Biometric Locks Mysteries, What Does ESD Mean?

No doubt this has happened to you. It's a cold day, you're wearing a fleece jacket and you reach out to open a door…. ZAP! Sparks literally fly.

No, you haven't been the victim of some elaborate prank you've just collected  little static electricity and emitted an electrostatic discharge (ESD).

ESDs can be mildly annoying or painful in everyday life but did you know that it can interfere or even cause damage to your electronics?

One of the common sources of electro static discharge is when reaching for door handles.

In fact, you may expect it when entering your front door. However, if you have installed a biometric lock, you don't want to want it to break from an inconvenient static shock.

Fortunately, most electronic devices—including fingerprint locks--are equipped with some sort of electro static structure to prevent a little shock from becoming a big problem.

In the case of your typical fingerprint lock with silicone sensors, the ESD structure is placed around the sensor, where you place your finger to be read by the biometric device.

The ESD structure will reduce any electric charge before your finger touches the sensor, if the material is a semiconductor.

Biometric locks have and electroshock discharge rating which will be labeled as ESD rating or simply ESD.

This rating is listed in Volts (V) or Kilovolts (KV). Many fingerprint deadbolts have an ESD up to 15KV, sometimes higher.

This indicates that the biometric device will be protected against electrostatic discharge up to 15 kilovolts and is suitable for most security needs.

Some manufacturers are also introducing biometrics devices which do not use semiconductors such as silicon in their sensors. This eliminates the need for any sort of ESD structure at all.

When it comes to being an informed consumer, rest assured that manufacturers have implemented many ways to eliminate or reduce electroshock discharge in biometric devices such as fingerprint locks.

You can breathe a side of relief that shocks from your front door will be reduced, too!