Let There Be Light… For your Gun Safe
Few, if any, gun safes come with adequate factory-installed lighting. Even if you have overhead lamps in the room where your safe resides, you’ll still find that the inside of your safe is dark, making it difficult to find small items. By adding interior lighting to your gun safe, you’ll lessen the chance of “bumping and grinding” your precious firearms as you move them in and out of the safe.
Here is a simple, do-it-yourself project that costs very little money. String LED lighting is now available at low cost. Called “rope lights” or “string lights”, these are strings of LEDs in lengths of plastic tubing. Gunsafe vendors sell strings for up to $35.00 per coil, but you can buy the same products at discount chains for under $5.00. Brian J. from Virginia reports: “I just went to Wally World’s Christmas clearance section and picked up two strands of Rope Lights for $3.50 each!” He then installed the strings behind the shelves of his gunsafe, as you can see in the photos.
LEDs draw very little electrical power and have a very long life-span so you can leave your Rope Lights running continuously in winter. These will provide some warming of the air in the safe, which helps prevent rust by raising the dew point. We still recommend that you use a GoldenRod or similar warming unit, placed at the bottom of your safe, plus desiccant packs to actually absorb moisture.
As you can see, Rope Lights provide a great lighting solution that illuminates even the small dark corners of internal shelving units. Rope Lights are easy to install. Just string the lights behind your shelves. Most safes come with a pre-drilled hole in the bottom for a dehumidifier. Just slip your Rope Light power cord through this hole and plug it into the wall.
For more tips on how to illuminate your safe and protect its contents from rust and corrosion, read our Gun Safe Buyers’ Guide. The most comprehensive Gun Safe Resource on the web, this article covers a multitude of topics including lock selection (electronic vs. manual), fire-proofing, door hinge design, water-proofing, wall construction, rust prevention, and gun safe installation.
Gun safe interior photos by Brian J., used with permission.
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Tags: Gunsafe, LED Lighting
Most true LED rope lights are about $90 – $150 per 50 foot section. I think you guys used indecent lights that get much warmer. I actually just got back from Lowes, and the package says they need to be in an area with very good circulation because of the heat they produce. Have you guys had any issues as of yet?
Those are definitely incandescent rope lights. LEDs would be a cooler color (more blue). I’d be hesitant to let those (incandescents) run continuously inside my safe.
I just did rope lighting from Lowes 24ft for $14 and got an RF switch for $16. This combo works perfectly for my needs. I did want to go with LED but found the price to be 2-3x the cost of these lights and a shorter length. You can see my lighting at
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showpost.php?p=6223021&postcount=288