Posted: 1/2/2013 7:10:06 AM EDT
| Does anyone know of an honest Houston area gun safe man? I've called Cannon and already been given the runaround. My safe needs to be drilled out and the last guy I talked to said $424.50. Sorry, that's more than I paid for it. I'm not a safe expert, but if you're in the market, go with the traditional system. I've learned my lesson about electronic crap. |
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The issue was that the electronic key code, for some reason, will not release the locking mechanism. Cannon seems to think I'm not getting enough power to force the mechanism to release. They are sending a new key pad for free. Problem is, it's still going to have to be drilled out in order to install the new one. Then, that may not even be the problem. That's the scam, they'll supply the parts, but you have to pay the safe man, which costs much much more.
I can't advise you on why it happened. It's just a quirk. Who knows why it happened. I would open it at least once a day to put my pistol away, as I have kids. I've had it for six years without one issue. It's a 45 gun safe, so I have a freaking arsonal of AR's, M1's, mags, ammo, you name it. What a drag this is. I think I'll take the advice and start calling a few more places, fix it, sell it, and buy a mechanical safe. Hell, the Livestock Show is coming in a few months. Maybe I can cut a decent deal. |
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http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_46/372087_.html
explains taking it back to a combo set. also, have you considered upping the power? ask what their design tollerance is for voltage and amp requirments. you could adapt a 12 volt battery to power it for a second or parallel 2 9 volts so it gives it more amps to tap into but doesn't up the voltage and see if it will give it enough kick to move. |
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How much is your safe worth? After they drill it, it may be repairable, but for how much and it may not look as pretty as it does now. Edit: I had mine drilled out and it wasn't worth it to fix. His template jig broke and then his bit broke and finally he had another fellow safe certified locksmith come by and drill a bigger hole. I could have done that by myself. |
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Quoted:
Had a similar issue that I resolve with an Energiser battery. Doubting that yours would be that simple but just in case. I was about to ask the obvious because it does resolve a lot of issues, You replaced the battery? I had a cannon for 4 years with 0 issues and just traded it in for a bigger canon. I have had no issues with the electronic locks. |
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I would never have one of these. I have had a bunch of problems with these small simple pistol safes.
If you could access the battery from the dial I would parallel several together to limit the voltage drop. and see if that helps. It probably only fires for a second so if it is sticky for some reason it stops before it opens. If they are 9 volt tie 4 together and run a jumper up to the connection. If that does not work and you are going to drill it anyway I would get a small 12 volt battery deer feeder gel cell and try that. |
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Have you asked for help in the Safes/Home Security forum here on the site? It's down toward the bottom on the Armory tab. Probably others have had the same issues and could offer ideas.
I looked at buying one of the Cannon's that were on sale cheap for Black Friday but backed off after doing a closer inspection on one. Just felt like a cheaply made safe to me, but of course the ones you find in the big box stores (Tractor Supply) are not exactly their top of the line models either. The lifetime warranty they push sounds great, but means nothing if they don't fulfill it which is what it sounds like they are doing. |
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An item that happened to me once is if something is wedged between the door and say an internal partition, the pins holder the dear may be "wedged".
To counter...push in on your door (aka lean your fat a$$ on it) when you do the combo and then rotate the wheel. Other wise give the new battery a try--beats a locksmith. |
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I had something like this happen with my Sentry safe about two years back. Suddenly it would not open. It accepted the code, there was a tiny click, but the handle would not turn. I replaced the batteries, but it did not help. After getting a guesstimated cost from a locksmith, I was about to break out the heavy bars and start trying to tear it open...I called a buddy for extra muscle, but he said he had heard of the mechanisms of low-end safes "jamming" when parts start to wear a little. His advise was to beat on it first, to see if it would free up.
I took a 6# dead-blow hammer to it. Whacked the shit out of each side, near where the bolts go, and worked the door over pretty well. I punched in the combo and magic happened :) After getting everything out and unbolting it from the floor, I locked and unlocked the door probably a hundred times with no problem. I'm thinking WTF? We went shopping for a better safe and suffered some sticker shock. After about a week, we decided it was not a good time to drop that much cash, if it was avoidable...so I bolted it back down, put the guns back in, and we are still using it.  I figure when it finally craps out, I'll just get the 6' bars back out. The door has some dents, but two years later, it is still working.
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| I was pretty outspoken to a friend about this when he got his shiny new electronic locking gun safe. I asked what happened in a power outage and he said a 9V battery backup was all he needed. Hope you check that battery about 4 times a month because Id hate to NEED a gun and not be able to get into my own safe. |
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I beat on it with the mallet. I mean, I beat the crap out of it.
I have replaced the battery, actually I've put a number of brand new batteries in it while praying it would work. I finally jump wired 3 nine volts together, made contact and promptly shorted it out. Now I have zero power. hahaha, I guess I'll just bite the bullet and have it drilled. Believe me, after this fiasco, I'll buy a combo safe from now on. I hope I don't need a thousand rounds of ammo or 100 AR mags between now and the apocolypse. All I have access to right now are 2 glock .40's 1Benelli m2 and a .38 revolve, maybe 70 rounds of .40 ammo and about 60 shotgun shells. I appreciate everyone's advice, but sometimes you're just F*$#ed. |
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Quoted: I was pretty outspoken to a friend about this when he got his shiny new electronic locking gun safe. I asked what happened in a power outage and he said a 9V battery backup was all he needed. Hope you check that battery about 4 times a month because Id hate to NEED a gun and not be able to get into my own safe. I have yet to see a digital lock on a safe that doesn't come with an 'emergency battery-pack' that plugs in to allow access if the battery inside goes dead. Digital locks have almost zero parasitic drain on the battery. The battery that's in my safe has been in place for 4 years now with no issues. I do believe I'll put a fresh one in tomorrow. I have a Patriot safe and they have a lifetime guarantee. |
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my electronic lock has been in use for 8 years on the same battery but my battery is also located outside under the button cover.
Never an issue one. When I had the previous safe, the S&G manual dial started creeping and it was hit or miss if it would open or not. I love the electronics and don't see any reason to go back to the old days. That being said, by friend screwed his lock up and we broke into it ourselves. Not that hard really if you think about it and do a little research. Relockers tripped and all. |
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My thoughts, $450 is more than the cost of a 45 gun safe? Spring it yourself and get something closer to a safe than what you have now.
I have an electronic and it works fine. If I have the handle pinned to one side, it won't unlock so I just have to make sure to unload the mechanism first. Also my batteries are accessible from the outside, as is the keypad replacement IIRC. The first keypad didn't work so they sent a new one under warranty. Once it opened up the first one, it was a ribbon cable that wasn't completely seated. I was new to RSC's so I was scared to mess with it until I had it working under warranty. |
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Well, after 21 days after I first called Cannon Safe, I received the parts needed. I requested a combo lock. The safe indeed had to be drilled. It was replaced with the mechanical combo mechanism.
If you plan on buying a Cannon, expect to call and harass them every day or so, as they WILL NOT send your parts even after promising to do so. I tried to kill them with kindness and it finally ended up working the 7th time I spoke with an operator. She was kind enough to upgrade my shipping to 3 day express UPS. If you plan on buying an electronic, good luck. I discovered that my key pad was in fact in perfectly good working order. The sylenoid that opens the safe went out. There is no way to insure a sylenoid does not go out, it is the luck of the draw. If it does go out, your safe will be drilled. The locksmith I used told me that he drills 12 electronic safes to every 1 combonation safe. He advised that 90 percent of combo safes are drilled because the combonation was forgotten, or the owner died and the wife did not know the combonation. Interestingly enough, the American Eagle line of Cannon is a very difficult safe to get into. The locksmith told me they give him fits and he does not look forward to working on them. I find it interesting because the American Eagle always seemed to be dismissed and maligned by the "gun safe community". I just wanted to update everyone. Thanks for all the input. ssr |
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Yes, he had a template and he drilled for 3 hours and it took him about 45 minutes to replace it with the mechanical combo. He charged me $250 for labor only, as I had the parts. I am a friend of a friend, so he cut me a break. He usually charges in the neighborhood of $450.
Good Luck and Thanks for everyone's imput. ssr |