harristotle

I'm looking for some advice/help with a battery kill switch. I've solved my electrical issues enough to the point that I can leave the car alone for a day or two and she won't be dead, but any longer than that and the battery is low.

Any time I park her for longer than a day, I just disconnect the battery. Well, I'm getting annoyed with that whole process every time I go out, and want to install a battery kill switch in the car.

Here's what I'm looking at from American Muscle, http://www.americanmuscle.com/taylor...isconnect.html
Will this do the job? I should connect it to the negative side to avoid shorts correct? And, can I just put it as the middle man somewhere along the main negative wire?

Any pics, or info. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

cntchds

If you are really serious about it, what I would do is move my battery to the trunk and install a kill switch to the exterior of the car. There are a lot of write ups on how to do it, and a few switches allow for the switch part to be removed so it isn't hanging off the car all the time. I would then just use that to fully shut off the battery rather than putting it under the hood, but I guess if it's only every few days it wouldn't really have to be that prominent.

2k7gtcs

Have you considered one of these old fahsioned ones. It's so simple. We have to use one on our work truck to keep the battery from going dead.

cdynaco

Quote:

Frankenstein! ye-ahhh!! :sinister laugh:

harristotle

I'm planning on mounting it on the dash or center console so that I can just hop in the car and go.

2k7gtcs

Yeah. That's probably not the look you're going for on your dash.

harristotle

Not quite.

WaltM

Just do a Battery Tender. They're around $30.00 and there's no automotive "reprogramming". My car is sucking on one as I type...
http://batterytender.com/

cntchds

I've never seen one on the dash like that. Maybe a solenoid that controls the real cut off would work, but I think it would take a whole bunch of work to run the wire so that it could be physically cut off in the cabin...

harristotle

I can't do that where I am at right now. The car is always parked in a parking lot. I keep it covered when I'm not driving it so I couldn't even use a solar powered one.

Do you have any references for a setup like that, that I could check out? (I hate dealing with electrical stuff, partly why I'm trying to gather so much info. on this) Thanks!

cntchds

Never even heard of such a set up. I just figured I'd throw the idea out there since it was the only plausible thing I could think of to get it in the cabin.

WaltM

Here's a bunch http://www.summitracing.com/search/?...20switch&dds=1n mount it on a frame rail or behind the grille for that matter, and they should have instructions w/tech support.

cntchds

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...D442DK9481081Z

Comes with a remote to disconnect and reconnect the battery without popping the hood.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/B.../?autoview=sku

That is an example of a switch in the cabin like I was thinking of before. Price seems similar, and you can't lose a switch like you can lose a remote.

http://www.watsons-streetworks.com/battery.html

This one has a couple more stealth options...

harristotle

Awesome! Those look a lot more practical. I will look into them... thank you!

cntchds

Sure dude. As soon as I thought of plugging "remote" into the search it came up with actual... remotes, which was pretty sweet.

laserred38

Wouldn't it perhaps be better to find out what is really killing your battery?....

cntchds

I know that he at very least posted a thread about his battery drain problem. It seems to me that he either gave up, or it wasn't worth fixing the correct way, and this would be "enough."

Although I agree with you Patrick, I have been in that position where fixing it the right way is a whole boatload more complicated than just fixing the problem.

harristotle

I would love to find out what is causing the drain, but I've spent some time already and can't figure it out. I replaced the battery, the leads to the battery, and that helped the problem a lot (before changing the leads it was to the point where I couldn't leave it more than an hour or two without it being dead, I can leave it now for around 2 days and be fine). I spent a good deal of time with my friend one weekend using a voltmeter and going through all the fuses engine bay and interior to try and isolate the problem and we couldn't find it. I've checked out all the inside systems to make sure that I don't leave anything on that could be draining it too.

Long story short, I would love to fix it... if I had any clue what to even fix.

laserred38

Haha man that sucks big time. I hate electrical issues in cars (modern cars at least. They're so hard to solve. I figured you at least tried...and yeah at that point I think I'd justto the route you're going. Good luck bud!

harristotle

Bought the switch yesterday. I'm hoping to put it in next Tuesday or Wednesday along with a wash, oil change, and coolant top off.