# Illumination for gun safe interior?



## Rando (Mar 22, 2009)

I recently picked up a larger gun safe and I'm looking to put some lighting around the interior. I'd like to put some kind of lights around the interior lip (about an inch and a half) of the door frame, shining into the safe. Turns out that it's pretty dark way back in the back once you get a few rifles in there. 

Power: I'm not willing to compromise any fire rating of the safe by drilling for a power cord, so this will have to be battery powered, preferrably LION rechargables or a NIMH pack (up to 6 cells), since I already have chargers. I'm thinking about a floody, low/medium power led for this application. Luxeon I range, maybe. 

I'm willing to build my own, but also willing to explore manufactured options. Considered a LED rope light, but I'm not sure about powering a string designed for 110vac on a battery pack. Also not sure about how much light these actually put off. There is a total of 18 linear feet of area that these lights will be mounted on around the door frame. If I go with a bare LuxI I'd probably put one every 6-8 inches. (27 to 36 LEDs). I'll probably use either a magnetic switch or a refrigerator door switch to turn them on and off.

Haven't set a hard budget yet, but I'd like to keep it under control. After all, I just dropped a lot on a big safe.  Suggestions?


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## Search (Mar 22, 2009)

Rando said:


> I recently picked up a larger gun safe and I'm looking to put some lighting around the interior. I'd like to put some kind of lights around the interior lip (about an inch and a half) of the door frame, shining into the safe. Turns out that it's pretty dark way back in the back once you get a few rifles in there.
> 
> Power: I'm not willing to compromise any fire rating of the safe by drilling for a power cord, so this will have to be battery powered, preferrably LION rechargables or a NIMH pack (up to 6 cells), since I already have chargers. I'm thinking about a floody, low/medium power led for this application. Luxeon I range, maybe.
> 
> ...



I know this sounds very stupid but..

You could duck tape a small light with good runtime and a floody beam and when you open the safe just click it on


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## chmsam (Mar 22, 2009)

If it were me, I'd just plug in a floor lamp near the safe - more light and nothing in the way on the interior of the safe. If that won't work or isn't acceptable, here are some suggestions:

Google "motion detection led battery" and see if anything comes up that you like. Just open the safe and the light goes on. Depending on which style and battery type you want you should be able to keep the cost under $30. Just leave the light on a shelf -- you could move it as needed.

If that doesn't float your boat how about something like one of the Dot-it-style stick up/magnetic lights? There are quite a few brand and styles out there, including swivel lights and dimmable lights. Cheap and easy.

Being a cheapskate and a big believer in the K.I.S.S. approach, if it were up to me I'd just keep a small flashlight attached to the door of the safe. Then again and just personally speaking, aesthetics in a place like a gun safe aren't a big point for me. An angle head flashlight would be good, or a Pal light/Safe light, but any would do.

Is there a reason you want to stick to Lithium ion batteries other than long life? That could add costs you say you do not want (unless you were just talking about Lithium AA/AAA's)?


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## dilbert (Mar 22, 2009)

I use LED tap light that I bought at Costco. They came with velcro for attaching them. I stuck the hook side of the velcro on the lights and the hooks stick to the carpet in the safe so I can position them anywhere. I hav one on the top of the safe and one on the bottom of the top shelf. They work really well and would even work during a power outage.


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## OceanView (Mar 22, 2009)

chmsam said:


> If it were me, I'd just plug in a floor lamp near the safe...


Despite my flashaholic tendencies, I think the external lamp idea makes the most sense and will certainly provide the best illumination inside the safe. One of those reflectors with a spring-loaded clamp come to mind. When you open the safe, clamp the light to the top lip of the open safe or maybe to some other anchor point inside the open safe.

At first blush, I was thinking of those little, battery-powered LED light "pucks" that you could simply stick to the inside of the safe but on second thought, those are probably woefully underpowered. Plus, the bluish tint from the 5mm LED's probably doesn't illuminate dark colored objects too well, like anything blued.


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## Yoda4561 (Mar 22, 2009)

Maybe try out sylvania's dot-it's. More specifically the new ones with the single Golden Dragon LED. 3 AA batteries and should be nice and bright, they have an auto shutoff too. Only problem here is placement, LED supply has some LED strip products that might suit the bill, but you would probably need to fashion your own battery holder if you want to use AA's.


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## cryhavok (Mar 22, 2009)

I would suggest using CCFLs over LEDs in this situation. They are very bright, provide uniform light, and don't require heatsinking. They are quite efficient, too.

Use the same units that people use to light up their computer cases. They run off 12V. I have them stuck to the inside of the lip and am very happy with the illumination provided.

Using a 12V lantern battery like this, it seems to last forever.


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## MWClint (Mar 22, 2009)

Yoda4561 said:


> Maybe try out sylvania's dot-it's. More specifically the new ones with the single Golden Dragon LED. 3 AA batteries and should be nice and bright, they have an auto shutoff too. Only problem here is placement, LED supply has some LED strip products that might suit the bill, but you would probably need to fashion your own battery holder if you want to use AA's.



+1
for $14.99 they are pretty nice..round metal casing, multi level, motion sensor, auto shutoff, diffusion lens, 3m sticky pad. 

local grocery store has them. you can just stick it to the top of the safe and swipe your hand in front of it to turn it on/off. General movement wont distract it.

i have one in my closet and am still on the original 3 alkaline AA that came with it. the golden dragon led has a nice tint..much better than using 5mm
leds.


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## tbhracing (Mar 22, 2009)

As stated above, I use the self sticking LED light in my small gun safe. The pictures dont do the operatin justice, but its nice and clean.


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## Sub_Umbra (Mar 22, 2009)

If it were me it would depend on whether I had already solved the humidity problem -- if humidity isn't an issue almost anything will work. In the old days folks used to put plain old incans in gun safes and run them 24/7 for lighting and *to knock down the humidity.*


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## cernobila (Mar 22, 2009)

Sub_Umbra said:


> If it were me it would depend on whether I had already solved the humidity problem -- if humidity isn't an issue almost anything will work. In the old days folks used to put plain old incans in gun safes and run them 24/7 for lighting and *to knock down the humidity.*



You beat me to it.......I was about to say the same thing, a number of hunting outfitters that I know do just this in their gun safes, they use low wattage incan bulbs to create just enough heat to keep the safe contents dry.


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## Rando (Mar 22, 2009)

I'm currently using an inexpensive 3w Task Force 2C flashlight that I just leave on the shelf. In my older, smaller safe I created three units consisting of an array of 10 - 20 5mm LEDs on a perf board and ran them from a 2 D cell battery pack. I ended up replacing the batteries several times over the three years or so that I had it. I'd rather have something that I can throw on the charger for a couple hours instead of buying new ones, even if it's a somewhat higher initial cost. I'd really rather just have the lights come on when the door opens, and not have individually powered, individually controlled light units in every cubby hole. I'd like to just open the door and have the interior completely illuminated.

I'm using the Remington dehumidifier unit. It gets plugged in every 90 days to refresh the dessicant, so I don't think humidity will be a problem.

Cryhavoc: What are you using CCFLs in? Computer case or Safe?


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## Ken_McE (Mar 22, 2009)

Rando said:


> Considered a LED rope light, but I'm not sure about powering a string designed for 110vac on a battery pack. Also not sure about how much light these actually put off.



You can buy them already set up for 12 V DC. Cool white is the brightest. My rule of thumb for lighting a rectangular room with eight feet ceilings is that LED rope light along the top of two walls lights the room up enough to walk around, see in color, read headlines, find things easily. If you ran LED ropelight around all four sides, twice around, I expect it'd be nicely lit. You can buy plastic track that the ropelight snaps into, glue the track to the ceiling, makes for an easy neat install.


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## motoguzzi (Mar 23, 2009)

My safe has two holes in the bottom for bolting to the floor so I used one of these to feed an extension cord up into the safe. Since the interior was bare metal I then painted it white to make it lighter and then put a 9 fool rope light around the door opening with one of those little remote wired switches. Now when you open the door you click the switch ( I used a hot glue gun for all mounting purposes) and a nice even light illuminates the entire interior.
Unless you have some heavy duty drilling equipment forget about drilling any holes in this baby, I tried to mount a switch inside so when you opened the door the lights turn on but I had to give up after 20 minutes with a heavy duty 1/2 inch drill and a Ti drill bit left only a small dimple in the metal. And this was the interior trim, not even the case hardened door or body!


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