Bauer NE Bluetooth Smart Lock - Keyless Proximity Entry for Your RV Just Like Your Car!

today's video is all about this guy right here this is the bauer ne bluetooth keyless entry handle for your rv now what's so cool about this keyless handle set is not only can you open your rv without a key you can also do it without a code that's right this is very similar to the keyless proximity entry you might have on your car perhaps you've got a key fob similar to this one here and you just keep in your pocket you walk up to your car you touch the door handle or touch a button on the handle in your car or locks right well the same technology exists in this guy right here and so in today's video i'm going to show you real briefly how to install it more importantly we'll do some real world testing to see how it actually works and then at the end i'll tell you if i buy it all over again as far as i know this is one of the first to market with this technology so you'll definitely want to stay tuned all right so let's get started on the bower ne bluetooth keyless entry handle set now initially i just want to give you a quick overview on how to install it it's not going to be in depth i think most people watching here probably more interested in real world testing but let me just do a quick overview for those who want to know how easy it is to install now most rvs are going to have a standardized lock size for the cutout here so the actual size that the lock fits into and then the distance here to the plunger that comes out that's going to be standardized regardless of the brand you have i will throw up some images of what the handle set looks like when it's removed and give you some ideas of the rough dimensions there so you can compare on your rv but chances are if you've got a towable you're going to have a very standardized lock set and cut out you can see there's only four screws that hold the lock set on and this is going to be typical of most lock sets and it's basically like a sandwich so it's just holding the inner component to the outer component there and then you've got your little plate here on the outside where the plunger comes through and so really those are the three pieces and so it's really simple as removing those four screws and then the inside component is going to come out the outside component will be loose and then you just take out these two screws here and the little plunger kind of pushes on out of there so it's all one piece so overall very straightforward it's very similar to a household lock set so if you've ever replaced one of those you'll find this here on the rv very similar the only thing that makes this one just a little bit different than a traditional handle set is there is a wire that runs through this inner component and connects to the outer component so that it connects with these buttons here that's about the only difference between this and a standard handle set now once you get it installed you can go ahead and set up your own personal code on the keypad outside and then you can connect to the app through bluetooth on your smartphone and that's where things really get interesting now the app you'll want to download is called the bower smart lock with bluetooth technology it's available both on android and ios and once you download it and open up you'll pair it for the first time it's very straightforward like pairing any other bluetooth device on your smartphone and here's what the ui looks like it's real simple and straightforward you can see i've got my fifth wheel lock paired it shows the signal strength up top there and then it's got a real simple lock and unlock button so right now my lock is indeed locked it's got the green around the lock symbol if i tap the unlock button you can see it gives me a little bit of feedback on the lock itself and then on the app it switches to show me that my lock is now unlocked again i just push the lock button here it locks it and then the unlock right there and now it's unlocked so pretty straightforward the ui is you know very clean and simple you know maybe it's not quite as aesthetically pleasing as some of your smart home maps for your house like some of the nest apps and so forth but you know i really can't complain it's functional it works it gets the job done so let's test the real world distance on how far away we can get from the smart lock and it still connects and allows me to remotely lock and unlock here now i am using a google pixel 4 xl and a side note depending on the type of phone you have the bluetooth transmission may be just a little bit different but i think this pixel 4 xl is pretty average so it's probably a good indicator overall of what you should expect i've got a tape measure on the ground as a reference point and so now we'll see how far it reaches the bluetooth range so we are about six feet out go ahead and hit the lock button and of course no problem no surprise right let's keep backing up and just see how far we can get so we are right up to the nose of the fifth wheel and so that brings us to 17 feet from the locks we'll go ahead and hit the unlock button and no problem at 17 feet all right now the tape measure maxes out at 25 feet so you can see here we are right at the end of the tape measure go ahead and hit the lock button and no problem at 25 feet so let's go back just a little bit more you can see our signal right there is fading we're probably about 30 feet you can see it just lost connectivity there at about 30 feet off the front of the entrance there and that seems to be about the range that i've noticed if we walk in there's a little bit of a delay but as we walk closer toward the entryway all of a sudden it will pick up again you can see and then again we can unlock and lock the the handle set again so that seems to be about 30 feet roughly as what i found without obstacles and that's very functional because for most people you're going to be using it inside your rig and outside your rig i think if you're trying to do it from your tow vehicle you should be able to do it depending on the distance of your main entry door on the rig but again for me it seemed like about 30 35 feet on average is how far out i can get on the lock now you may be thinking what about the range inside the fifth wheel now right now i've got all my slides pushed in but i am all the way up in the nose of the fifth wheel in the very front and so we'll try it again here unlock no problem and again lock no problem so we're all the way up in the nose farthest forward we can go in the fifth wheel and the range is just fine now we're in the very rear of the fifth wheel in the back bedroom and we'll try it again here and no problem here in the back bedroom now i have noticed that the range can change a little bit here and there sometimes i've gone in this back bedroom which is probably about oh 30 feet the most from the lock and every once in a while it will disconnect and it almost it's like it gets out of sync where you'll go back within range and you'll hit the unlock button in the lock button and just nothing happens even though the app is changing so it's almost like something gets out of sync on the app it might be a software problem not sure but closing the app and reopening it kind of re-syncs it up and gets it going again so just one small little glitch that i noticed but it only seems to happen once in a while when you're going at a range so overall the range is about what i would expect for bluetooth remember it is relying on bluetooth technology and so it's not magically going to go you know 150 feet it's going to be limited to what bluetooth can do and so 30 to 40 feet seems to be what it was doing for me at least here depending on your obstacles and how far away you are from the lock there but think about all the cool applications of this technology and the the uses you know if you're like me you're you're going to bed at night and you're tucked in all nice and warm and you start thinking did i lock the front door on the rv i can't remember and then your wife taps you on the shoulder and says honey did you lock the front door and of course you got to get out of bed and check that front door well now you don't have to anymore you just pull out your phone and check and make sure that it is locked so it really gives you peace of mind if you have a smart lock on your house then you'll instantly understand the benefits of having a similar one on your rv the only difference is this one does run on bluetooth so you do have to be within that 30 to 40 foot range for it to operate now in my opinion perhaps the coolest feature of the bower any bluetooth smart lock is the proximity entry feature now let me demonstrate real quickly how that works so here's the lock and you notice it has a small led right here when this starts flashing blue it means it's recognizing a paired phone that's within a proximity a distance that you've preset now in the settings in the bower app it lets you adjust that distance because it's obviously not the full 30 to 40 feet i mean you wouldn't want someone to be able to unlock your rig just because you're within that 30 to 40 foot radius and so this slider works and for what i found it seems like it's somewhere in the maybe 10 to 2 foot range as far as the far setting being about 10 foot and maybe the near being around 2 feet and again this is just for my phone this is a google pixel 4 xl but let me demonstrate how this works all right so i've got my phone in my pocket as i normally do and i'm approaching my entry step first step now second step and notice how it started flashing blue here and that is telling me that it detects my phone within the preset range that it's close enough where i can simply unlock it so i don't have to enter a code or anything i just tap this enter button here the bp button and you can see there it unlocks my door alright so let me show you that one more time i've got my phone in my pocket and i'm walking up to my main entry door on my first step on my second step and there you can see it starts flashing blue so all i have to do is push the bp button and my door's unlocked pretty handy now a couple things to point out here so right now i'm still within that proximity range that i've specified and you can see the light is not flashing here and that's because the door is not locked right now it's unlocked and so there's no need to unlock your door and so it doesn't go into that proximity mode where it detects your phone but if you lock the door and you can do that by pressing the 7 8 and the bp the enter at the same time then you can see the lock will again go into that mode and detect my phone it's flashing blue and all i have to do is hit the bp the enter button there and it unlocks and again on the app itself it does have this activation distance setting and mine is just past the halfway mark closer to the far side and that seems to be about the right distance for me you know i wanted it to work whereas i'm going up my entry step by the time i get there it's detected my phone and so for me by the time i get on that second entry step with the phone in my pocket having it set right here on the activation distance seemed to be about the right setting for me one other caveat just to mention here the way the app functions so as long as this bluetooth app is open on your phone or been used recently in other words it's in your kind of your tray on your phone running still then the lock will automatically detect the proximity but android has a feature where if you don't use an app for a while it closes it out thinking that it's helping you out by saving memory and so if the app gets closed and you've got the phone in your pocket and then you approach your door because the app's not open anymore it's not going to pick up the fact that your phone is within range so that is one little nuance to just be mindful of it's really not bowers fault it's just the way android works i think iphone has a similar task management type app running in the background that will close out unused apps so just keep in mind you do have to have the app open if it's closed or hasn't been used recently then as you walk up it's not going to detect that your phone is within range now one other question that came to my mind as i was testing this i started thinking through the proximity feature and i thought well what about if your phone is inside the rig within that distance to the lock does that mean someone on the outside even though your phone's not on the outside can you know access your lock and get in and if you think about it on your car if you have the proximity entry feature and you've got the key fob you know you've probably tested that before and in my experience you know you can have that key fob in your car and they've programmed it they've shielded the the system or somehow programmed it so that it detects your key fob in the car as opposed to outside and therefore the proximity feature doesn't work anymore in fact that's how it keeps you from locking your keys in your car so i started thinking well what about this bauer any bluetooth smart lock have they tried to maybe keep the range outside on that proximity feature you know how did they program that and so i went ahead and just put my phone right inside the rig here there's a handle right inside here on the door and my phone is directly in there i've got the app open i've used it recently but you can see here on the lock itself it is not flashing blue now i was really surprised that this smart lock somehow seemingly detected my phone being on the inside of the rig as opposed to the outside and therefore the proximity feature didn't work for instance right now i've got my phone just inside here you can see it's right up close to where the lock would be and oddly enough it just doesn't detect that my phone is there so i tested it and retested it and i will say in transparency once in a while it did still pick up that my phone was within proximity when the phone was on the inside of the rig real real close to the lock set like it is right now but not a hundred percent of the time so i don't know if my results were a fluke or if the bauer team really designed it with some precautions about you know someone gaining access to your rig through the proximity feature if your phone's on the inside of the rig so i really don't know again if that was a fluke the way i tested it or if they designed it to function that way if they did that's pretty impressive at the end of the day i think if your phone's in your pocket you really don't have to worry about the proximity feature inadvertently giving someone unauthorized access to your rig as again for me when i kept the phone in my pocket and i was inside the rig the proximity feature just did not detect that my phone was within range again when i was inside the rig so again i've got my phone on the outside now and you can see it is within range and the lock is flashing blue so it detects it so i'm really impressed overall that they must have put some kind of thought and design into preventing the proximity feature from working inside the rig now again this is on my google pixel 4 xl i don't know that every phone will function the same but i would think you're going to get similar results and keep in mind if you just really don't like the proximity feature or doesn't work right for you you can always just turn it off right there you can see here the proximity mode it just has a toggle switch right there you can disable it completely and then it will no longer work off that method now let me answer the question finally would i buy it all over again and the answer is yes now previously when i'd seen keyless handle sets similar to this one that just had the option to get in with typing a code i really wasn't that impressed especially with the price most of them are right around 200 bucks some of them up to 250 and for me the convenience of entering a code versus pulling out a key really wasn't a big deal especially for that price but when i saw this one come out this one's priced at 239 retail for me that was a game changer having the bluetooth functionality with the proximity mode enabled and so for me i think that's worth it now this video is not sponsored by bauer i had to buy it just like anyone else but the retail price again is 239 i have seen them run quite a few sales so if you sign up for their email newsletters you'll get occasional promo codes and i was able to score mine for 20 all that's about the best that i've seen them offer so 20 off brings the price down to 191 which i think is an incredible value considering you're getting the bluetooth functionality built in there let me touch on two other things and the first is just to set expectations on these automatic lock sets so the automatic lock portion is only going to do your deadbolt here you have on most rv handles you have a lock on your handle itself to keep you from being able to pull your handle and that still is keyed only so it's kind of like on your house if you have a smart lock it's only the deadbolt it's not your handle set below that same thing on the rv the automatic portion is just locking this deadbolt it's not actually locking your handleset portion and that makes sense because when you're inside the rv the only thing you can lock is the deadbolt they don't give you the option to lock the handle set so just keep that in mind to set expectations the second thing is that these handle sets are keyed uniquely and so what that means is you'll still get a key where you can manually unlock and lock the deadbolt and the handle set and so you can specify your key so if you already have a bower lock set on your rig then you don't have to have another key to cart around with you you just specify the same code that's on your existing key and then they'll key this lock to that same key code let me just interject a quick tip if you are upgrading to the bower smart lock in e with bluetooth and you don't already have bower products this is your first one you may want to take the time to invest in the key to like technology now believe it or not in the rv industry it is not universal yet to have one single key to your rig and so by tradition it's just been this way in the rv industry when you get a rig oftentimes you'll have two three four maybe five different keys keys to your slam latch baggage doors maybe a different key to your cam locks maybe you've got the famous ch 751 key that you know almost every rv ever made has on it now that was the case for me when i bought this fifth wheel about two years ago believe it or not it came with four different keys i had a key for each of the different entry doors key for the slam latch baggage doors and then a key for all the cam locks on storage compartments and so it was kind of frustrating you know i don't know why it's taken the rv industry so long to get on board with the ke2 like system a lot of brands are doing it when i bought the nobo 10.6 that all came key to like so if you've got more than one key on your rv already it might be a good time just to upgrade to the bauer keto like system what i like about bauer products is they have all the different kinds of lock sets from your slam latch baggage door handle sets to your cam locks to your entry door handles they even have on the nobo 10.6 the latches for the ramp door on the back so i really like that they have all the different handle sets you can choose from you can get them all keyed alike you can even get a padlock keyed to the same as your rv which is super handy if you want to use it as a tongue lock or something else and so chances are you can get every lock on your rig replaced with the bauer ke2 like system and they're really mostly pretty affordable they sell direct to the public so you can do it right off their website and you can specify a unique key code i will put links in the description on where you can get these bauer ke2 like products again this video is not sponsored by bauer but i will include links in the description below so again back to the question would i buy this product all over again and yes absolutely on my fifth wheel this is just super handy you know a lot of times i'm going up to my door and my hands are full or i can't get my key out of my pocket and so now i don't have to worry about that as long as my phone is in my pocket and i've had the app open recently then it will detect my proximity and just tap the bp the enter button on the lock set and i'm in so super handy now when i put this on the nobo 10.6 which is a smaller over landing rig maybe maybe not i mean it's definitely handy still that you can get to it closer but it's a small enough rig where maybe i'm not concerned about getting in and out with my phone or without putting a key in so it really comes down at the end of the day of you know the convenience that it offers to you and you have to make that decision if it's worthwhile to you or not but to think that now you can have the proximity keyless entry that you've had on your car for a while now you can have it on your rv that's pretty cool all right that's it for our video today if you found it helpful you definitely want to click the subscribe button right now i'm doing a series on upgrades and mods all designed to enhance the time you spend with your family in the great outdoors so definitely click that subscribe button also click the notification button so you don't miss any of the videos and as always if there's something you're not seeing in these videos that you'd like to see leave me a comment thanks for watching you

Channel: Adventure Rocks

Views: 4,212

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Bauer ne bluetooth, bauer ne bluetooth smart lock, bauer ne rv lock, bauer ne bluetooth lock, bauer ne keyless rv door lock, bauer ne lock, rv smart tech, rv smart lock, rv keyless entry door lock, rv keyless entry, rv keyless door lock, rv keyless entry reviews, bauer rv keyless entry, best rv keyless entry lock, rv bluetooth door lock, keyless door lock for rv, bluetooth smart lock, bluetooth smart lock for rv, rv keyless door lock reviews, bauer rv door lock

Id: ilazLbfCPLI

Length: 19min 43sec (1183 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 01 2021