Bought a Liberty Centurion Gun Safe and Installed Lights.

[anarchyx914]

Hey all!

I have done various LED Projects on my current and past mustangs I have owned and a number of interior LED Projects for friends who wanted some interior illumination. I just recently bought my first AR-15 which was the dicks sporting goods special Troy Defense AR15.

With a kid on the way, I needed something safe to store my guns in, also with the recent shooting it made me very paranoid leaving my AR-15/Glock at home without it being locked up. So I bought a supposedly 14-gun safe (my ass, lol) and put the AR/Glock in there. It is in my basement and bolted into the concrete with 6" anchors now, but the main problem I had was low light. I had a difficult time seeing into the safe (Because its in a finished basement closet room with low light). Instead of buying cheap stick on lights that are battery powered, I opted to get some LEDs to complete the job. I also opted to have a magnetic circuit that closes/opens with the door (like your refrigerator) which kicks the lights ON when the door is opened, and OFF when the door is closed.

Here are the links for products I bought. I prefer amazon because I have prime, and they offer free shipping on most orders $25+.

HitLights Cool White Double Density 600 LEDS Light Strip

LED Connector Strips (Pre-Wired)

LED Connector Strips (Strips Only)

LED Wholesalers 30watt LED Power Supply

Directed Electronics 8600 Micro Magnetic Switch

Soldering Iron (this is the one I use, and recommend)


I have included a full video tutorial on YouTube if any of you need help (if I left anything, or you need any help, please feel free to message me -- I am not an EXPERT, but I am an enthusiast).

Youtube - DIY Lighted Gun Safe with LEDs and Door Activated Switch

Here are a few Pictures of the Finished Project, as well as the placement of the Magnetic Door Operated Switches. I also opted to add a dehumidifier to the safe to make sure that the glock and rifle stay good and DRY :)

















Even HIGHER RES Pictures:

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[DefensiveCarry.com]

[oldnfat]

Sounds good. Thanks for the ideas.

[TX expat]

That's a great post, thank you!

I just ordred the light strip to do just this, about a week ago, so seeing how you've done it will be a big help.

[Popeye7751]

Nice install. Looks good

[Rock and Glock]

It looks like you have some great quality light! Excellent job, and thanks for posting the "How To DIY"!! Our members will love it.

[Rcher]

Very nice mod.

[TX expat]

Instead of creating another thread on this subject I think I'll just add a few comments on this one.

I wired up my safe with LED strips this weekend and I did a few things differently and it might make this an appealing endeavor to some.

First off, I used the same idea of a magnetic switch, although I used a slightly different one; I liked the idea of not needing to put a manual switch or pressure button. The biggest benefit of the mag switch is they only need to be in close proximity, so you don't have to get them touching, which really opens up some options for mounting. I mounted mine using the hinge mechanism to open/close the circuit.

Secondly, I didn't want to run a power line to my safe so used an 8 cell AA battery pack, which creates the 12 volt current needed to power the LED strip. This allows my safe to be totally self sufficient, so even if the power goes out, my safe lights still turn on when the door is opened. Obviously the down side is needing to keep fresh batteries, but given the power consumption of the LEDs and the minimal amount of time the safe door stays open, they shouldn't have to be changed too often.

Next, I didn't mess with any connectors on the strips. You can solder wires directly to the contact points. It probably takes a little longer that way, but I'm cheap and I already had wire and solder. The trick to soldering these strips is to drop a small bead of solder on the contact point, then pre-solder the end of the wire. Then it's a pretty simple matter of just putting the two together and touching them with the soldering iron; they'll bond almost instantly and the connection is fairly rugged.

I also used quick connects on every 'level' of shelving. That way if need to take the shelf off or if an LED strip goes belly up, it's easy to access each set by simply disconnecting the quick connects. The other benefit is I could build one shelf at a time and work my way up as time allowed. You could do a shelf a week if you wanted to (not that it takes all that long to do!), but it's nice to have a project that allows you to stop and come back, while still feeling like progress is made. My total project, which amounted to wiring up 3 small shelves, one long shelf that runs the full width of the safe, as well as the ceiling of the safe, probably took a total of 5 hours from the time I started to the time I put all my tools away. The total cost on my project was about $25.

So if you want lights in your safe and you don't have, or want to mess with, running power to the safe. You can do this modification with minimal tools and a little bit of time! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me!

[Lotus222]

Thanks for this. I am in the process of lighting my safe. That magnetic switch looks like the perfect answer. I'll be battery powering my LED's, though. No place to run a cable to the outside.

[TX expat]

Thanks for this. I am in the process of lighting my safe. That magnetic switch looks like the perfect answer. I'll be battery powering my LED's, though. No place to run a cable to the outside.

It's pretty straight forward to do, just make sure you are using 12 volt lights and get an 8 AA pack and you're golden. I got one from Radio Shack and it even uses a standard 9 volt connector, so taking it out to change the batteries is easy.

8 AA Battery Holder : Battery Holders | RadioShack.com

I used this mag switch:

Amazon.com: Magnetic Switch: Car Electronics

I liked it because you can wire it for a normally open or closed circuit. I couldn't imagine why I'd want it normall open, but since I didn't actually plan out where I was going to mount it, I figured that keeping my options open would be the best way to go.

[Lotus222]

Nice, that definitely looks like the way to go, for me. I had better hit up radio shack to see what I can buy vs order from amazon. The $20 shipping fees from random retailers makes me not want to order it all.

[TX expat]

Nice, that definitely looks like the way to go, for me. I had better hit up radio shack to see what I can buy vs order from amazon. The $20 shipping fees from random retailers makes me not want to order it all.

The LEDs I ordered were from Ebay, direct from China! They cost $10 including shipping, so I don't know... They say you get what you pay for but they seem OK so far. I figured the only real risk is the labor I put into the whole project, since I could always tear it down and redo everything with more expensive LEDs if these fail, but I'm doubting that I'll need to do that.

You might be able to get the mag switch at radio shack, I never even thought to look for it there.