By Kent · Lock Depot Staff Writer

A keypad on the wall does not lock a door. It closes a relay. That is the difference between an order that works and an order that comes back.

The job is usually the same. Small business, self-storage office, warehouse side door, contractor yard gate. Keys are floating around with people who no longer work there, and nobody wants to rekey again. The owner wants a code, not a server. The 212W IEI Indoor/Outdoor Flush-mount Weather Resistant Keypad is a reasonable answer. But the keypad is one third of the purchase.

The three-part shopping list

Buy all three or the door does nothing:

1. The keypad. It takes a code and closes a relay.
2. The locking device. An electric strike, a maglock, or an electrified lever. This holds the door.
3. The power supply. It feeds the keypad and the locking device.

People order the keypad alone. It arrives, they mount it, nothing happens. The door still has a mechanical lock in it and nothing electric to release. Decide what the door gets first: strike, mag, or electrified lever. Send a photo of the frame and the existing lock and we will tell you which the opening takes.

Standalone keypad for a commercial door: what you gain and what you give up

Standalone means the codes live in the keypad on the wall. No server, no cloud account, no monthly bill, nothing on the network. When the internet goes down at 2am, the door still opens.

The cost: when an employee leaves, somebody changes the code and everyone else learns the new one. Do that with twelve people and three doors and you will feel it. A shared code also tells you a code was used, not who used it, and in a dispute that distinction is everything.

My rule: standalone is right up to a handful of doors and a small, stable group. Past that, buy a controller. We stock those too, including the Hub Minimax 2 IEI Secured Series Single Door Control, the SEG-1 IEI Secure Ethernet Gateway, and MAGCRD-100 IEI Magnetic Striped Cards for card-based openings.

If there is no power at the door, do not force it. Read the Simplex 1000 mechanical pushbutton piece first. A mechanical pushbutton lock needs no power, no strike, and no supply, and on a single interior door with a stable code it is frequently the better buy.

Picking the model: mounting and weather

The model names carry the mount and the weather rating.

Model	Mount	Where it belongs
212W	Flush, weather resistant	Interior or exposed door where you can get a box or a cut-in behind the plate
232W	Flush, weather resistant	Same condition as the 212W; second flush option
232SE	Surface, weather resistant	Retrofit, block wall, finished wall you cannot open up
212iLM-AL	Mullion, weather resistant, aluminum	Narrow vertical mullion of an aluminum storefront
212iLW	Flush, weather resistant	Flush condition, exposed or covered
2000e	Flush, backlit	Doors used after dark where the keys must be readable

Flush

Flush mount needs something behind it: a single-gang box, a mud ring, or a cut-in. The 232W IEI Indoor/Outdoor Flush-mount Weather Resistant Keypad and the 212iLW IEI Indoor/Outdoor Flush-mount Weather Resistant Keypad both live in that condition.

Surface

Surface mount screws to the wall. No cut-in, no box, no drywall repair. On a CMU wall or a finished office you cannot open, this installs the same day. The 232SE IEI Indoor/Outdoor Surface-mount Weather Resistant Keypad is the model I steer most yard-gate and side-door jobs toward.

Mullion

An aluminum storefront has a vertical mullion between the glass, and it is not wide enough for a standard keypad. The 212iLM-AL IEI Indoor/Outdoor Mullion-mount Weather Resistant Keypad in Aluminum is built for that narrow face, in aluminum to match. Measure the mullion face before you order anything for a glass front door. That measurement saves more returns than any other check on this list.

Backlit

Backlighting sounds like a nicety until you watch someone punch a code at 5pm in January with gloves on. The 2000e IEI 2000 Series e Style Flush-mount Backlit Access Control Keypad is the flush backlit option. On any exterior door used after dark, it is worth the step up.

When a code is not enough: fobs and cards

Codes get shared. If your problem is churn, a credential beats a code, because a fob is revocable one at a time. Somebody quits, you delete their fob and nobody else learns anything new.

The ProxPad Plus IEI Integrated Proximity Reader and Controller with Keypad combines the reader, the controller, and a keypad in one unit, so you can run code-only, credential-only, or both. Fobs are the ProxKey IEI Wiegand 125 kHz Genuine HID Brand Proximity Key Fobs.

If you already have a reader on the building, confirm its credential format before ordering fobs. Mismatched formats are the classic wasted order. Read what is printed on your credentials, or bring one in.

Power, and the part people leave exposed

A plug-in supply like the PIP12VDC Plug-In Power Supply is fine on a bench for testing, or on a low-stakes interior door.

An exterior opening deserves the PWR/TMPR12P IEI Access Control Power Supply with Tamper Circuit in Cabinet. Cabinet, and a tamper circuit. A supply out in the open is the easiest way to defeat the whole system. Nobody picks the lock. They pull the plug.

Where the keypad cannot switch the load itself, the 293 IEI Stand-Alone Access Control Relay Board handles it. Tell us the locking device and the run length and we will confirm the supply and whether the relay board belongs.

The egress trap

A keypad on the outside does nothing for egress on the inside. That door needs free mechanical egress, one motion on a lever or a bar, or a compliant release device. Get this wrong on a maglock and you have built a door that can trap people, and an inspector will fail it. Confirm the egress arrangement with your authority having jurisdiction before you buy the locking hardware.

Confirm before you order

• Mounting condition: flush box, surface, or storefront mullion. Measure the mullion face.
• Indoor or exposed to weather.
• Locking device: strike, maglock, or electrified lever.
• Power available at the door, and where the supply mounts out of reach.
• How many people need access, and how often the list changes.
• Existing credential format, if any.

More on the line at our IEI hub.

Common questions

Does the 212W lock the door by itself?

No. The 212W is a keypad, and a keypad closes a relay. You also need a locking device, an electric strike, maglock, or electrified lever, and a power supply.

How many codes or users does one of these hold?

Capacity varies by model and I will not quote a number I cannot stand behind. Call us with your headcount and how you want people grouped, and we will confirm the right model.

Flush or surface mount, how do I tell which I need?

Look behind the spot where the keypad goes. Flush needs a box or a cut-in. Surface screws to the wall face and needs nothing behind it, which is why the 232SE is the retrofit answer on block, tile, or a wall you cannot cut.

Can I put a standard keypad on my glass storefront door?

Usually not. The vertical aluminum mullion is too narrow for a standard-width keypad, which is why the 212iLM-AL exists in a mullion-mount, aluminum form. Measure the flat face of the mullion before ordering.

Will my existing fobs work with a new reader?

Only if the formats match. The ProxKey fobs are Wiegand 125 kHz, and a reader expecting a different format will not read them. Check what you have, or bring a fob to the counter.