Assa Abloy’s Aperio technology is a cross-brand wireless communication protocol centered around their AH series hub.
Before you begin
NOTE: The AC62 does not support Wireless locks.
Assa Abloy AH30.
Assa Abloy Lock.
Read all of the Assa Abloy documentation for the lock series being installed.
Be aware that Verkada support is not contracted to troubleshoot Assa Abloy hardware.
To find out which wireless lock under the Aperio umbrella works for your use case, contact an Assa Abloy representative.
For background information, see the Assa Abloy Aperio product guide.
Note. AH30 Gen5 is the only supported hub model at this time.
How the integration process works
The integration process involves 2 phases:
Phase 1: Assa installation and configuration
Install the wireless locks
Wire AH30 into Verkada ACU for power
Pair Locks to Hubs in Aperio Software
Phase 2: Verkada Command setup
Claim controller and set up in Assa mode
Add doors with lock’s EAC address. Phase 1 of the integration is totally independent to Verkada, besides using the controllers RS-485 to power the AH30.
Phase 1: Assa installation and configuration
Verkada specifically integrates with the AH30 hub that communicates with the ACU.
For the AC41, the hub is wired into the AUX cassette RS-485 bus.
For the AC12/AC42, the hub is wired into the RS-485 bus of Door 1.
This step is done first to provide power to the AH30. No Command configuration is required until after the locks and hub are successfully connected.
Required. For an Access Controller to be utilized for an Assa integration, it must be provisioned to Command in Assa mode.
While in Assa Abloy mode, the ACU cannot control traditional wired doors. The ACU can control up to 16 wireless locks.
Note. Wireless locks are wireless products. If wireless range is a concern, ensure that the AH30 is placed within range of all the connected locks.
Wire multiple hubs
In many installations, one hub is not sufficient in controlling 16 locks due to distance limitations between the AH30 and an Aperio lock. In these circumstances, you must leverage more than one hub per access controller.
Verkada recommends 4 locks per hub to ensure strong signal strength and coverage.
To do this, you need to wire the data lines of all the hubs in parallel into the data ports of the RS-485 bus.
Note: Each hub requires individual power sources from other door ports or an external power supply.
Data Wires
Daisy-chain the hubs. This is still wiring the hubs in parallel, but allows you to run less total wiring. Instead of all the junctions and Wago connections occurring back at the controller, they occur at each of the hubs in the chain. Note that the terminator dip-switches 6 and 7 should be set to on for the last hub in the daisy chain as shown in the image below.
Use a multiplexer (MUX) board that supports RS-485.
Power
Up to 4 hubs: Each hub gets power from one of the other RS-485 blocks. Each hub's power circuit is totally independent of each others.
Four hubs and above: An external power supply is required for every hub beyond 4.
Recommended Aperio configurations
Required. Verkada only supports normal addressing offset in the hub configuration, not legacy addressing.
Set the Hub's Exchange Admin Center (EAC) address physically on the HUB using the dipswitches labeled A0 through A4, versus software configuration in the aperio application.
If using an external antenna on the AH30 hub, ensure dipswitch 8 is switched to off.
After pairing the lock(s) and hub on default radio channels, configure radio channels to 15,20,25
After pairing the lock(s) and hub, change all devices to customer mode from manufacturing mode.
Once you have successfully linked your locks and completed configurations note down all the door's EAC addresses. These addresses are used when adding the locks as doors in Command.
Phase 2: Verkada Command setup
Add the ACU to Command, select Assa Abloy as the device mode, and click Activate.
Once the ACU is added and in Assa Abloy mode, navigate to the controller and click Add Door.
Select the Lock Type and the EAC address (from the Aperio setup).
Once you have your controller and lock connected and running in Command, you can see the door listed under the controller's page. The lock type and EAS address is configured during the setup process. In this view, you also get a live reading of the door's battery life.
A successful connection should result in on “online” status for the lock.
Another place to check the status of your locks is in the Settings page of the controller. In this example, you can see the status of all locks added to the controller and the state of the AH30 hubs.
The Settings page of the ACU also signals the health of the connection.
Troubleshoot recommendations
If you're having trouble with your integration, we recommend these tips:
Verify that your ACU is in Assa Abloy mode: If you forgot to set it to Assa Abloy mode, you need to decommission it and re-add it.
Verify that the Assa Abloy locks and AH30s have been successfully paired, can check from the AH30 LED status, it should be solid green.
Verify LED of the lock is giving expected behavior, flashing red LED could indicate failure to communicate, low battery, or lock being in tamper state.
When badging in on a lock, what LED response are you seeing on the AH30 hub? It should flash yellow rapidly, indicating a successful transmission.
If seeing transmission failures, please configure the lock to be set with a polling interval of 5 seconds in the aperio application. NOTE. this will drain lock battery faster.
Verify battery life of lock, and if unsure try replacing batteries.
Are the hub/lock(s) on recommended radio channels 15, 20, 25? If not, please configure this in the aperio application.
Are lock(s) and hubs in customer mode? If not, please configure from manufacturing mode in aperio application.
Verify that the EAC addresses for each Assa Abloy lock are successfully configured.
Verify that the EAC addresses provided when setting up the door in Command are correct.
Need more help? Contact Verkada Support.