locks, there are magnetic locks that can be configured to fail open or close on power loss.
Anyway, the battery is not a big deal. I have a Kwikset lock with a ZigBee module, it runs on 4 AAA batteries. I switched to Li-ion rechargables several years ago, and they last for about 6 months between recharges with moderate door use. It's even longer if the lock is not used often.
And the lock starts beeping annoyingly after opening/closing when the batteries get down to 30%, giving you plenty of time to replace them.
> * Being a privacy nut, does the lock come with a pre-determined code, or can you generate your own?
You always can set your own combinations. And there are biometric locks.
toss1
I found an approach that I liked was a mechanical combination lock — all the advantages of digital combination locks (can set temp codes, change codes, no need for keys etc.), except for the remote activation, but I never have to worry about batteries or power.
add-sub-mul-div
I bought a house with an electronic front door lock. One day a few months later I used the wrong code (a few times I guess) and I got fully locked out. I don't subscribe to the $60/month service that could have remotely reset the system so I had to get a locksmith to break me in.
After that I replaced it with a plain old mechanical lock. Never again touching any smart home crap.
I'm sure I didn't use the wrong code three times, something must have happened the 2nd/3rd times like a key didn't get pressed hard enough to register. But regardless, the lesson is there's a bunch of possible failure scenarios you won't think of.
qup
I don't have the key to my house (it's rural), but I still manage to have a keychain.
I have a car, a father, and an office.
colanderman
Ha, I do all of this already. (My "trinket" is a Yubikey, though I just added a 3D printed MIT Flea tag an enterprising child was handing out at the last Flea.)
I propose that the reason for clockwise ordering is: door locks are on the right, and also most people are right-handed. So looking at the keychain as you would hold it to insert the key into a lock, the first visible key is the first in clockwise order. The others are "stacked" beneath it.
gorgoiler
Key your locks alike, then you only need one key! I actually had to find something to put on my house-keyring because it felt so empty being a single key.
The downside to this is if your locks are cheapo pin tumbler locks then if an attacker steals the lock itself it is trivial for them to take your lock apart and reverse engineer a key that works in all your other locks (think crazy ex or wacko, rather than burglar.)
If you key your mailbox padlock and your front door alike and the wacko steals the padlock, they can take it home and figure out the code to your house.
My home has three entry points, one with a porch, and all four doors have keyed alike locks. It’s great!
tzs
> Key your locks alike, then you only need one key!
Seconded!
If you aren't up to rekeying locks yourself it is an easy job for a locksmith and shouldn't be too expensive.
If rekeying isn't sufficient because your locks use different shaped keys and so you'll have to get at least some new locks to put everything on a common key, and you are up to doing lock replacements yourself (which unless you've got unusual locks is usually one of the easiest DIY projects), I'd consider using Kwikset SmartKey for the new locks.
Despite what the name suggests these are not electronic locks. They are entirely mechanical, using a normal key. They came out in 2007 before "Smart" had become associated with shoving microprocessors into places they don't belong.
If you want to rekey a SmartKey lock you simply take the current key, insert it, rotate 90° clockwise, insert a tool Kwikset provides through a little hole in the front to press a button, and that releases the key so you can remove it without having to rotate the cylinder back to 0°. Then you can put in a different key, rotate the cylinder 180° counter-clockwise, then back to 0° and remove that key.
The lock is now rekeyed to that second key.
So, just buy your news locks from Home Depot or Lowe's without having to worry about getting locks that are keyed to the same key, install them, look at all the keys they came with and pick which one you want to be the common key, and then go around and rekey them all to that using the procedure described above.
Keep the other keys. They can be useful if you have a guest stay over (assuming you have more than one door to your house). Rekey one of the doors to one of those other keys and give that to the guest. When they leave you can rekey back to your common key.
Kwikset also makes SmartKey padlocks if you want to go all in on the one key thing.
robobro
Why would they need to steal the lock? I don't think it's uncommon knowledge that most locks are pretty easy to pick quickly :/
Amorymeltzer
>1. Orient your keys so they all face in the direction of entry
Yes, always
>2. Order your keys clockwise based on the direction of entry.
Eh, I guess. Depends how many you have and what they're like. I have two nearly identical keys, and the rest (car, mail) require no time to find due to their size. In this scenario, I generally find that sorting keys by physical size makes the ring/carabiner feel more comfortable. That being said, I find the related suggestion to "Drill holes in your keys" <https://practicalbetterments.com/drill-holes-in-your-keys/> a more worthwhile solution to item 2.
jen729w
Mine are ordered by direction of entry secondarily, after order of physical key size. You can't be having a humpy keyring: it must be a smooth curve, if possible.
All facing the same direction is just ... I mean ... if anyone here doesn't do that ... I don't even ... I gotta wash my hands ...
wuuza
I have always had a bottle opener keychain [1]. When grabbing it from my pocket it is easy to tell by feel which way is "up" (flat side for me) so they keys are always oriented correctly. The keys can't "loop" around, either, so the order is guaranteed. It's also a useful tool.
johnchristopher
Here's a trick of mine: choose a key hat with a colour matching the door. It's easier to tell them apart, especially when you hand the key-chain to a friend.
alanbernstein
I don't carry keys anymore, except for my bike lock, parents house, car, and work bike lock. Hmm I guess I still carry a lot of keys. But I'm still happy I replaced my house key with a code.
nrnrjrjrj
My trick:
Car key is obvious.
Other keys are house front, house side, someone elses house (family).
Get some nail polish and paint the top of the house key, the one thay gets used 90% of the time.
Or you can get the coloured covers from key cutter shops but they do seem to break up eventually.
tennisflyi
My order is frequency based
globular-toast
What kind of monster doesn't orient their keys the same way? Personally I just put them biggest to smallest, though. I think it's more important to have some order than a particular order.
stackghost
I like to live dangerously so I have my keys slapped on in whatever orientation and order they happened to be at the time.
thefz
Especially for pocket fit, they can be compacted faster this way
nrnrjrjrj
Key orientation is the new dishwasher loading pattern.
> Locks typically open clockwise [...]
Is that so? My intuition is that it should depend on the side of the door the lock is mounted on. Most locks I have seen open by turning them away from the side where the latch is on, to move the bolt in the direction it is being turned, and that feels pretty natural to me. Isn't that the norm?
My apartment key opens 7 different locks, 1 of which opens clockwise, 5 counterclockwise, and 1 I don't know right now because it isn't actually mounted on a door and doesn't move a bolt.