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How To lock your cabinet doors... THE STEALTH WAY.

DeadlyFoez

Active member
Ok, so for a long time I have been trying to find the best solution to lock my c24 cab, without the obvious locks, chains, pad locks, or cam lock that draw more suspicious than if to not have any at all. I have seen quite the boner ways that people have done things and if I were to ever see one I would know that something is up.

So, this is my idea. I would get 2 of these 80 lb Electro Magnet and I would have both mounted on the inside of my c24, one for the top of the doors and one for the bottom of the doors. The magnets would be centered right where the cabinet doors meet so each magnet will be able to catch both doors.

I will have to have some plates made for the magnets to catch onto since the ones included are just one big plate, when we need 4 smaller ones.

Now pick up something like this Power control by remote . They have similar things sold at home depot and target.

Last 2 things you will need is a 12v DC output transformer and the correct relay for what you want to do, if you do indeed need one.

***MY SETUP***
The setup that I am doing is that I have 2 separate power strips inside my cabinet. I am hooking one of those power strips to first have to run through one of those Remote power controllers. I am going to have it so if an emergency ever happen and there are some unexpected visitors, then I will hit my button on my remote, and it will turn off the power strip that goes to my lights and fans.

This setup will require 2 dc transformers, one to power the magnets, and one to power the relay. The one powering the relay will be plugged into the power strip with the lights so it can be switched, the other transformer will be plugged into the power strip that is always on (and also runs me Growtronix computer).

The relay that I will use will be a normally closed relay (so when the transformer powering the relay is on, the magnets will be turned off). But the instant I have an emergency and have to turn off my lights, the magnets will kick on and the doors will be locked.

This is perfect setup to have everything hidden and totally lock proof.

*** THE OTHER SETUP***

You can use just ur magnets, remote power controller, and the transformer and be able to lock and unlock your cabinet with the push of a button.

This setup is a great help, because for one thing, the remote is something that you can attach to your key chain, always have it with you, and looks just like something for a car anyways. Nothing will be showing to give people the thought of "what do you have to have locked up?" And if you did like me and used a roll of felt around the edge of your cabinet to light proof like I did (see my link in my signature), then the magnets will help pull your door in to add for better light proofing. Another great thing is that you can press the button and lock the doors, but if you see that your doors are open you can still run up and close them and not have to fumble with keys and it will be locked instantly.

The last thing that is so great about this is that with having magnets at top and bottom, it would make it impossible for someone to even slightly pull the doors open and peak into the cab, or allow any light to peak out.

Someone may walk up and wonder whats inside, but if they pull on it and see that it is "stuck" without any obvious locking system showing, then they'll keep on walking past.

It is a little costly (about $200), but for safety and security you cannot put a price on in those moments of emergency.

I hope this helps some people out. Have fun and happy growing
 
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G

Guest

This would be great for anyone looking for something a bit beefier than tot-loks
 

rastamonunika

Active member
Foez, you did it again =P


GREAT idea. . . those are a bit pricey, but wow would they be worth it. . . anyone find a cheaper location to purchase them>?


Either way, great idea and a great find! keep cookin up good ideas and spreadin the love =)



lots of Love and Light
unika
 
thats a great idea deadly. i'm building my own cab right now that has a stealth locking device on it as well (no padlocks, hindges...) that definetly didn't cost me $200 but about $10. i'll be posting a thread soon of my box, you'll get the idea then.
 

DeadlyFoez

Active member
Well, apparently not too many people liked this idea, but it will work very well. I actually am going to help a buddy out and set one of these magnet systems up in his cab. He actually has something to be concerned about considering he aint growing tomatoes like I am.

But out of all options him and I have looked at, this was the best one so it wouldn't be obvious that he has somethign to keep locked up. And plus, there is no way that someone would be able to even slightly pull open the door and let light peak out.

But for the rest of you, just even one magnet would do, hell, no one is going to try to pull open a cabinet door with more than 80 lbs of force unles they certainly know whats inside, but even so, they try pulling and they can't get it open, most people will just walk away knowing that it's locked.
 
I think it's a kickass idea. I'm going to use something similar for my hidden room door, which will be considerably heavier than a cab door, (it'll be a piece of removeable wall around 4'x4') so I found a 1200 lb door magnet set :D I'll set it up with a 12v DC system with a UPS backup, security is worth every penny for peace of mind IMO. Good idea man! :wave:
 
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Blunt_69

the keeper of the creeper
Veteran
Ive seen it done already with a garage entrance door. It was acually hooked into his alarm system(has to enter a code to disable the magnet) He made me try to open the door...there was no freaken way untill he punched the code in.Very cool.

The 29 site aeroponic setup was even cooler when i walked inside....
 
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G

Guest

I see someone posted about power losses... a UPS Backup. BUT what if the power went out long term, got shut down even - then what? Any ideas?
 
The UPS I have selected will last for approximately 2-3 days, if I lost power for any longer than that, I'd have far bigger and much worse problems than the door to my grow opening...
 
G

Guest

BudGood2006 said:
The UPS I have selected will last for approximately 2-3 days, if I lost power for any longer than that, I'd have far bigger and much worse problems than the door to my grow opening...
My point entirely. I dont want to come back after a short vacation to find the power went out and my shit's gone. I have my set up so that I can leave for up to 4 days at a time... and the power around here has been known to go out for as long as a week in the winter...
 
G

Guest

Would this be the way to go to keep a closet door shut? I dont want that door opening for anyone but me unless they take an axe to it.
 

DeadlyFoez

Active member
On a c24 or similar, it would be perfect. They make other electro door magnets that go all the way up to 600 lb strength so that would be awesome for hidden entries.
 

Buzzsmirk!

Active member
DeadlyFoez said:
On a c24 or similar, it would be perfect. They make other electro door magnets that go all the way up to 600 lb strength so that would be awesome for hidden entries.


there r maglock products on the market that go to 1500 pounds of hold.

UPS is an inefficiant way of back up for mag locks too
use power supplies w/ direct battery backup connections is the way to go for
your intended application/worries.

BUZZ!
 

DeadlyFoez

Active member
why would a UPS be inefficiant?

I plan to have one anyways to run my pumps and a few back up compact flouros to keep my light cycle. I was going to spend like $800 on a very good UPS so it could run for up to 2-3 days before running out. That would give me enough time to hook up a generator if I knew that power was going to be out for a while for whatever reason.

Do you got a link to those power supplies with direct battery backup because I'm not fully understanding that part of it? Is it just backs up power of the propper dc voltage to a battery instead of the full 120vac?
 

[]D[][]V[][]D

New member
Have you thought about using growtronix to control your door lock? You could use a switch module and a relay to control an electric door strike or your eletromagnetic lock.
For the remote control get a kit such as the Qkit K6707 or the 2 ch version. A nice little growtronix trick is to take a wire from the K6707 relays COM and NO or NC connection and solder a phono jack to the wire and plug it into a growtronix float sensor. Then you can setup the software to do whatever you want when you push the button on the remote. You could have one channel be an emergency shut down and the other open and close your door. I use mine in a policy that has a condition - Float Sensor Closed Action - Turn off everything. DJ recommended this method on the forums for setting up a smoke detector that has a relay built into it, but anything that has a relay can send open/closed info to the growtronix app using a float sensor.
 
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DeadlyFoez

Active member
Yeah I thought of that, but I typed it up the way I did since most people dont have GT. And my buddies cab doesnt have gt and so thats the way Im going to set it up for him.
 

Buzzsmirk!

Active member
DeadlyFoez said:
why would a UPS be inefficiant?

I plan to have one anyways to run my pumps and a few back up compact flouros to keep my light cycle.

Do you got a link to those power supplies with direct battery backup because I'm not fully understanding that part of it? Is it just backs up power of the propper dc voltage to a battery instead of the full 120vac?

if u r gonna back up 120 volt stuff like pumps and lights then a UPS would be a NEED but if u were gonna back stuff thats DC then batts on the dc powersupply are the most efficient
if u have a dc device(maglock) that souces it primary power from an AC driven powersupply and u back up that power supply w/ A/C (UPS) it still has to convert the A/C to dc by use of step down transformers and diode bridges then to some extent a filtering/regulating circuit . all that stuff is accomploished VIA batteries w already have the desired output (clean "FLAT" DC current)
thats the Jist of my "efficiency" point.
BUZZ!
 

icough2getoff

Active member
This is a great idea. I grew in a C24 for a while and I was looking at these but I got Tot Locks instead, thinking they would work fine and they were a lot cheaper.

Well I wouldn't recommend Tot Locks unless you're on a really low budget. They work but with a good tug I can open mine up. They do help to hold the doors tight to prevent light leaks so I kept them and added this lame looking combo lock on the outside. Well that drew a lot of curiosity from a girl staying at my place once and while I wasn't paying attention she was up in my room and trying to figure out what was in there. She saw a light so I was forced to cut all my babies down and I haven't grown since. If I ever grow in a cab again I'm definately using this method.

I agree with BudGood, security is worth every penny for the piece of mind
 

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