Best battery cut off switch?

[Redsquall]

I've currently got the big red plastic key switch. It pokes the passenger seat preventing it from going back all the way. What's the slickest setup do that the seat goes back and I can still reach over and turn it off?

[Chris 16409]

Here's what I did. I made an aluminum bracket that I attahced the swtich to. Then I bonded the assembly to the floor of the battery compartment. The brand of switch I went with is Pollack. See below.

image.jpg

image.jpg

Here's an example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/291751788564

[DMC-81]

Here is the one I got:



$7 or less on eBay. Here's an example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/311845505780

I put it on the recommended negative post to hide it but others have installed it on the positive side for easy access.

[Redsquall]

Thanks guys!

[David T]

Spend a little bit more and get the one like Chris got but get it with a removable plastic key. Gives you more security, you can remove the plastic key and no one can make the car work even if they find the battery master switch. For the bracket, make it bigger and stick it under the battery to hold it in place, that way you don't have to bond it to the car permanently. If you don't want to lose the radio presets every time you shut the switch off, wire the power from the fuse in the fuseblock to the hot side of the master switch. Add an in-line fuse to the radio. I have seen where some owners drill a hole and let the plastic key protrude through the cover and the carpet so it is easier to turn the switch on and off and remove the key.

[Delorean Industries]

I was taking with rob the other day. He has a bunch of brackets to mount a rotary style switch available still. Worth looking into for sure.

[Shep]

Spend a little bit more and get the one like Chris got but get it with a removable plastic key. Gives you more security, you can remove the plastic key and no one can make the car work even if they find the battery master switch. For the bracket, make it bigger and stick it under the battery to hold it in place, that way you don't have to bond it to the car permanently. If you don't want to lose the radio presets every time you shut the switch off, wire the power from the fuse in the fuseblock to the hot side of the master switch. Add an in-line fuse to the radio. I have seen where some owners drill a hole and let the plastic key protrude through the cover and the carpet so it is easier to turn the switch on and off and remove the key.

Not to backtrack too much, but I always found this kind of logic as a sort of "cat and mouse" game with endless security measures before your car is basically one big Fort Knox-approved locking mechanism. Lock your doors, get a tilt-based audible alarm, mount the tilt sensors to the doors themselves. Done deal. Basically, avoid thinking how to stop every last angle and just get into the mindset of a thief.

If a thief wanted to steal your car quickly, they'd give up as soon as the alarm goes off and would run off (and do -- my neighborhood has seen a rash of car break-ins and you can hear them running for the hills when they blare). But if they were determined, they'd just secure the louvers and tow it away by the back wheels. Then probably replace the louvers later after losing them on the nearest highway on-ramp. Or, even quicker, give the car a jump and drive off before you realized they just drove off without a functional battery. Remember, you technically can drive without a functional battery at all, but seriously don't ever do that, damage can be extensive and usually wreaks havoc on anything electrical ever.

The point of a battery cutoff switch is to completely disconnect the battery, usually for safety or storage reasons. But while allowing the parasitic drain to remain while cutting off everything else makes it a security measure, several aftermarket alarm offerings already include battery cutoff options -- including Wings-A-Loft -- and this becomes redundant. The removable key guys are for those mounted externally, usually for NHRA dragged vehicles like hotrods and such where physical security is not all that great to begin with (roadsters don't have roofs and I've seen many of these that drag). The physical construction of these hotrods are simple in nature and would be VERY easy to steal and make serious cash on quickly given their lack of VIN's also. The ones that can't be removed are usually meant for the cars that simply aren't street legal anymore and are trailered to events, so there's no need to go all out and secure that guy, or for guys that don't really have a need for the extra security measure.

(Last bit explained to me by the more knowledgeable guys at Summit Racing when I used to work there by the way, they really know their stuff).

EDIT:
Also, gotta ask: why light up the battery cutoff switch? Glare on the dashboard alone would drive me nuts, especially at night. Heck if I'm not sure if I got power at a car show, I look at my doors. Lights on? Got power. No lights? Power's off. If it was an RGB kind of guy that could hold for like 5 seconds red or green based on "off" or "on" respectively, that would make sense, but I don't know. You guys are mounting your switches in areas where one errant press can disconnect it. I'd be much more at ease with it mounted where most OBD-II ports are mounted nowadays, out of sight but well within reach!