jamesinyork

What's the best type(**** or knife) and brand battery disconnect?

65hihp

it would take you both hands and both feet to count up all the times this question has been raised and argued over. Some have to have the knife, and some like me love the **** from LICS.
here is just one discussion. If you search battery cutoff you will find many more.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-question.html

corvetteed

Yep, this has been discussed countless times on the Forum; however, mostly folks like the knife type better, me being one of them. I've got a few old cars and have the knife type and have been using them for years w/no problems at all.

65hihp

yep,
same here, several old cars, all with the **** type, been using them for years, w/no problems at all.

Frankie the Fink

Not so lucky - I've had two green **** failures AND not cheap versions either. Seemed as time went on I had to crank down on the **** tighter and tighter to get connection. Then it wouldn't connect at all. Corrosion apparently.

My cars run the knife blade switch now. Some seem to get away with the green **** mechanism - I didn't.

morly1963

I use the knife blade on my 63

quahog

I've had both,little green **** was a pain to use , now have the knife ,quick and easy to use. I vote for the knife. Hope this helps Jeff

65hihp

my **** is black. Not aware of how using it could be made any easier than it is.

Nowhere Man

The **** takes a while to screw close or open. The knife takes a couple of seconds at best to close or open. There is also no guessing if it's tight or not. It's either on or off. After having the **** fail on me once I have gone to the knife. It's fail safe

Frankie the Fink

Pretty much my take on it.

Trust me, I wish the **** worked for me; the knife blade is ugly and takes more room but its bulletproof

Nowhere Man

Yes Frank and the knife doesn't like a wrench dropped on it the wrong way either.

jamesinyork

Thanks All.
Going to give the knife a try first.

Thanks Again.

Jim

Bill32

There is an alternative.

And they never fail.

RatDog

Bill - where do you mount that on your car and do you use it on the + or - terminal?

Steve

Bill32

Steve, you can mount these pretty much anywhere you can run the battery cable to. Obviously with this switch, you have to spend 20 minutes and make up 2 cables.

The positive or negative cable thing has a million opinions. I prefer the negative cable which prevents shorting the positive terminal to ground if you drop something on the battery (not a big deal on a C2). Provided that your car will shut off when the neg. cable is pulled off the battery.

In some cases, the ground to the alternator will allow voltage to still go to the ignition system and the car will still run with a cable removed. This is more of a concern when the switch is used to shut off a running car (race car). And you can get this switch with alternator protection for shutting down when running.

If I put one in my 67, it will probably be close to the battery and just used to prevent discharge and a little bit of theft prevention.
The red key is removable.

RatDog

Thanks, Bill. I'm thinking I could mount it inside my glove box. Pretty close to the battery, out of sight, and my glove box is the shallow plastic one that comes with the Vintage Air system so drilling it is not an issue.

Steve

65hihp

my black **** has been foolproof for the last seven years, on two cars. Takes less than 2 seconds to screw down three revolutions. I don't guess if it's tight or not. I can tell it's tight when it won't turn anymore.
This is not rocket science.
I'm sure the knife is just as easy, but it looks like hell. Why use it?

Bill32

That would give you the added advantage of being able to kill the electrical quickly, in case of a fire. electrical short, etc.

Nowhere Man

So does stuck in a parking lot with a car that ran there but can't get started due to a failed **** disconnect.

SonnyAK

I have a few of the ***** and have had good luck with them. My initial thought was to remove the **** completely during long term storage - good idea, but it was a huge PIA to get it screwed back together on my'66 due to the mounting location! Now I just partially unscrew it even if storing the car for the winter...