Yale SD-L1000-WH Conexis L1 Smart Keyless Door Handle For Home Security, Remote Lock/Unlock, App Control, Key Card and Phone Tag Included, White Finish [BSI Approved]

So if you spend time going on forums etc you will find a lot of people HATE this lock for the simple reason they can’t get it to work. Here’s my L1 love/hate story and I hope it helps you.

I am an average DIYer and will give things a go. I’d never done anything with locks before so didn’t know anything about the terminology. But I like gadgets. A couple of weeks ago my ‘lift to lock’ UPVC door got stuck locked shut. For no apparent reason it wouldn’t unlock. I took the handle off and managed to get it working again. I now know that the gearbox was likely at fault (I didn’t know that at the time and I didn’t know what that even was).
My door like most UPVC doors has a multipoint lock on it. It was probably from 1985 but the cylinder had been replaced 4 years ago.

This seemed like a great time to change it to a smart lock. So I researched and the L1 seemed perfect. I saw plenty of negative reviews but thought ‘how hard can it be?’ The answer is VERY and NOT AT ALL. I will explain.

NOTE: If your door is having problems locking it might not be the key bit (cylinder) that has the problem but the gearbox and that’s an entirely separate piece and may well need replacing. You should only fit the L1 onto a door that is already working well.

As long as your door is UPVC and the lock has 92mm between the centre of the handle spindle and the centre of the bit where the key goes in (the cylinder) AND your door thickness is between 44-70mm then you are very likely in business. Check the compatibility template here https://help.yale.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Conexis-L1-Compatibility-Guide.pdf

So I carefully followed all the instructions. They aren’t hard. Some of the fixing lugs didn’t perfectly fit my existing door but it’s UPVC so easy enough to file or drill the plastic to make it work. It wasn’t quick the first time due to little adjustments here and there. But eventually it was all on the door and I was happy as Larry to have installed it. I fired it up and carefully followed the procedure. It gave off some chirpy beeps to confirm everything was progressing nicely and then I got to the ‘handing’ section where the lock configures itself and you get to have some fun… except mine made a lot of whirrrrring and then gave off 8 beeps. Oh dear! The instructions tell you to remove it and go back a load of steps as you haven’t aligned it properly. So I did this multiple times. No joy. So I then removed it and factory reset it and reinstalled TWICE. This was making me a tad frustrated. I could operate the lock using the (actuator – in the cylinder so I knew it was working OK) but the L1 would lock it fine but never unlock it. I ran out of time and had to lock the door manually and leave it off the door. The next day I phoned Yale Support. A helpful guy stayed on the phone while I took it apart again, factory reset again, made sure everything was lined up etc (I was getting pretty good at this by now). It did the whirrring and 8 beeps. He said hmmm let me speak to someone else I’ll call you back. He did call me back within the hour and said can we try something else which we did and no joy. He said he’d speak to a supervisor and come back to me by email. I got an email telling me that my locking mechanism was ‘auto-fire’ and that the Yale Lock is not compatible with ‘auto-fire’. For those that don’t know the Yale L1 is basically turning a small device that either permits or blocks the multipoint lock from being opened. So Yale are saying the L1 is not compatible with the locking system on the door. Mine was made by GU. Now they are wrong as it’s not ‘auto-fire’ (this means you lock the door simply by closing it behind you). Mine required a handle lift. I replied to the email asking what I needed to do to get it working… 8 days later and no reply (even though it says you can reply to the email). So while phone support tried to be helpful they never solved the issue and email support never replied (maybe they will one day but it will be too late). Maybe they could help with other issues but if you get a whirrring and 8 beeps don’t hold your breath.

So it was either send it back to Amazon or take the next step….
Your door has the handles, the bit the key goes in (cylinder) and then likely a strip up the side with some little rollers or mushrooms or hooks that can lock into the bit that is attached to the wall side (the multilock which also has a gearbox inside the door where the handles are). So I decided that I wanted to make the L1 work and would replace the whole multilocking piece. I bought the Yale YDM-UNI-PVCU-35 Doormaster Universal Multi-Point Door Lock Replacement, 35 mm Backset, 16 mm Faceplate).
It was very easy to remove the old gearbox and strip from the door (5 mins). Putting on the replacement one was more hassle because I needed to cut out some larger holes in the UPVC to fit the Yale as it was larger than my original GU. But with a drill and pad saw (7) it is very easy to do. Within 2 hours I had it all replaced.
So now back to the L1. I was very very familiar with it having taken it on and off so many times before. Which is why it was now so easy. It took me 10 mins to put on and it worked perfectly first time. I love it and am glad to have gone through the hassle. But to be honest it is questionable as to whether it is really worth it… But I do really like it.
You can set it up to work with card, fobs and via bluetooth on your phone. You can make it connect via Z Wave via the extra module available (49) to hook it up to Ring or Smarterthings.

Also you can send virtual keys to people. This could be great if you have a holiday let or something like that BUT be aware that you get 5 keys included when you register the lock and one of those keys goes on the master phone. So you have 4 spare. If you want more than 5 then you pay for them as an in app purchase (5 keys = 8.99, 3 keys =5.99, 1 key=2.49). I think when paying for an rrp200 smart lock it’s very cheeky to charge extra for keys. Sure pay for physical cards and fobs but for virtual keys that’s just cashing in.

Just a note regarding Z Wave and SmartThings etc. I can’t see why people are buying this except in a few very specific circumstances. It can tell you if your door is locked. You can unlock your door. But you can’t lock the door as the handle has to be cracked up to pull the locks across/up down (the Conexis L1 can’t do that). You could check it from bed to see if you need to go down and lock it…

If you only have one door this is not suitable for you (if it fails there is no physical key backup).

If I had known in advance what a load of hassle this would be I would probably not have bothered. I could have just bought a GU compatible gearbox and in 15 mins replaced the faulty one. But now I’ve done it I’m pretty chuffed with my DIY, I’ve learnt a lot and love the lock….
My wife likes it too… so much so that despite all the hassles I am going to go through the whole experience (with a lot of gained knowledge) and will be changing the whole multi-point and then installing an L1 on one of our other doors too. I’m expecting that to take 2-3 hours for the whole thing and the actual L1 install should be no more than 30 mins if all goes to plan.

This is great with the kids as they can get in without keys going missing etc.. but it would be cheaper to keep replacing the keys/lock rather than do this. But this is much cooler.

So first time round I hated it. It was the worst install ever. Second time round it was pretty much fun as it worked so well in the end.

If you have a compatible multi-lock in the first place then you should be able to get this working no problem at all. If you are able to look up your multi-lock manufacturer and model (often on the side of the strip or gearbox) then you could contact Yale and ask first… could save a lot of hassle. If it’s a modern Yale system then pretty much sure you are going to be fine.

Hope this is helpful to someone.