Timeline for Are cheap "programmable" combination padlocks known to change their own combinations?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
29 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 3, 2016 at 12:29 | comment | added | Bradman175 | This even happens in master rotary combination locks!! Well maybe because mine got in the rain. | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 11:10 | comment | added | hippietrail | @Stevetech: That's exactly the technique CodesInChaos did describe. The YouTube video I watched specifically stated it was "cracking" and "not picking" but perhaps people don't agree on the terminology. | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 11:05 | vote | accept | hippietrail | ||
| Aug 7, 2016 at 8:58 | history | reopened |
hippietrail Zach Lipton mts Nean Der Thal Willeke♦ |
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| Aug 7, 2016 at 7:29 | comment | added | Stevetech | youtu.be/Lk4jLyURPbg | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 1:55 | comment | added | hippietrail | @Stevetech: You mean with a lockpick? Which are the YouTube videos showing methods other than Heidel Ber Gensis's and CodesInChaos's? | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 1:47 | comment | added | hippietrail | @MarkMayo: Well you better go ahead and close every "TSA lock", "clothing", "weather" or "money changing" problem question. This is a site about problems travellers face. It's not a site about physical locomotion between locations. Jeez most passport and visa questions aren't even about stuff that happens while you're travelling but stuff that happens before you even travel. This is what "travel" is. All the stuff that happens about around before and during a trip. Not "how do I put one foot in front of the other?" If it's something in Lonely Planet or your travel blog it's a travel topic. | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 1:37 | review | Reopen votes | |||
| Aug 7, 2016 at 8:58 | |||||
| Aug 7, 2016 at 1:34 | history | closed |
blackbird Olielo Mark Mayo |
Not suitable for this site | |
| Aug 7, 2016 at 1:33 | comment | added | Mark Mayo | Been thinking about this while it's been running, but I'm now convinced - totally get that you had this problem 'while travelling', but in my and evidently other's opinions, it's not at travel problem. It's a combination lock problem. Happy to discuss in Travel Chat if you really feel it's a question about travelling. | |
| Aug 6, 2016 at 3:10 | comment | added | hippietrail | @CodesInChaos: yes I watched several YouTube videos on that and I couldn't get it to work. It may not have helped that I had watering eyes from a cold I caught the morning I flew from winter to summer. With the watery eyes, sweaty fingers, and jetlag I couldn't manage it. But I still have the lock after I broke it off so I can try again once I'm acclimatized. (-: | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 14:51 | comment | added | CodesInChaos | Cheap combination looks are often easy to open. Pull on the shackle and fiddle with the wheels. You can often feel a resistance when moving out of the correct position. I managed to do that with all the locks I own with no prior lock picking experience (though most of them only had three wheels). | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 14:22 | review | Close votes | |||
| Aug 5, 2016 at 16:14 | |||||
| Aug 5, 2016 at 13:10 | answer | added | Nean Der Thal | timeline score: 56 | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 11:38 | comment | added | hippietrail | @DavidRicherby: I dunno, they're new to me. The combination locks I grew up with came with a code, though I'm more familiar with combination bike locks than padlocks. | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 10:31 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackTravel/status/761510036275359745 | ||
| Aug 5, 2016 at 10:21 | comment | added | David Richerby | By the way, I think all of these types of combination lock let you set the combination, so you probably don't need to mention that part. | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 9:45 | answer | added | lambshaanxy | timeline score: 14 | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 9:44 | comment | added | hippietrail | @JoErNanO: I have started to doubt my sanity and the headcold and heat are interfering. But I opened it a few times already. I definitely forget the order of the last two digits, but that's only two possibilities (-: | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 9:42 | comment | added | JoErNanO♦ | Are you sure you didn't forget, old man? :P | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 9:42 | comment | added | hippietrail | @user568458: I have tried all kinds of waggling and trying nearby numbers. I watch a few YouTube videos of people cracking similar name brand locks using just their fingers feeling for "clicks" but can't get it to work for me. Here in Taiwan I doubt there would be any scam, and having a locksmith come around to cut it off is likely a tiny fraction of the price that would be charged at home, but still maybe the price of dinner. The (young) staff here said they had not seen this happen before. | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 9:42 | history | edited | JoErNanO♦ |
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| Aug 5, 2016 at 9:05 | comment | added | Gayot Fow | I had this happen with a lock like that. The inside wheels got out of whack and so the combination did not get triggered. I had to gently play with the wheels until the clickys worked; the numbers were not lined up, some of them were in half-position. | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 8:55 | comment | added | user56reinstatemonica8 | ...oh and obviously don't forget to try pushing the bolt in and waggling a little before trying to pull it out to open it each time, in case it's got caught somehow | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 8:47 | comment | added | user56reinstatemonica8 | One other thing I'd try if it's not too late - sometimes the pins (or whatever is on the inside) don't quite slip in right, so it's worth trying resetting each number from both directions, e.g. if your year was 1972, try 0972 then 1972 again, then 2972 then 1972 again, then 1872 then 1972 again, then 1072 then 1972 again, and so on, and feel or listen for any kind of click | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 8:42 | comment | added | user56reinstatemonica8 | If the "locksmith" just so happens to be the hostel owner's cousin/friend/business partner etc, this could be an ingenious scam I've not heard of before... Surely buying boltcutters would be cheaper than bringing round a locksmith? In those few hours since last using it, is it possible someone could have tampered with it? | |
| Aug 5, 2016 at 8:23 | history | edited | hippietrail | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 5, 2016 at 7:53 | history | edited | hippietrail | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 5, 2016 at 7:19 | history | asked | hippietrail | CC BY-SA 3.0 |