For properly storing one’s firearms and keeping them out of the wrong hands, there’s nothing better than a gun safe. Today’s safes are higher-tech than ever before, incorporating features such as electronic keypads and re-locking systems that ensure the safety of one’s firearms.

Of course, with electronic keypads comes a different kind of maintenance. After all, there is little that is less convenient than going to open up your gun safe and finding that the battery in the electronic keypad has died.

When the keypad’s battery has died or its voltage is too low, the electronic keypad will not permit you to open your vault. Thankfully, changing the battery is a relatively simple process. One simply needs to pop out the battery holder from underneath the keypad and replace it with fresh ones. Even when replacing the batteries, the keypad can remember the previously set combination.

Popular firearms blog AccurateShooter recommends changing the keypad batteries about once a year as a precautionary measure—which certainly beats finding out you’re locked out of your safe when you need your guns most. Most keypads only require one to two 9v batteries, so taking care of this simple bit of gun safe maintenance is relatively inexpensive and painless.