Electronic Safes: Small doors open to big things

Electronic Safe Size

Consider what kind of items most often need to be secured - from personal effects, to laptop computers to larger items.

Usability

The keypad and display on your safe should be large enough, ADA compliant, and visible inside cabinets or closets. The instructions must be simple, clear, visible and available in multi-languages. The safe should be easy to reach. RFID safes are also available for convenient use.

Maintenance

For many safes on the market, changing the batteries is a difficult and time-consuming chore. Look for a safe that simply uses 4 standard AA batteries. Before you purchase, try replacing the batteries. Look at the number of screws that will have to be removed and replaced and look where they are located.

Also make sure that the bolt mechanism and its electronic board are contained together in a single replaceable part. Ideally the bolt mechanism is fixed on the door rather than in the inside cover.

Mechanical Security

Choose a safe with at least 2 solid steel anti-drill rotating bolts - one is not enough. Select a safe with recessed doors for insertion protection, anti-labyrinth mechanism, tamper-proof security screws and bolt-side reinforced mechanism.

Electronic Security

Your safe’s electronics should be reliable against up to a 500,000 volt surge attack.

Electronic Override

Select a safe with a Non-Resident master code contained in a portable programmer that is password protected with operators who are identified by name. Portable programmers should also be heavy duty, fall & shock resistant.

Audit Trail

To protect you from liability, your safe should offer a record of, at least, the last 100 operations. The audit trail should be easy to retrieve

Shut Down Mode

After several unsuccessful attempts, the safe should enable a shutdown mode for a period of time.