Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Ideas and instructions how you can make your own bondage toys.
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bound_jenny
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Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by bound_jenny »

Welcome, Bound Anna lurkers, posters, whippers, and assorted furry and scaly beasties! :hi:

I have to admit that this is a first. Three of our members cooperated to submit an article on timer locks, their innards, and ways to exploit and pervert them. Shannon SteelSlave, Sweh and Gregovic bring their experience and expertise with electronic timer locks right here, to you and for you, our treasured members,

Add to that the honor of being personally approached for posting the combined article and writing an intro for it - and for once I'm at a loss for words... rofl

...but I'd rather let our Three Amigos speak for themselves, since they're The Experts on the subject.

As they say in French, Bonne Lecture!

(in Jenny's English, enjoy it or else... :whip: :mrgreen: )

Jenny.

Intros:
Shannon SteelSlave.jpg
Shannon SteelSlave.jpg (2.64 KiB) Viewed 11550 times
Shannon: I am Shannon SteelSlave. I have been using these locks for a year. I find them to be a more accurate timed release than an ice lock. But I think the ice lock is more reliable. I love hearing the sound of the motor wind as it locks up, then I know I am in for the duration, whatever I have locked myself into. I own 6 of them.
Sweh.jpg
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Stephen: I'm Stephen Harris. I've doing doing some form of strict self-bondage for over 20 years now, and do things others consider "not safe". I own 2 of these locks. One broke, and I haven't used the other since, because I don't trust it.
Gregovic.jpg
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Gregovic: I'm Gregovic. I've been a professional engineer for over a decade now, amongst other things dealing with mechatronics (moving mechanical systems), system safety and troubleshooting. I have 2 of these locks, one of which I broke by toying with it to find out what makes it tick (or stop doing so as the case may be :gag: ) and one that broke on it's own.

Summary :

Gregovic: From a safety and design standpoint in my opinion this lock falls far short of what I was hoping it could be. The body is reasonably sturdy but the cable mounting is rather flimsy and the locking mechanism not all that strong. Due to a lack of battery indication and the rather anaemic battery size to begin with the operation is unreliable even at the best of times.

Stephen: Can be fiddly to use; pushing the locking end into the hole can require more leverage than may be easily possible with one hand. Unreliable (one of mine broke... in use). Unpredictable; there's no indication of battery life.

Shannon: Basically it is an enclosed clock that signals a motor to turn when starting, and turn the opposite way when time runs out. The lock bolt is a flexible stranded steel cable coated in plastic, with one end designed to fit into the lock hole and snap in.

Faqs

-How can I play safely with this lock?

Shannon: You could "daisy chain" 2 of them to cut the odds of complete failure in half, or use 1 on each hand, again, to cut the odds in half. I recommend against putting all of your faith in these locks to free you from a state of total capture, avoid using them to bind your hands or fasten your body to furniture. They can be cut easily with hobby grade diagonal cutting pliers. Scissors will also work, but you will have to take several hacks at the same spot on the cable to cut through. Making sure the battery is charged before use can help prevent you from having to ruin the lock. Also note : Keep your thumb off the release button when the lock is opening or closing. It has a sort of clutch that allows the motor shaft to spin without turning the cam, if it meets any resistance. Holding the button will prevent the cam from turning, so it will stay open or closed. This does not reverse operation of the lock mechanism. The motor uses forward or reverse polarity, meaning it will spin one way to lock, the other way to unlock.

Stephen: If you use these locks then make sure you can always get to wire cutters because you may need to cut the wire to get emergency release. These do not fail safe, and may fail at any time, during use.

Gregovic: Have a backup means of release and be prepared to destroy the lock if need be. If you have tools it can be released without destroying it by taking it apart to release the cable.

-Is it failsafe?

Gregovic: Definitely not. The lock is what I would call bi-stable and state agnostic. This means that when it is locked it will remain locked and when it is unlocked it will remain unlocked. The lock also doesn't actually know whether it is locked or not, it only knows what it last attempted to do. This means that if the locking cam is blocked from rotating to the closed position the lock will remain open and cannot be locked until the time runs out. It also means that when locked, if the cam cannot rotate for whatever reason, like low battery or a blockage like holding the unlock button the lock will remain closed! The only way to then get the lock open is to either break it or remove whatever is impeding the unlocking, set the lock for a short time and let it attempt to unlock again.

Shannon: This lock is NOT fail safe. If the battery runs out, the motor will not turn the cam to allow the release button to be fully pressed in order to open the catch. If it gets wet, it will surely lose its memory. I do not know if a short circuit caused by water entry will work again after drying out.


-How strong will the cable hold?

Gregovic: In my experimenting the weak point for the cables seems to be the attachment of the cable to the metal end caps. This crimp can pull free at moderate loads. (A few kilograms). The connection of the metal cable to the plastic body is also not all that strong and it can probably be pulled free with a few tens of kilograms of pull force though I haven't tried this as on the lock I tried the cable to end cap connection gave up first

Shannon: This cable is not meant for bearing a load. You could struggle with it reasonably, but if determined, you could break the cable by pulling on it with all of your strength. For example, I broke one when I cuffed my hands in front, then, when I was trying to get them behind my back, I broke it. Its weakest link is where the cable meets the end piece. Mine broke at the locking end.


-How do you like to use them?

Shannon: I mostly like to lock away keys in my key tag device. I also use them to lock shoes, for that feeling like I am a prisoner with a GPS ankle bracelet. Sometimes, I use it to lock gags. I had to use a reamer to expand the hole on the gag latch to make it fit through.

Gregovic: I've used them to lock on a gag and wrist cuffs, but I always had tools on hand and the liberty to get to them if needed. Then the second lock died. I put it away working after a charge, then when I took it out again the display showed all 8s, the beeper sounded like a hoarse frog and no matter what I did I couldn't get it to display any actual numbers again. After that I just threw them out and decided I don't trust them enough to spend another pile of cash on them. So I went back to using small padlocks of a decent quality and locking the keys in a K-safe. I can see why people like these locks, but I feel the ones I bought weren't worth it to me.

Stephen: I haven't used them recently. For time lock purposes I use a KSafe (aka KitchenSafe). I don't trust these locks to be used as an active part of bondage. Which is a shame, because they fill a much needed gap in the market!

-What is the maximum time it can set it to lock?

Shannon: 99 hours, 59 minutes. Have not tested if the lock keeps perfect time.

Gregovic: To eleborate on the comment by Shannon, the lock uses a simple crystal oscillator to keep time. This is typically accurate to a minute or so per day, so at 100 hours, expect something like 5 minutes of drift if the temperature is stable room temperature. If you keep going from below freezing to toasty warm, this can be MUCH worse (hours) as this type of time keeping doesn't like temperature swings or high temps (this is also why the digital clock in older cars is always off when it's really cold or really hot).

-Can time be added?

Shannon: Using the buttons, no. I have been able to extend time by running another lock through the hole, and setting it for a time longer than the first lock, if there is enough room for a 2nd lock cable to fit the locking device.


-Is there any way to release the lock early (cheat)?

Gregovic: There is a way to reset the lock and set a new shorter time that doesn't require destroying the lock, but I don't know if I want to post such a spoiler here

Shannon: Cutting through the cable (with wire cutters) is the only way I know of. There is no way to reprogram the time once set, and there is no back up key.

-How long does the battery last?

Gregovic: This to me is a big unknown. With the 2 I had while they were function it varied between the 2. One would last longer than the other one. The biggest current draw for this lock is keeping the backlight on and rotating the motor for locking or unlocking the lock. This means the battery "stamina" is mostly determined by how often it is opened and closed.

Shannon: I read somewhere it can be used for about 4 hours each day for 30 days. In my experiment, it took me, I believe, just over 2 weeks of setting it for 24 hours each day to run it down. I have heard stories of defective batteries though, so you need to use your own judgement and trial-and-error. It can be kept alive by charging it during use.

-What happens if the battery dies?

Shannon: The motor will stay in its current position and not rotate the cam. After charging it, pressing the buttons will show zero on the clock. If locked, it is best to set the clock for 1 minute, start the timer, and wait for the time to run out. It will unlock then.

Gregovic: To unlock this lock the motor has to turn the cam. When the battery is incapable of providing enough power to do this the lock will remain locked. Because the lock doesn't actually know it's own position, the only way to then unlock is as Shannon described, by setting it for a short time and letting the lock first (attempt to) lock itself and then unlock

-How do you know if the battery is able to stay alive during play?

Gregovic: Simply put, you don't know. Make sure it's charged and hope the battery isn't too degraded

Shannon: It has no gauge, so it is best to charge it before use. It can be used while charging.


-Is it waterproof?

Shannon: No. I do not know what damage to expect if it does get wet. It may be destroyed and stay locked. It may dry out and reboot, depending if it has shunts or diodes to handle short circuits.I recommend avoiding any scenarios that use, or may expose you to water.

Gregovic: Since there is no attempt at avoiding water ingress and most of the innards are uninsulated, water will definitely ruin this lock

-My lock is noisy (Beeps)

Gregovic: On the first generation lock it can be quietened by carefully placing some hot-melt glue over the hole in the lock body. Alternatively it's not hard to disassemble the lock and snip the wires to the buzzer if you want it to be completely quiet.

Shannon: I have the 2nd generation of locks. If you hold the center button, it will beep, indicating that the noise has been turned ON/OFF. If the buttons make no noise after that, it is in quiet mode.

-Is the packaging discreet?

Shannon: You may want to request this. Mine all came through customs with the title "Handcuffs time lock"

Stephen: Mine came through in a generic box with no explicit description. There are a lot of sellers (eg on aliexpress) that this is more a function of who you buy from.

Gregovic: This depends on which seller you buy from but the general experience seems to be what I received too. The lock is individually packaged in a simple cardboard box, and the locks are wrapped together in some foam padding and stuffed into a black plastic bag. The customs declaration simply lists something like "electronic lock" or "electronic timer".

-How would you improve it?

Shannon: I would make it possible to add time, but only if you hold the middle button, whilst pressing the hour or minute button, to prevent accidentally adding time while struggling. Also, I wish it had a back up emergency release key.

Stephen: Add a battery gauge to the display

Gregovic: Simply put? I wouldn't bother. This design has way too many flaws to be safe to use. If I were to make a design like this my list of improvement points would be:
  • - Bigger battery
    - Better battery charging electronics (because the circuitry included is so minimal it's almost but not quite dangerous)
    - Battery status indicator
    - Better locking/unlocking mechanism that would (in descending order of preference) either:
    • 1. Be locked only when power applied (Normally Open) so that when the battery dies it unlocks
      2. Know it's current position so that it re-attempts unlock when it fails or doesn't start it's countdown if it can't lock
      3. If the current mechanism would be used at the least allow for making the motor do further unlock attempts when the timer reaches 0 by pressing some button combination

And since I'm an engineer I'm of the opinion that if it isn't steel it isn't a proper lock I'd like it to be made with a stainless steel body and a proper heavy duty TPE clad cable with properly crimped on end caps. :mrgreen: The difficulty here is that a design like that would defeat all the "small, compact, lightweight and cheap-ish design points that the current lock design scores and probably somewhat defeats the purpose.

(At bottom) Timer Lock Picture Set.jpg
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

I would like to say, that it was a pleasure working with Gregovic and Sweh, to inform the community about these locks that seem to get a lot of unanswered questions. I hope everyone can decide for themselves if the locks are right for them. I also wanted to consolidate the facts into a neat post.
If anyone else out there would like help organizing a "co-post" of their ideas with others , you may PM me or reply to this message.
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by sweh »

To be fair, this was mostly Shannon's work. He deserves most of the kudos for organizing this. I just threw in some opinions :-)
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by bound_jenny »

sweh wrote:To be fair, this was mostly Shannon's work. He deserves most of the kudos for organizing this. I just threw in some opinions :-)
Don't underplay yourself - you brought some real, hands-on experience with them to the table, and that's valuable. To someone with no experience with these locks, it could clinch their decision whether or not to buy one (or more).

I'm impressed by the whole article, I must say. And even an old mare like myself learned something! :lol:

Thanks to all three of you for covering this subject. :worship:

Jenny.
Helplessness is a doorway to the innermost reaches of the soul.
If my corset isn't tight, it just isn't right!
Kink is the spice of life!
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

:oops: You guys! :oops: At best, I would claim 25% - 34% credit here, what everyone seems to forget, is that most of the research was done 2 years ago, work that still has total value today. And, I couldn't have respectfully done a thread about these locks, even with the new information I brought, without acknowledging your work, or even better, involving your work in the creation of a hard facts article that is easier to read than 6 pages of varied opinions.
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by cslpro »

timer_locks_doubled.jpg
Not 100% failsafe, but by linking 2 timer locks you make them a lot safer as the chances of 2 failing simultaneously are much lower. They're cheap now so buying two isn't expensive, and if one does fail while they're linked in that way it won't leave you stuck and you can just throw it away and get another.

There are many ways you can use them "doubled up" like this (always in series, never parallel, that defeats the object) , to keep a key away from a lock (to handcuffs, a locked box, a locked door (behind which your other keys could be). Here's a photo for inspiration to demonstrate a few ideas.
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

cslpro wrote:
timer_locks_doubled.jpg
Not 100% failsafe, but by linking 2 timer locks you make them a lot safer as the chances of 2 failing simultaneously are much lower. They're cheap now so buying two isn't expensive, and if one does fail while they're linked in that way it won't leave you stuck and you can just throw it away and get another.

There are many ways you can use them "doubled up" like this (always in series, never parallel, that defeats the object) , to keep a key away from a lock (to handcuffs, a locked box, a locked door (behind which your other keys could be). Here's a photo for inspiration to demonstrate a few ideas.
Outstanding demonstration! And welcome to BoundAnna, C! I call this act of doubling, "daisy chaining". In general, though, the community does not trust these locks. I still use mine though. I like them a little too much to have written a fair review, which is 1 reason I chose to co-post this thread with 2 others. Thanks for your contribution. Shan'
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by bound_jenny »

I second that - great demonstration and great idea.

And welcome to the forum! :whip:

Jenny.
Helplessness is a doorway to the innermost reaches of the soul.
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by ruru67 »

I notice there are a couple of newer models out there:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Newly-M ... 56538.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Time-Lo ... 52400.html

The first has heart shaped buttons and a more curved lower edge; the second the whole device is a different heart/apple shape, also with heart shaped buttons. The display looks the same as the original model, and the functionality described looks much the same, so I expect the innards are much the same. I wouldn't stop having a Plan B with these (or at least using two and making sure you can get out if one fails to open) ...
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

Those look like exactly the same durability and battery life specifications as the ones we reviewed. I would try one, except I own 6 of them already. I can see, however, that it does have the mute mode of the newer style that I have. It says "horn hole" by the way, ah ha ha ha , ah ha ha ha. Yeah, hmmm, heh hmmmm!
Good find though, thanx, Ruru.
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A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

You're welcome, and thanx for reading. Exactly why we put this together, to help inform.
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by teasemeplease »

I've been using one of these for several months and it has transformed my self bondage. It lets me plan my sessions to the minute. I never trust any single method, I always have a backup plan. My configuration regardless of whether I am standing, laying, or riding the wooden horse includes a short rope between an anchor point and a metal ring, a stocking with several ice cubes through the metal ring, a rope doubled with the loose ends tied to the stocking, the center section of that rope long enough that all knots are out of reach. The middle of the rope forms a loop that I put through the chain of handcuffs or bondage cuffs, and finally the timer lock through the loop in the rope. In this configuration, if I pull I am pulling against the rope and not against the lock which does not seem all that sturdy. I've run numerous tests to figure how long the ice will last so I can make sure the backup plan is a little longer than I have set on the timer. Until the time elapses or the ice melts, I am completely helpless. I know there is a risk in case of fire, etc. but for my short sessions the risk is worth it.
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

Welcome to Bound Anna, Teaseme. Actually, ice should melt when met with fire. Good work, and thanx for the tip.
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
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Re: Timer Locks - The Experts panel

Post by Shannon SteelSlave »

Not that I am officially endorsing these, but someone has attempted an improvement. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/6961405 ... op-3&frs=1
Bondage is like a foreign film without subtitles. Only through sharing and practice can we hope to understand.
A Jedi uses bondage for knowledge and defense, never for attack.
I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T!....I, I mean S-M-A-R-T!
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