Throughout 2021 BQT Solutions worked with New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) regarding a concern they had received about the operation of the Cobalt locks. The specific issue was the use of capacitors to enable to lock to operate when power is removed, and the potential failure of those components. After an extensive review MBIE ruled that there was no justification to issue a warning or ban the product, and they closed the complaint.
BQT fully supports MBIE decision and continues to supply the Cobalt locks to the market.
In December 2020, and prior to MBIE receiving the concern and ultimately dismissing it, BQT had released to the market a firmware toolkit which added an automatic health check feature to periodically test the capacitors on the Cobalt locks, disabling the lock if an issue was identified. This added a significant layer or protection by identifying a faulty component before it could affect the locks operation. BQT encourages all users of the Cobalt locks who have not already updated the firmware of their installed locks to make contact and receive a firmware toolkit for free.
All Cobalt’s manufactured after December 2020 are supplied with the automatic health check feature so there is no need to upgrade the firmware on these products. To check, look at the serial number on the lock – if it starts with 00 and is higher than 00-0002-4171, or starts with AA then the lock has the firmware with the health check feature already.
To further support MBIE, BQT requests that any customers who have Cobalt locks installed carry out a fail-safe operational test on the lock within the next 3 months. To do this, we recommend testing the normal locking operation first, then carrying out an emergency door release (EDR) test. If the lock fails this test, or fails to unlock at any stage, please contact your distributor or BQT directly for assistance.
