How To Troubleshoot A Weiser Powerbolt

Weiser Powerbolts are locks that can be manually operated with a key or by a keyless motorized action. By entering your code into the keyless touchpad, the motorized locking mechanism secures your home without having to turn a key in the lock, which is one of the ways you can burglarproof your home. At times, the Powerbolt mechanism may experience a hiccup in its smooth operation. By working through a few troubleshooting steps, however, you can restore your lock to full functionality.

The best go-to resource for troubleshooting your Weiser Powerbolt electronic lock is its installation and user guide. Different models have different configurations and programming instructions, which means they have slightly different troubleshooting steps.

For example, both the Weiser Powerbolt 1 and the Weiser Powerbolt 2 electronic locks feature motorized driven deadbolts with one-touch locking for keyless entry to your home. The Powerbolt 2 also features SmartKey® technology, which is a smart lock feature that allows you to rekey the lock yourself. The Powerbolt 1 lacks this feature.

The Powerbolt 1 lock allows you to have up to four user access codes, and the Powerbolt 2 lock allows you to have up to six user access codes, one master access code and one temporary access code. When troubleshooting your Powerbolt lock, it's important to use the directions in the corresponding user manual to program access codes properly and to use other model-specific features.

For a Weiser Powerbolt lock to work properly, it must be installed properly. The mechanized deadbolt cannot smoothly enter and retract from the door frame if the bolt is installed off-kilter from the strike plate. You may find different instructions in the user manual for installing the lock in a hollow core door instead of a solid door.

If your lock is new and you can't seem to get it to work, go back through the installation directions in your user manual to troubleshoot each step of the installation. Also, if climatic conditions have caused your door to expand or contract, the lock may no longer be correctly aligned, which is another reason to troubleshoot the installation steps.

If you get absolutely no response after touching the keypad of your Powerbolt lock and you see no lights or hear no beeping, this generally points to one of two problems: The batteries are drained, or the cables are improperly connected. Even though the low-battery alarm typically begins alerting you six weeks before the batteries completely drain, you may have put off this small task and simply forgotten to replace the old batteries with new ones. A 9V battery acts as the battery backup for the 4 AA batteries in the Powerbolt 1, but the 9V battery may also be drained or incorrectly installed. After checking and/or replacing the batteries, check the cables to make sure they're connected.

If you're unable to lock or unlock your Powerbolt using the keypad, check to see if the user access codes have been disabled. If they have, you won't need to program all the access codes to get the keypad working again, but you will have to program at least one code. You may need to restore the lock's default settings and reprogram your access codes.

A Weiser Powerbolt has audible alerts to let you know you're on track (or not) when engaging the lock. Some of the beeps are long tones, and others are shorter. You may be in the dark if you don't hear any beeps, which means that the lock is in "silent" mode. If you want to hear these audible alerts, follow the instructions in your user manual to remove the silent mode.

For example, when programming a user access code into the Powerbolt 1, you should hear two long beeps after pressing "PROG," which prompts you to enter "12" on the keypad before pressing "PROG" again. After hearing one short beep, you'll enter your new user access code before pressing "PROG" for the final time, so it's important to take the lock off silent mode when programming it.

The beeps not only help guide you through different programming options but they also alert you to errors. The troubleshooting chart in your model's user manual lists the meaning behind each alert beep and advises you on the proper action to take in order to resolve the problem.