Gun Safe Unlocked + Closet Door Ajar = Buzzing Alarm

[Saitac]

Hey Guys! Not sure this is the right place but here it goes....

I have a Gun Safe in a walk in closet and 2 little boys. I'd like to keep the contents of the safe and my boys apart from each other. I access the safe contents in this way: I close the closet door, open safe, access the contents, close AND bolt safe, then open closet door.

I don't want to forget to bolt the safe shut. I'd like an an alarm to buzz (like a piezoelectric buzzer) if I open the closet door without bolting the safe shut. It would be my "Hey Stupid! Don't forget to lock your safe!" alarm.

I can access the mechanism in the safe to setup a switch (like a magnetic switch). I just need some design guidance. I'm considering how to connect the two sensors and I'm a bit lost, energy consumption (it can't be a bluetooth dongle or anything like that - batteries would die), switch type (magnetic?)?

Any help would be great. Thanks!

The safe and closet door are about 8 feet apart...

 

[betwixt]

Use two reed switches. They are small glass tubes with a wire poking out at each end. You can get them with normally closed contacts or normally open contacts and whichever they are, the switch changes when a magnet is placed nearby. Position magnets suitably on the doors and wire the reed switches one after the other (in series) with the buzzer and battery. If you do it properly, the buzzer will not sound and there will be no load at all on the battery but if the closet is closed with the safe open, the switches will complete the circuit and sound the buzzer. No electronics involved at all !

Brian.

 

[spudboy488]

Along those lines but it should read if Safe Open AND Closet Open, sound buzzer.

 

[betwixt]

Just use the other kind of reed switch. If it's normally closed (switched on) and you place a magnet nearby the switch opens, if it's normally open (switched off) it closes when the magnet is brought close.

What you need is a magnet on each door and a reed switch in/on the door frame. If you use normally closed reeds, they will open (break the circuit) when the doors are closed and close (completing the circuit) when the doors are open.

If you can't find normally closed reed switches, there is a way to use normally open types with a little extra simple circuitry but hopefully you won't need it.

Brian.