motegi
Tyme Machine
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2014
- Messages
- 2,209
INTRO
For most collectors an ideal and economical way to safely store your prized belongings is in a Gun Safe. Large gun safes can be purchased on Amazon or even your nearest Costco store for less than the price of a Swiss Automatic Invicta. These safes, when properly installed and anchored to the floor, will provide you with outstanding theft protection for your watches, jewelry, guns, and important documents. Many of these safes also provide fire protection as well!
One problem, however, is that the safes can be rather dark inside and so accessing small items inside (like watches) can be difficult. Luckily there is a cheap and easy solution for this!
--------------------------------------------------
OVERVIEW
TIME: Roughly 15 minutes
TOOLS: Scissors
COST: $35-$45 in supplies
MATERIALS:
1) Sylvania Mosaic LED remote controlled flexible lighting kit
I bought a 12 Foot kit at Costco for only $29.99 (item #419493). It comes with 6 two-foot long linkable LED strips with 3M adhesive backing, several extension jumpers, a power brick, control box w/ IR receiver, and a wireless remote control.
For those who are not Costco members there is this option on Amazon:
Sylvania Mosaic 8 Foot Kit for $40
2) Adhesive velcro strip (optional)
If your safe has a fuzzy lining like mine, it's ideal for attaching velcro..
You can get a 1/2 inch wide roll of self adhesive velcro at WalMart, a home improvement store, or your local fabric/craft shop. You will be using the "grippy" half of the velcro and not the "fuzzy" part.
--------------------------------------------------
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Open your safe and decide where you want to install the control box and IR receiver. I put mine at the bottom front of the safe. I installed it using a piece of the self adhesive velcro.
2) The power brick is separate from the control box. Some safes have a wire pass through that you can keep the power brick outside the safe and just run the power wire through to the control unit. Alternately some safes have a built in power outlet which you can plug the power brick right in inside the safe. If your safe has neither then you can either drill a hole into the side/back of your safe or if you have a gap around the door you can run the wire through there. If you choose the latter option make sure you test fit first and close the safe to ensure that the wire does not get crimped or cut.
3) Attach the LED strips together. There are 4 pins at the end of each strip that link with the plug on the next strip. There is a + marking on one pin that needs to match up with the + on the next strip's plug. Depending on the size of your safe and the kit that you bought you may need to use the included jumpers to make the strand longer.
4) Now either use the included 3M adhesive to secure the strips to the inside of your safe (if your safe is not lined in fabric) or cut short segments of velcro and stick them to the back LED strip to fasten it to the safe lining. I ran my strand around the inside edge of the entire safe opening. The inside edge has a big enough lip that you cannot see any of the LED strip and it casts a good amount of light into the safe.
5) Finally, mount the IR remote onto the door using another piece of Velcro. You may want to place it so that the IR signal can reach the control unit receiver without having to pull off the remote each time. I mounted mine tuned sideways onto the far edge of the door so that the IR beam points into the safe when the door is open.
6) Turn it on and enjoy the light!
And to make things EXTRA exciting, the Sylvania kit allows for 16 different colors as well as a variety of patterns and brightness levels. Here are a few of the colors:
For most collectors an ideal and economical way to safely store your prized belongings is in a Gun Safe. Large gun safes can be purchased on Amazon or even your nearest Costco store for less than the price of a Swiss Automatic Invicta. These safes, when properly installed and anchored to the floor, will provide you with outstanding theft protection for your watches, jewelry, guns, and important documents. Many of these safes also provide fire protection as well!
One problem, however, is that the safes can be rather dark inside and so accessing small items inside (like watches) can be difficult. Luckily there is a cheap and easy solution for this!
--------------------------------------------------
OVERVIEW
TIME: Roughly 15 minutes
TOOLS: Scissors
COST: $35-$45 in supplies
MATERIALS:
1) Sylvania Mosaic LED remote controlled flexible lighting kit
I bought a 12 Foot kit at Costco for only $29.99 (item #419493). It comes with 6 two-foot long linkable LED strips with 3M adhesive backing, several extension jumpers, a power brick, control box w/ IR receiver, and a wireless remote control.
For those who are not Costco members there is this option on Amazon:
Sylvania Mosaic 8 Foot Kit for $40
2) Adhesive velcro strip (optional)
If your safe has a fuzzy lining like mine, it's ideal for attaching velcro..
You can get a 1/2 inch wide roll of self adhesive velcro at WalMart, a home improvement store, or your local fabric/craft shop. You will be using the "grippy" half of the velcro and not the "fuzzy" part.
--------------------------------------------------
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Open your safe and decide where you want to install the control box and IR receiver. I put mine at the bottom front of the safe. I installed it using a piece of the self adhesive velcro.
2) The power brick is separate from the control box. Some safes have a wire pass through that you can keep the power brick outside the safe and just run the power wire through to the control unit. Alternately some safes have a built in power outlet which you can plug the power brick right in inside the safe. If your safe has neither then you can either drill a hole into the side/back of your safe or if you have a gap around the door you can run the wire through there. If you choose the latter option make sure you test fit first and close the safe to ensure that the wire does not get crimped or cut.
3) Attach the LED strips together. There are 4 pins at the end of each strip that link with the plug on the next strip. There is a + marking on one pin that needs to match up with the + on the next strip's plug. Depending on the size of your safe and the kit that you bought you may need to use the included jumpers to make the strand longer.
4) Now either use the included 3M adhesive to secure the strips to the inside of your safe (if your safe is not lined in fabric) or cut short segments of velcro and stick them to the back LED strip to fasten it to the safe lining. I ran my strand around the inside edge of the entire safe opening. The inside edge has a big enough lip that you cannot see any of the LED strip and it casts a good amount of light into the safe.
5) Finally, mount the IR remote onto the door using another piece of Velcro. You may want to place it so that the IR signal can reach the control unit receiver without having to pull off the remote each time. I mounted mine tuned sideways onto the far edge of the door so that the IR beam points into the safe when the door is open.
6) Turn it on and enjoy the light!
And to make things EXTRA exciting, the Sylvania kit allows for 16 different colors as well as a variety of patterns and brightness levels. Here are a few of the colors:
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