HELP! My Winchester digital safe went crazy!

DarrenC

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So, I haven't been in my gun safe in 2-3 weeks. I went to open it and got red lights and beeps for wrong combination. I've had this safe for 10 years with the same combination. Dead battery? Nope. Wrong combination? Nope. Something got reset. Did you check if the factory default (123456) was the combo? It's not.

Absolutely nothing changed and suddenly my combo doesn't work anymore. I tried letting it sit with no battery. Nope. Fresh battery. Nope. Entering combo r-e-a-l-l-y slow...nope.

Does anybody have a clue? I'm just short of having to hire a locksmith.

PS - I have been saving up for a combo safe to get rid of the digital anyway. I've never liked it but now it sealed its fate...

Anybody want a 10 year old mostly working digital safe when I get it open?
 

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Keypad might be bad. Call Winchester and ask them wtf lol


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Oh yeah, if you know a good locksmith in the Winston/Greensboro area please let me know. I may just change it to a dial if it's doable. Definitely easier...
 
Keypad might be bad. Call Winchester and ask them wtf lol

Keypad seems to be registering good input with each press (eg it is responsive). Winchester basically said tough nut...it's 10 years old.
 
Possible one or more electrolytic capacitors on the circuit board have
leaked and damaged one or more pc board traces.

How many beeps are you getting after the last digit of the combination is entered?
 
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Keypad seems to be registering good input with each press (eg it is responsive). Winchester basically said tough nut...it's 10 years old.
Seriously, they don't have any suggestions? If so, what can a locksmith do?

Is this the only solution? :eek:
11563.jpg.thumb_1024x1024.jpg
 
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And yeah, I think I'd like to have it when you're done with it (assuming you didn't have to resort to Tannerite).
 
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Darren,
I hate to say this, but you may need to have a locksmith open it for you.
Or you might be able to Google search, using your safe's name and model # to find the easy way to break into it.
It's sad to say, but many safe's electronic locks have an easy back door way of getting in.
Some of them are stupid simple, if you know the trick.
That's one of the reasons why I'm sticking with the old, slow, mechanical combination locks. o_O
Good luck. Please let us know how it works out.
Duane
 
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Winchester site has link to print pdf to mail in to get the hidden combination.
If that fails you can just cut it open $20 and put the locksmith money towards a new safe.
grinder.jpg
 
Oh yeah, if you know a good locksmith in the Winston/Greensboro area please let me know. I may just change it to a dial if it's doable. Definitely easier...

Know a good smith in Clemmons. I asked him that very question and he told me I'd be better off just buying a safe with a standard dial lock.
 
They are easy to get into. I got a run of bad locks from a safe company one time. Just get a new electric combo lock of ebay amazon or where ever, your old lock can be removed by either lifting the whole lock straight up or rotating it left or right. the locks are held on with two screws like on the back of a power strip the head goes in the big hole and then they slide the lock over the head. Once youhave gotten the lock lose you will see three wires. You will need to cut these three wires and then splice in the wires from your new lock. punch in the new locks code and you are in. There is no reason to call a lock smith or damage the safe to get in. This will not work on all makes of electronic locks but works on most safes that are not very high end.
this video demonstrates lock removal. There are many other info videos on you tube to help.
 
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Does this help?

 
Wow guys, thanks. I’ve got some video watching and work to do when I get home from work today! I’ll keep you guys updated.
 
Sorry you are having this problem. I know I have looked at many safes at store displays and they cannot get into the safe for me to look at the interior so I will not have an electronic combination.
 
Reason I stick with my old Sargent and Greenleaf dial combination locks. DarrenC, I hope you get it rectified.

CD
Hard to go wrong there...... When I got mine, I stayed away from electronic locks.

Good luck OP, If nothing else it will wind up as a cool looking cabinet.
 
A good lock Smith will remove the mechanism, drill the safe, open it, fill the drilled holes with epoxy and then install and program a new keypad.

Whole process will take them about an hour. I’ve watched them do it.

It’s not exactly cheap but less that a new safe. If your interested I’ll see if I can find the number for a guy I used out in TN once. He travels up and down the east coast opening bank vaults.
 
UPDATE

So, I've apparently dodged a bullet...I just tried to open it one more time and IT OPENED. That thing will never be closed back! There's no logical reason other than something faulty with the electronic lock.

I got various 'beep' codes between battery changes and lockouts. Nothing consistent and nothing helpful.

Again, appreciate the help guys. If it hadn't opened I'd be stuck with a locksmith charge. Now I'll put the $ toward a new safe...
 
How fat are your fingers? Show us them sausages.
 
I've got a winchester safe myself, and had kinda the same problems as you. Mine would just out of nowhere not take the code, then emit little weird sounds while not doing anything when pressing the numbers. I wound up just buying and installing a new keypad from Amazon, another Lagard. I believe it was around $90.00. It was super easy, and now I have no issues. Good luck whatever you choose to do.
 
For what its worth, I am looking at putting this on a small safe I keep upstairs.(A larger one is in the basement). My wife has trouble with the dial combo because she doesn't use it enough.
I don't trust the electronic locks for the same reasons you don't .It is a tad pricey, but it will give her instant pushbutton access and the foolproof of a mechanical lock.

upload_2018-3-22_4-39-3.png
 
Some digital locks will reject any input after several wrong attemps.
Swap the lock yourself with a S&G old school combination lock. YouTube videos.
 
UPDATE

So, I've apparently dodged a bullet...I just tried to open it one more time and IT OPENED. That thing will never be closed back! There's no logical reason other than something faulty with the electronic lock.

I got various 'beep' codes between battery changes and lockouts. Nothing consistent and nothing helpful.

Again, appreciate the help guys. If it hadn't opened I'd be stuck with a locksmith charge. Now I'll put the $ toward a new safe...

Glad you got it open! I had this same problem about 2 years ago with my Winchester. Luckily Winchester had a backdoor combination to my safe. It was some 10-15 digit combo. They instructed me to leave it open, within 2 weeks they had Locksmith out to change the keypad.

I never did fully trust the new digital lock, and I didn't like the fact that Winchester had a backdoor on file. I ended up buying a S&G dial take off from ebay and changing the lock out myself. Super easy, no new safe needed.
 
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