By Kent · Lock Depot Staff Writer

An integrator gets handed a door and a number. Six-fifty. Twelve hundred. Fifteen hundred. Nobody tells him which one the door needs. He over-buys and eats a bigger lock and a bigger supply, or he under-buys and gets a callback when a delivery driver shoulders the door open. Neither is a defective lock. Both are sizing mistakes made at the quote stage.

Interior office door, controlled access: 650 lb. General commercial opening: 1,200 lb. Stairwell, exterior, or anything that has to hold against a person who wants in: 1,500 lb. The money is in what happens before the pound number.

What a maglock is for

A maglock is the answer to a door you cannot cut. It mounts on the header and holds the door with an electromagnet against a steel armature plate. See the maglock on a door you can't mortise; the full DynaLock line is built on the same premise. It holds by surface contact, and that drives the entire sizing conversation.

How much holding force do I need for a maglock

Holding force is a rated static pull, straight out, perpendicular to the armature, on a door that is properly aligned and shimmed. It is not a rating for a running shoulder, a pry bar at the door edge, or a door hanging off tired hinges.

A misaligned maglock loses most of its rating. The armature has to sit flat and full-face against the magnet. If it sits on one corner, or stands off a few thousandths because the door sags or the shim pack is wrong, the number on the box is fiction. Air gap kills magnetic force fast.

It is almost never the lock. It is the armature. It is the sag. It is a bolt cranked down so hard the plate cannot float. Before you up-size a 650 to a 1,200, put a piece of paper between the magnet and the plate and see if it pulls out clean. If it does, a bigger lock will not fix it.

Sizing table

Series	Holding force	Swing	Single / double	Typical application
2500 Mini-Mag	650 lb	Outswing	Single and double	Interior office door, suite entry, narrow header, frame that will not take a full-size lock
2000	1,200 lb	Inswing	Double	General-purpose commercial opening, pair of doors
3000	1,500 lb	Inswing	Double	Stairwell, high-traffic, any door that has to genuinely hold
2013	1,200 lb	Gate	Single	Exterior gate only. Not a door lock.

650 lb: the 2500 Series Mini-Mag

Stocked for an outswing door. The DynaLock 2511-US28-DSM is the single with a door status switch, the 2511-US28-DYN is the same lock with the DynaStat force sensor, and the 2522-US28-DYN2 is the double for a pair.

The honest line for this tier: 650 lb controls access. It does not resist a determined attack. It keeps the door shut against a person who tries the handle and walks away. If the space behind that door holds anything worth stealing, go up.

1,200 lb: the 2000 Series

Stocked for an inswing door in the double versions: 2022TJ22-US28 plain, and 2022TJ22-US28-DSM2 with the door status switch. Both satin aluminum.

1,500 lb: the 3000 Series

Stocked as a double for an inswing door in three configurations: 3002TJ32-US28 plain, 3002TJ32-US28-DSM2 with door status switch, and 3002TJ32-US28-HSM2 with the high security monitor.

Up-sizing is not free. A heavier lock wants a header that can carry it and a supply that can feed it.

1,200 lb: the 2013 Series is a GATE lock

The 2013-US28 is an electromagnetic gate lock. Same 1,200 lb number, completely different application. Do not order it for a corridor door because the force number matched.

The ground moves, the post moves, and your alignment moves with it, back to the air-gap problem where nobody notices until the gate stops holding. If the gate needs a bracket, the 2013-US28-GLB ships with the gate lock bracket. If your conduit comes in from behind, the 2013-US28-RWE has the rear wire exit.

Confirm the swing and the leaf count first

Swing decides how the lock mounts. An inswing door lets the lock and armature sit in the header the ordinary way. An outswing door does not, and you are into a bracket or a different lock. Get this wrong and the hardware is correct on paper and useless on site.

A pair of doors takes a double lock, not two singles. Two singles means two housings, two runs, two alignments, and a header that has to accept both. Count the leaves, then pick the force.

Monitoring, the cheapest line on the quote

A maglock commanded to lock is not a door closed and held. The panel says "secure" while the door stands open on a wedge, because all it knows is that it sent power to a magnet.

A door status switch is how you find out. DSM on a single, DSM2 on a double. It reports whether the door is physically closed, and it is the least expensive insurance on the job.

HSM and HSM2 are the high security monitor, where the monitoring requirement is tighter. DYN and DYN2 add the DynaStat force sensor. Tell us the application and we will confirm how it behaves before you order. RWE is rear wire exit, GLB is the gate lock bracket, and VOP2 is the value option package.

Power, and the trap

A maglock is fail-safe. Power dies, door unlocks. Always.

On an egress door that is the point. On a storeroom or an IT closet, it is a security hole you installed and billed for. If the customer expects that door locked when the building goes dark, say so at the walk-through.

A door that must stay secure needs a supervised supply with battery backup, sized for what you hung on it. Our Altronix power supply range is where most of these jobs land. Send us the lock model, the run length, and whether the door has to survive an outage.

Every maglock installation needs a compliant release arrangement on the egress side. Have that conversation with your authority having jurisdiction before the rough-in, not after the inspection.

Common questions

How much holding force do I need for a maglock on an interior office door?

650 lb is normally right. That is the 2500 Series Mini-Mag tier. If the door protects cash, drugs, records, or IT gear, move up to 1,200 or 1,500.

My maglock is rated 1,200 lb and the door still pushes open. Is it defective?

Almost certainly not. It is alignment. Any air gap drops real holding force well below the rating. Check for door sag, a header out of plane, a wrong shim stack, or a bolt torqued so tight the armature cannot float.

Can I use two single maglocks on a pair of doors?

Use a double. It is one assembly designed for two leaves. Two singles doubles your housings, wiring, and alignment points.

Is the 2013 Series the same as the 2000 Series since both are 1,200 lb?

No. The 2013 is an electromagnetic gate lock. The 2000 Series is the general-purpose commercial door lock. Do not substitute because the pound rating matched.

Will a maglock keep a storeroom locked during a power outage?

No. Maglocks unlock on power loss by design. That is required on egress doors and a liability on a door the customer wants held shut. Put a mechanical lock on the storeroom.

What do you need from me to quote this?

Swing, in or out. Single door or a pair. Header material and depth. Whether the frame takes the lock as-is or needs a bracket. Whether you need monitoring. And what power supply is on site. Send those six and we will confirm the part number before anything ships.