SentrySafe Alarm Safe Touch Keypad: Open, Alarm & Battery

Safe lock help · Sentry Safe

Safe lock troubleshooting › Sentry Safe › Sentry alarm safe, touch-to-wake keypad with a PROG key (SFW123T, SFW205T)

Some SentrySafe fire and water safes (the SFW123T and SFW205T series) have a built-in audible alarm and a keypad that wakes up when you touch it, with a PROG key. This guide covers how to open the safe, turn the alarm on and off, change your user code, replace the 4 AAA batteries inside the door, and open the safe with a 9-volt battery when the batteries are dead.

• How to open
• Battery
• Change your code
• Lights
• Lockout
• The alarm: set it, silence it, change it
• Interior light and keypad sound
• Troubleshooting
• Manuals

Want the whole manual? Jump to the manufacturer download links.

Is this your lock?

• A SentrySafe fire and water safe whose keypad is blank until you touch it. It has a PROG key and a small alarm indicator.
• The batteries are in a compartment on the inside of the door: 4 AAA.
• It has a built-in audible alarm that sounds if the safe is picked up or moved, if someone pries at the door, if the wrong code is entered 5 times, or if the safe is jolted, hit or jarred.
• Check the model number on the label: SFW123T…, SFW123U… or SFW205T…. Sentry’s manual is part number P44718.
• Not this keypad? A round keypad with a P key and a C key is a different Sentry keypad: see the Sentry P-key guide.

How to open it

1. Touch the keypad to wake it up.
2. Enter your 5-digit code.
3. Turn the handle to open the safe.

• If you push on the handle too hard, you may hear a click and the handle moves without moving the bolts. That is normal. Push the handle the other way (up) until it clicks back, and try again.
• Dual key models: a dual key lock option may be included. The key can disable or enable entry to the safe, so turn it to the unlocked position.
• First use: take out the lock-out screw (it has a yellow tag) on the inside of the door before you try to open the safe.

How to change the battery

The safe uses four AAA alkaline batteries (we recommend Procell) in a compartment on the inside of the door. Do not use rechargeable batteries or any other non-alkaline type, and do not mix old and new, or alkaline and other types. The keypad shows a yellow “low battery” light when they are weak.

1. Open the safe if you can.
2. Remove the battery compartment from the inside of the door.
3. Put in four new AAA alkaline batteries.
4. Put the compartment back in place, and test your code with the door open.

• Dead battery, safe locked: the Battery Auxiliary Override. Open the silicone cap on the side of the lock and insert a 9-volt battery into the slot. Touch the keypad to wake it, enter your 5-digit code, and turn the handle. Sentry says not to use this as the normal way into the safe: replace the main batteries right after. Do not use a rechargeable or a non-alkaline 9-volt.

How to change your code

1. Touch the keypad to wake it up.
2. Press PROG, then enter the 5-digit factory code from the back of your owner’s manual.
3. The Program light blinks.
4. Enter your own 5-digit user code.
5. Test the new code several times with the door open.

• Delete the user code: touch the keypad, press PROG, enter the factory code, and when the Program light blinks, enter 00000. The lock does not tell you it was deleted, so test the code.
• Secondary code: touch the keypad, press PROG two times, enter the user code, and when the Program light blinks, enter a second 5-digit code. To delete it, do the same and enter 00000. Only one user code and one secondary code can be set at a time.
• The factory code always opens the safe and cannot be deleted or changed. To change safe settings you need the factory code or the user code: a secondary code cannot be used for that.

Lights and beeps

Wrong codes

Five wrong codes sound the alarm if it is turned on. If the alarm is not turned on, five wrong codes put the safe into delay mode for 2 minutes. Wait it out, and then enter the right code.

The alarm: set it, silence it, change it

Set the alarm each time you lock the safe. Sentry says the alarm must be turned on every time, like a home alarm system. If the alarm is not set and the wrong code is entered 5 times, the safe only goes into delay mode for 2 minutes and there is no alarm, and no alarm sounds if the safe is moved or someone tries to force it.

1. To set the alarm: close and lock the door, touch the keypad, then press 0, PROG, 9. The alarm indicator blinks every 10 seconds to show it is on.
2. To turn off a sounding alarm: touch the keypad and enter a valid code. You need to enter the code again to open the safe.
3. Sensitivity (0 to 5): touch the keypad and press 0, PROG, PROG, your factory or user code, 3, then 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. 0 is the least sensitive and only responds to wrong codes. 5 is the most sensitive and responds to slight movement.
4. Alarm length (1 to 99 minutes): touch the keypad and press 0, PROG, PROG, your factory or user code, 4, then a two-digit number from 01 to 99 for the minutes.

• If the alarm goes off too often, lower the sensitivity.

Interior light and keypad sound

Interior light: touch the keypad and press 0, PROG, PROG, your factory or user code, 2, then 0 (off), 1 (30 seconds) or 2 (60 seconds).

Keypad sound: touch the keypad and press 0, PROG, PROG, your factory or user code, 1, then 1 (sound on) or 0 (sound off).

If it still won’t open

The alarm keeps going off

Touch the keypad and enter a valid code to turn it off. If it goes off often by itself, the alarm may be set too sensitive: lower the sensitivity (see above).

The keypad does not wake up when I touch it

Change the 4 AAA batteries. If the safe will not open, use the 9-volt auxiliary connection (the silicone cap on the side of the lock).

The code is right but the door will not open

Turn the handle right after you enter the code. If the handle clicks and the bolts do not move, push it the other way until it clicks back. If the lock-out screw (yellow tag, inside the door) is still in, take it out. On a dual key model, check that the key is in the unlocked position.

I lost the factory code

SentrySafe can look it up from your model and serial number on its Lost Key or Combo page. Call us if you need the safe opened.

Download the full manufacturer instructions

More lock guides

• Sentry Safe Sentry fire and water safe, keypad with a P key (SFW, FP, FPW)
• Sentry Safe Sentry X-series security safe (X055, X075, X105, X125)
• Securam SafeLogic Basic (EC-0601A)
• ← All safe locks

About this guide. This is an independent guide from Steve’s Lock, Safe and Alarm, a safe and lock dealer. Brand and model names belong to their owners and are used only to help you identify your lock. We are not affiliated with the manufacturers. These steps summarize the manufacturers’ own instructions; your lock may be a different version, so if anything here does not match what your lock does, follow your manual or call us. Always change codes with the safe door open, and test the new code several times before you close the door.

Steps last checked against the manufacturer documents on October 19, 2026.