OK all you do-it-yourself-ers.....
I need some help here. The guy who sold me my safe told me he likes to mess around with stuff and had his safe wired so a light would turn on we he opened the door. I thought about it, and now I want to do it to my safe (I'm bored I guess)
I'm not too knowledgable with electrical work, but I'm sure I would be able to handle this simple job without frying myself.
I have an extension cord running into the safe and have a goldenrod plugged in as well as the light, so I would want the switch to only affect the light.
I want to keep it as simple as possible, which is why I'm posting....I could probably figure it out on my own, but the results would probably be 30 feet of rats nest wiring. :)

Any advice would be much appreciated...

Go to a junkyard and swipe the on / off switch out of an old fridge.

Or, out of an old car.

They both have a switching device that makes connection (and completes the circuit) when the door is open.

You'll need a momentary switch designed to handle 110 volts (similar to the one in your refrig door).  Press the switch, light goes off, release the switch, light comes on.  Splice into one wire on the power cord for the light and connect each end to the switch (power in/power out). Mount the switch so the door will depress the switch when closed. Plug in the light cord and you're done.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you to unplug the light before starting. [:)]

Good luck,

Eddie

What! How did you three post before I did? There were no posts when I decided to reply! Oh well. Here's my post anyhow: [:D]


It'd be easy. All you need is an adapter for the extension cord to plug two things into it.

Get a cord, and a light bulb socket (you can  use the small ones like they use on chandeliers and things like that, Home Depot (not Lowe's)).

Run the wire up to the ceiling of the safe and wire both ends into the socket, affix the socket to the ceiling.

Now, at some convenient position along the cord, cut one of the wires (not both!) and put a refrigerator-type switch in between both ends of the cord you cut, and affix that switch somewhere so the door pushes it in and turns off the light when it closes.

Then put in a 15 watt bulb or something in it, and plug in the cord.

That should work, but it's just a generic set of instructions. Sorry I can't be more specific since electronics really isn't my bag.

Make sure everything you use is rated for 120vAC currents (for example, don't use a 12v switch).

Or, you could use one of those 12v adapters and wire up a 12v light system and plug the adapter into the extension cord. Home Depot has various kinds of 12v lighting kits that might work. You'll probably have to wire in the pressure switch yourself, but that's easy.

I would double check to see if it matters which "side" of the current the switch is on, I don't really know if AC stuff can work in either direction, of it's one-way only like DC (for example, putting batteries backwards into a flashlight). Check on that. But the rest should be basically (generically) as I described above.

Maybe someone with more knowledge of electonics will post and fill in the blanks.

Oh, you might want to add an external switch to disable the 'refrigerator switch' just in case you need to do a Tactical-Safe-Door-Opening without having the light come on and betray your position.
[:D]

If your safe is fire rated and you don't want to deter that rating, I would suggest that you check with the manufature prior to running wires out of it. They tend to give fire a path.

Something a little more costly but maybe cheaper in the end would be a motion sensing light.  I've seen them around for $15.00.

hey man, save doing damage to your safe, and use a battery powered unit. all you need is a bettery case, a little wire, a light, and a reverse momentary switch, just like Ls1eddie said. this would be easy, and their would be no damage to your safe or chords layinmg around. also wouldnt have to mess with house voltage. it could be made for prolly under 8 $

just go to wal-mart or some hardware store and get one of thoose push on/off dome lights battery powered. I mounted one in my car and the batteries have lasted a lonf time. I always use it too.

thanks guys
lots of good advice
I already have a hole in the safe from where it was bolted to the pallet, so I ran the cord through there, I haven't bolted it to the floor since I'm moving very soon. I need the cord in there for my golden rod (neccesary at the beach)
So I've already got 120 in there, but I definitely like the idea of a motion light....maybe I'll check one of those out if it does the same job....it's certainly easy enough :)

I went to the appliance store and bought a refrig door switch. It's simple to mount and wire, works forever.

Fred