Frequently asked questions

These are not currently organised. When I write up more of them, I'll group and order them. Please mail me if you have further questions you'l like to see listed here.

What's the difference between MortiSafe and MortiSafe Pro

They have very similar functionality but do it in a different way. 'Pro' is web based so easier to use (no specialist software to run) and easier to implement new features. It has a public website so people without a MortiSafe Pro can still check out what's happening.

What happens if the power fails?

If the power to the safe goes off and on again, then within a few minutes the safe will restore operation and continue as before. If the safe is locked with a configured time to open, the safe will open at that time.

What happens if my internet connection fails?

The safe will connect to the internet regularly to check for orders and other data, but that's not required for the operation of the safe. As long as you can connect through a web browser to the safe, it will still operate as normal. If your safe is locked due to an order from a controller and the controller has set a password on the order, then even if the internet connection fails you can still connect to the safe through a web browser and give it the password to open the safe if necessary.

Note that this is about a failure of your internet connection, but typically this means the appliances on wifi in your house can still talk to each other, just not out to the rest of the world. If you have a failure which means your wifi no longer works, see the next section about electronics failure.

What happens if the electronics in the safe fail?

Electronics are never 100% reliable and you always need a fallback. All digital safes come with a physical key which can be used to open the safe in the case of failure.

Failure in this case means failure of the electronics inside the safe or the ability for it to talk to your computer via wifi.

What happens if the public website goes down?

Once a safe is locked, it will open when the time expires or when a password is supplied. Both of those things will still happen if the public website goes down. The only thing the public website is used for is controllers to issue lock and unlock orders, so it's useful but not vital to the running of the system.

The only likely glitch if the public site is down is that if your safe is locked or unlocked while the site is down, it may not show up-to-date information about your locked state. That can usually be fixed by using the 'configure' option on the safe's website, which has a side-effect of updating the public website with the safe's state.

Do I need to know how to configure my internet connection?

You need to know your wifi password and the protocol it's using (such as WPA).The process of adding MortiSafe Pro to your wifi network is very similar to adding a mobile phone or any other application.

You do NOT need to make any advanced configuration changes such as port mapping or dynamic DNS configuration. The system is designed to be as simple as possible to set up.

Aren't there other ways of doing time control or internet control of keys?

Yes, plenty of other methods. MortiSafe is not necessarily better than any of them, you should choose whatever system meets all your needs. But I do think that MortiSafe is the most sophisticated system of its kind for the price.

What's the Playpen?

The Playpen is a set of websites that run exactly the same software as the websites that MortiSafe Pro uses inside the safe and for public interaction, so you can simulate how you would use a MortiSafe Pro. You can for instance configure one of the simulated MortiSafe Pro's with a sub name and controller password, then go to the playpen public website and issue an order using those details, then go back to the MortiSafe Pro site and accept the order.

The only differences between the Playpen and the real product is that the Playpen doesn't have a real physical safe (when it says 'locked' it's just a simulated locking) and there's options to 'reset' the system (in case the last person using the Playpen locked one of the safes for a year).

Check out the Playpen.

I can't connect to my MortiSafe Pro website, what do I do?

Check out What to do if your MortiSafe Pro IP address changes