Installation of an Alarm Lock Networx Lock Onto a Vertical Rod Exit Device
Alarm Lock has stated that the Exit Trim locks (specifically the Networx models) are not designed, engineered or recommended for use on vertical rod devices due to the amount of torque required for them to properly operate the rods and latches. They do not support the installation of Exit Trim locks onto doors with vertical rods so they do not offer any extension kits for the wire harness or an alternative method to install the interior battery and antenna box.
That being said, it can and has been done, but it requires customization of the top vertical rod, the wire harness and ground wire or the manufacture of a custom mounting plate that allows the top rod to actuate properly without any interference of the wires or battery box.
A customer requested a Networx lock (ETPDNS1G/10BV99) be installed onto one door of a pair that utilize Von Duprin Surface Vertical Rod Exit Devices. The application is the main entrance to a medium to high use public building. Our customer currently has other buildings with these locks and wants to keep the same type of system to make management simple.
These doors for this job have 5” wide stiles, are custom made for this particular opening (10’ tall and arched tops) and have panes of glass that extends down to about 1/2” above the top of the horizontal bar of the exit devices. These attributes required some difficult considerations prior to the installation of any new hardware.
We could not determine any method to install an electric strike or magnetic lock onto the opening due to the arched tops of the doors that the customer would allow, nor could we utilize an electric latch retraction kit for the existing hardware. We had to find a way to use the Alarm Lock Exit Trim Networx lock.
Rod Modification
I’ve seen some installations of vertical rod devices where someone had modified the vertical rod to go around a secondary lock, and it didn’t look like it would last nor was it aesthetically pleasing. The modifications were a ‘C’ shape, either 1) flat with the door or 2) sticking out past the lock. These modifications could violate fire or life safety codes since the top rod may fail to properly operate the top latch in the event of an emergency or fire, not to mention the secondary lock itself may violate these codes.
Prior to modifying any hardware, you must understand the fire and life safety codes that pertain to the opening in question and ensure that your intended modifications will not violate them. You must also verify with the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction – Fire Marshall, Building Inspector, etc.) that they will approve the modifications if such approval is required.
Once the rod is modified, connected, secured and operation properly, you can install the battery and antenna box according to the instructions provided with the Exit Trim lock, making sure that the box is between the full movement of the rod in both the release and lock positions.
Our particular application would not permit this type of modification due to the current and intended use of the doors and the glass in them. We were concerned that the second type of modification to the rod listed previously would protrude past a point where people could get caught on the rod and get injured or bump the rod on multiple occasions causing premature failure of the device and possibly preventing emergency egress.
Wire Splicing
Any field modifications to Alarm Lock product without the direct instructions to do so by the factory may result in the warranty becoming immediately void. Any modifications are done at your own risk.
Our second option was to splice the wires coming out of the back of the Trilogy lock to extend them, allowing us to run the wires to the hinge side of the door, placing them into a surface mounted wire channel just above the horizontal bar. A door without glass would allow you to install the battery box just to one side of the top vertical rod but still may require some splicing of the wire harness. In hollow doors you should be able to run the wires through the door then out through a 1” diameter hole just behind where you would install the battery box on the hinge side stile. Use caution on metal doors as to not pinch, bind or rub the wires against any holes you have created.
The lock and its power source are engineered to operate properly with the included ribbon cable. Changing the length of any wire will change the amount of power and amperage that travels across it. Adding more wire to this lock may cause it to malfunction or only operate intermittently.
There are 20 wires on the ribbon and one green ground wire that comes out of the back of the lock. The ribbon appears to have 26 gauge wires. The end of the ribbon has a connector that for which we were unable to locate a replacement or adapter. Splicing an extension to this ribbon can be extremely tedious and frustrating so it’s vital that you have determined this is your only option before cutting any wires. Again, performing any modification to this product without the express written authorization from the factory will void the warranty.
The customer was willing to allow the modification to the ribbon cable and void the warranty because they wanted this lock on this door and would do anything to make it happen. We, on the other hand, were not willing to take that risk so we opted for an alternative.
Custom Mounting Plate
Our solution was to have a custom mounting plate designed and manufactured locally. The idea was to use the configuration of the mounting plate that is included with this lock, modify it so the top rod would bypass behind it without any chance of the wires being rubbed, cut or pinched by it and mount the battery box directly to this plate. The included ribbon cable is long enough for this type of installation so no modification to the Exit Trim or Exit Device was required. This allowed us to conform to fire and life safety codes and still provide our customer with a warrantied product that they desired.
The application required the vertical rod to be offset in the bracket due to the metal weather strip our customer had previously installed. This would also permit us to run the wire through the door next to and not behind the rod, thus preventing any wire damage over time.
The company that designed our plate couldn’t understand our needs clearly so we compromised and ended up with something a bit different. This box is made of plain carbon steel. All corners are welded and smoothed to prevent injury to any user of the door. Four holes in the box correspond to the mounting bracket included with the lock. These holes are tapped to accept a machine screw which allowed us to install the mounting plate directly to it. It has a separate set of four holes to allow us to use 1-1/4” long #8 wood screws to securely mount it to the door.
Once installed, the custom box and battery box extend out from the door face approximately 3-1/4”. This is less than the full extension of the exit device but still causes some concern since this is a public building. Our customer was made aware of our concerns and still wanted us to install the lock.
The custom box, battery box and lock are securely mounted to the door, the lock functions and the customer is happy.
