What is a low consumption maglock?
Electro-magnetic locks consist of two main components: an electro-magnet, and an armature plate. The armature plate is generally fixed to the door leaf, while the magnet is fixed to the door frame.
The magnet only generates a magnetic field when electrical power is applied to it. When this happens, the powerful magnetic field holds the armature plate and the magnet solidly together. When power is turned off, there is no magnetic pull and the armature plate is released from the magnet’s surface.
The new CDVI range of low consumption maglocks use less electrical power to generate the same magnetic field.
Benefits of low consumption maglocks
By their nature, electro-magnetic locks are fail safe. When they’re securing a door to a restricted area, the door is locked most of the time. That means that power has to be applied most of the time to keep the magnetic field active and keep the door locked. When someone presents a valid credential, the power is temporarily dropped, and the magnet releases.
Because of this fail safe locking mechanism, maglocks require electrical power most of the time. Low consumption means the maglocks are designed to use less electrical power (Wattage), without compromising on lock security.
A maglock that requires less electricity to operate uses less energy. Using less energy means a lower carbon footprint, as well as lower running costs. Everyone’s a winner!
How much could you save with low consumption maglocks?
Example: the V3SR
The V3SR electro-magnetic lock is one of our most popular models. With 300kg holding force, live monitoring, and a handy LED status indicator, it’s ideal for a wide range of projects.
The old V3SR
The old V3SR had a power consumption rating of 500mA when powered at 12Vdc. That is the equivalent of 6 Watts (or 0.006 kilowatts).
For this example, let’s assume the maglock is being powered for 24 hours a day. In reality, that probably won’t be the case. Every time someone goes through the door, the power will be dropped for a short period of time. But just to make this example simple, we’ll stick to 24 hours.
So to provide the 0.006 kW for a full day, it costs about 4.18 pence. That’s according to the UK energy price cap as of January 2024.
4.32p multiplied by 365 days in the year is an approximate yearly cost of £15.26 for one maglock.
The new V3SR
The new version of the V3SR, when powered at 12Vdc, has a consumption rating of 290mA. That’s the same as 3.48 Watts, or 0.00348 kW.
For 24 hours of powering the new maglock, the equivalent cost is 2.42 pence.
Multiply the 2.42p daily and the new annual cost is £8.83 per maglock.
That works out as a 42% decrease in energy costs. Not bad, hey?
Saving energy & helping the planet
Switching to low consumption maglocks doesn’t just save you money. It also lowers your carbon footprint.
For just one maglock, the old V3SR would use about 52.5 Kilowatts a year (for 24/7 usage). The new version uses just 30.5 Kilowatts. The difference that you’ve saved is enough to boil a kettle 110 times!
The V3SR comes with a 10-year warranty period. In a mid-size building with 50 maglocks installed, you would save more than £3200 and 11,000 Kilowatts of energy over the product’s lifetime. That is enough energy to power an LCD television continuously for 2,628 hours – that’s 109 days!
*note that the figures are calculated using the per kWh rates for households, not businesses, due to the availability of information at the time of writing.