I have a Sports Afield safe in the garage and had it for about a year and this never happened to me up until this past weekend….

To make a long story short, we had a cleaning company come in to the house once a month and recently had a few inconsistencies with them that made us decide to go with someone else and that this past week would be their last time (the company did not know this).

For whatever reason I had an uneasy feeling about them being there…

Fast forward to this past weekend I wanted to just check the garage and safe and make sure all was ok. I go to enter the code and….door doesn't open and handle won't turn.

I think….thats weird…maybe I put the code in wrong…

So I try it again and same thing…get a green light that code was entered correctly but handle won't budge. After a few more tries I hunt for the keys and open it manually…..and it took a little effort but finally got it open and all looked ok.

So to make sure something isn't wrong with the safe I shut it and try entering the code and it opens just fine. Try it several times and opens fine every time…..so now I'm really confused….

So on a whim I try to manually open the door WITHOUT putting in the code and put a little force into it and after doing this try entering the code and……..doesn't open….exact same problem…..need to get the keys to open it…..

This whole process was repeated 3 times with the exact same outcomes….when I tried to open the door with some force without the code the door seemed to lock down where only the key would allow access…..

So, does this mean someone had tried to get in this safe without the code? Is this a security feature that other folks here with safes have encountered? Or do y'all think this was some crazy coincidence?

Curious for feedback.

TLDR: gun safe acted up and not sure if safe problem or if someone tried to get in….

aggiedata said:

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Change your battery

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This

aggiedata said:

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Change your battery

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Ditto this.

I have a Winchester from tractor supply and the keypad started doing intermittent beeping and acting up for a while. It was literally days after the warranty ran out(only 1 year on the keypad vs lifetime on the rest of the safe) that I started having issues. New battery didn't fix the problem. Gave up and used the key for a while. Eventually I tried a new battery and it turns out the keypads are just picky and don't like some batteries. The duracell/energizer weren't working but an amazon basics 9v seems to be doing the trick currently.

I just had to change my battery this week. They last a long time, but it reinforces the notion that I may not be able to immediately access it and I plan accordingly.

My next safe will be manual.

Tumble Weed said:

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I just had to change my battery this week. They last a long time, but it reinforces the notion that I may not be able to immediately access it and I plan accordingly.

My next safe will be manual.

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Getting harder and harder to find

EliteElectric said:

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Tumble Weed said:

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I just had to change my battery this week. They last a long time, but it reinforces the notion that I may not be able to immediately access it and I plan accordingly.

My next safe will be manual.

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Getting harder and harder to find

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A competent locksmith can change out the locking mehanism. I had a "Winchester" safe changed from electric to mechanical. I have an electric safe that uses 9 V battery. The locksmith told to change every quarter and use Duracell or Eveready….so far no problems there.

Brush Country Ag said:

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EliteElectric said:

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Tumble Weed said:

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I just had to change my battery this week. They last a long time, but it reinforces the notion that I may not be able to immediately access it and I plan accordingly.

My next safe will be manual.

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Getting harder and harder to find

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A competent locksmith can change out the locking mehanism. I had a "Winchester" safe changed from electric to mechanical. I have an electric safe that uses 9 V battery. The locksmith told to change every quarter and use Duracell or Eveready….so far no problems there.

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Interesting. I changed my 9V after 10 years, just because. No low battery warnings and I'm in and out of there daily.

That was a few years ago.

The cheaper safes tend to eat batteries, I had one that recommended changing every 6 months but most of the time it was already dead. Used that safe to take apart so my kids knew how they worked.

For larger safes I am a big fan of manual only

make sure door is fully rotated to the left (fully closed) before starting code. This usually is what impacts me.