By Kent · Lock Depot Staff Writer

When the strike on your intake door quits again

You've replaced the electric strike on that booking intake door twice this year. Officers push through it a hundred times a shift, doors get slammed instead of pulled, and maintenance keeps calling about a keeper that won't latch or a strike body cracked down the middle. A standard commercial electric strike, the kind that's fine on an office suite or a retail back door, was never built for that kind of daily abuse. It's aluminum or light-gauge steel doing a job that calls for something closer to a vault door. The same story plays out on correctional housing units, plant floor doors that get forklifted past all day, and campus doors that see more traffic in a semester than most storefronts see in a decade.

If you want the rundown on what a standard strike can and can't handle, we covered that in our HES electric strike guide. This article is about what you spec once that strike has already failed on you.

The Folger Adam 310 Series

The 310 Series is built entirely of stainless steel, not stainless trim over a lighter frame underneath. It's certified Grade 1 under ANSI/BHMA A156.31, the top rating for electric strikes, meaning it's tested under repeated abuse, not a one-time pass/fail bench check. Static strength is 1,500 lbs and dynamic strength is 70 ft-lbs, so it holds up under both steady prying force and a sudden hit, like a door kicked or body-slammed against the frame instead of pulled open.

Folger Adam rates the strike for 500,000 cycles. That number sounds abstract until you put it against a door that gets slammed dozens of times a shift, every day, for years, and the strike still isn't the part that gives out first. It's also 3-hour fire-rated under UL10C in its fail secure configuration, and separately listed to UL 1034 for burglary resistance, which tests forced-entry resistance specifically, with tools, apart from the fire testing. Fire rating and burglary rating on the same strike isn't something you see often, and it's why the 310 shows up on detention intake doors, correctional housing units, industrial plants, and high-traffic campus doors where the hardware takes a beating every single day. If daily abuse is what killed your last strike, this is the one built to take it.

It works behind cylindrical locks, mortise locks, and mortise exit devices, on a 1/2" or 5/8" throw latchbolt, on single doors or pairs. That covers the double-leaf openings you'll find on a lot of sallyports and loading docks, not just single-leaf doors. Worth flagging plainly: it's built for a latchbolt, not a deadbolt. If the opening you're specifying uses a deadbolt, this strike isn't the part for that door.

Keeper depth is 1/2" standard, and the strike is non-handed, so you're not ordering handing-specific parts or second-guessing swing direction before it ships. It connects with a plug-in connector instead of bare wire leads, which speeds up swapping a dead strike when you're already standing at an open frame with the trim off. It's built tamper-resistant as well, which matters as much as the stainless housing does. On a lighter strike, someone with a screwdriver and enough time can work the faceplate or the keeper loose. The 310's housing is built heavy enough that it doesn't give that kind of leverage. RoHS compliant too, for anyone tracking that on a spec sheet.

Fail secure means the door stays locked when power drops

The 310 is fail secure as standard, not an option you pick. That means if the building loses power, the strike stays locked and the door does not pop open. In an intake area or a housing unit, that's the entire point of the hardware, not a bonus feature. You don't want a breaker trip turning into an open door somewhere doors exist specifically to keep people contained. If your opening actually needs to unlock on power loss, this strike is the wrong part for that job, full stop.

Picking 12VDC or 24VDC

The 310 ships in two voltages, and the one you order has to match the access control power supply already feeding that door, not the other way around. The 310-2-24D-630 runs on 24VDC. The 310-2-12D-630 runs on 12VDC. Both draw .25 Amps, which is a light load either way, but a light load at the wrong voltage still won't fire the strike correctly. Outside of voltage, the two are identical: same stainless body, same satin stainless finish, same price.

24VDC has become the more common voltage on access control power supplies in general, so check what's already running the door before you place the order rather than assuming. Get the voltage wrong and you end up with a strike that won't fire reliably, or one that chatters weak against the keeper, and on a door already taking this much abuse, a wiring mismatch on top of it just gives you a new failure mode instead of a fix. Read the label on the power supply, not the spec sheet from the last job.

Both versions are in stock in satin stainless steel (630 finish) right now, with a few hundred units on the shelf on each side, so a change order between voltages isn't a lead-time problem. If you're also spec'ing the exit side of a fire-rated pair, the Von Duprin 6111 is worth pulling up while you're at it. And if this job needs more out of the line than these two strikes, the Folger Adam catalog has the rest of what they make.

Common questions

Can the Folger Adam 310 be used with a deadbolt?

No. It's built for a 1/2" or 5/8" throw latchbolt on cylindrical locks, mortise locks, or mortise exit devices. If the door uses a deadbolt, this isn't the strike for it.

What's the actual difference between the 12VDC and 24VDC versions?

Voltage, and nothing else. Both are the 310 Series, satin stainless steel, same strength and cycle ratings. Order whichever one matches the power supply already installed on your access control system.

Does the 310 fail safe or fail secure?

Fail secure, and that's the only configuration it ships in. If the building loses power, the strike stays locked rather than releasing. That's the behavior you want on a detention or high-security opening.

Is the Folger Adam 310 fire-rated?

Yes, 3-hour fire-rated under UL10C when it's set up fail secure, which is its standard configuration. It's also listed to UL 1034 for burglary resistance.