Amsec electronic safe lock... Advice

[NVMM]

I'm going to replace my dial lock with an electronic lock. I've been told by 2 dealers that these locks are trouble free and have a million cycle life.
Any advice on Amsec would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[a1abdj]

I'm assuming you're talking about gun safe dealers, who really aren't in the safe business. Ask them how many safes they personally drill open in a years time. This will give you some basis for their true knowledge of malfunctioning safe locks.

That aside, AMSEC makes quality products. They are one of the largest safe manufacturers in the US, have been around forever, and probably build more safes in a year than some of these gun safe manufacturers have built their entire time in business.

The AMSEC ESL line of electronic safe locks have been submitted and have passed UL rating standards. They are as reliable as most of the other UL rated electronic locks in their price range.

As a whole, electronic locks will not be as reliable as mechanical locks. It doesn't matter who makes them. Although there are exceptions, we tell all of our customers using electronic locks to plan on drilling the safe open some day.

 

[NVMM]

a1abdj, Thank you for the reply.

 

[rodregier]

a1abdj:

Without helping the bad guys, what kind of failure modes are you seeing with the electronic locks?

- battery failure
- unlock mechanism failure
- keypad failure
- control logic
- etc?

Thanks

 

[a1abdj]

Battery failure will happen with every electronic lock. Most of these locks have the batteries on the outside beneath the key pad, and they are easy to replace. I can't tell you how many "my safe won't open" calls that we get where fresh batteries do the trick.

Aside from batteries, the most common failures we see are in the lock body themselves. This can be a mechanical function, or part of the electronics. Each manufacturer has it's own failures that it's known for, it is not common between makers.

When the lock fails, it's usually when the door is closed and locked. As a result, most of these situations require drilling the safe.

Keypad failures make up the least amount of calls that I get. It does happen, but it's easy to fix. You can either replace the keypad, or splice in a temporary to open the lock.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

What he said.

900F

 

[NVMM]

I'm really liking this AMSEC ESL electronic safe lock.
Very fast to open.
And much easier to use with aging eyes!

a1abdj and CB900F, Thanks always for all the information you provide.