I think not.
Usually when I connect the standby battery an indicator light comes on.
Also the keys when depressed give an audible feedback.
Neither happens now - like there was no battery connected.
Ger
Are you sure? One would hope it's just the keypad on the 'outside' -
the rest will surely be inside the safe.
If not then angle grinder the thing in two - it's not a 'safe' you'll
want to be keeping.
Mathew
On 14 Jan, 15:46, snipped-for-privacy@proemail.co.uk wrote:
I suppose expecting the manufacturers to help on a £90 safe was asking
a bit much. Try:-
1) Pressing the 9V battery in hard and/or waggling it around a bit. If
this is a PP3, the press-studs often lose their grip. Or you may have
a dry joint between the holder and PCB. If so, a soldering iron
applied to the battery contacts might remake the joint from outside.
If you put an ohmmeter across the battery contacts (try the probes
both ways round) you should see a few hundred or thousand ohms, not an
open or short circuit.
2) Pressing the buttons hard. If they're the rubber-coated-with-
graphite type like some calculators/TV remote controls, the graphite
wears thin. But you've got to get the usual signs of life from the
electronics first.
3) Forcing the handle round by extending it with a lever -- bit of
pipe or pair of wood/metal bars clamped either side.
4) Getting a cold chisel under the safe enough to lift it 1mm off the
joist to hacksaw the bolts might be better than levering it the whole
way.
Chris
I suppose expecting the manufacturers to help on a £90 safe was asking
a bit much. Try:-
1) Pressing the 9V battery in hard and/or waggling it around a bit. If
this is a PP3, the press-studs often lose their grip. Or you may have
a dry joint between the holder and PCB. If so, a soldering iron
applied to the battery contacts might remake the joint from outside.
If you put an ohmmeter across the battery contacts (try the probes
both ways round) you should see a few hundred or thousand ohms, not an
open or short circuit.
2) Pressing the buttons hard. If they're the rubber-coated-with-
graphite type like some calculators/TV remote controls, the graphite
wears thin. But you've got to get the usual signs of life from the
electronics first.
3) Forcing the handle round by extending it with a lever -- bit of
pipe or pair of wood/metal bars clamped either side.
4) Getting a cold chisel under the safe enough to lift it 1mm off the
joist to hacksaw the bolts might be better than levering it the whole
way.
Chris
Chris, I have just checked with a meter and the external battery terminals
are open circuit.
Sounds like you've been here before?
You are suggesting a soldering iron on the terminals in case there's a bad
joint on the inside.
Worth a shot.
Ger
We have several Phoenix data safes, some bright spark lost the key to one of
them, Phoenix were very helpful when I spoke to them, try calling them!
How old is the safe?
Sparks...
Not sure - I'd say about 10 years. No more. Maybe less.
I have emailed them again and asked if they have anyone who knows the
internal structure of the safe and, if so, could I call them.
No reply yet!!
Is that 'arse' as in - 'how very disappointing'
or 'arse' as in 'don't take that crap from them' ??
Ger
Safe manufacturers are usually less than happy about telling people
how to get in their safes.
I think the Titan range was a pilfer and fire protected safe. If so
if it only has the single centre lock and the door is usually fairly
easy to crowbar off. The secret is to have a very big crowbar. Drill
and cut a slot in the outside skin to allow you a gap to get the
crowbar in and then lever from the corners on the lock side.
This skilled technique is shown in
vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID"078516
Failing that the best route in is usually through the back - you will
find it has a fairly thin skin with an insulating layer between the
outer and inner skin (sometimes sand or concrete to make it seem
heavy). With luck the inside layer is even thinner and can be drilled
and hacksawed to avid the angle grinder sparks damaging the contents.
On these cheap safes the door is often thicker than the sides or back.
To get it off the joists either raise a few floorboards and undo from
underneath or if it is a chipboard floor get one of those cunning
floor hole cutting kits which cuts a replaceable plug out of the
floor. There is no point it trying to crowbar it off as you will need
to lift the floorboards to repair the damage done by this anyway so
its better to lift the floor first and avoid the damage.
You can sometimes cut them free by getting a bandsaw blade, cutting
it, and fabricating two wooden handles to make a long saw so you can
pass the blade under the safe and with two people either side (a bit
like old fashioned lumberjacks) saw the bolts.
Cheap and getting cheaper, so it's rare that it's ever worth opening
such a safe cleanly.
Phoenix are a bit better than the average: better construction and no
crappy "easy access" wafer lock making the whole gadget pointless.
However any real "safe" has a rating of £5k at least, so if you're
only looking at £1k / £1k5 than it's an indication that corners have
been cut.
The uk.d-i-y approach is to cut the corner edges off with an angle
grinder and a grinding disk. Then take the whole thing off the wall,
re-weld the corners and re-attach it. Many of us are tooled up to do
this much, in a couple of hours' time, plus paint drying.
A Phoenix 900 is (AFAIK) drillable in a couple of minutes - by a chap
who knows where and how and charges accordingly. No I don't know. This
is probably the cheapest overall option, considering the mess and
replacement.
One of the £30-something Yales took me about 15 minutes to open, by
manipulating the secondary lock using a real tubular pick (about £50
to buy, if you buy it). The Happy-Shopper ones with the wafer locks
are far less secure.
If it's got external hinges just cut them off.
If not cut around the panel that holds the "electronics" on and look inside
for a coil that operates a small lever mechanism attached to the rear of the
lock. Apply 9v direct to the coil. Failing that if that coil is dead then
you need to dig deeper and find the latch that retains the lock itself and
physically "realign" it.
Easy when u know how ;-)
DAMHIKIJD....OK
Thanks Chrisj, Andy, RW, I will work on those suggestions.
And report back. It'll be a few days.
I'll attack the electrics first and then try drilling!!
But where to drill?
Ger
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