kill switch.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 2,097
Likes: 99
From: Boston MA
There is no good place in the interior of the car. Anyplace that you can reach while sitting in the driver's seat will be found by the amateur thief. The interior of these cars is just not that big. Sticking it up under the dash or under the rug may appear clever, but it isn't.
On my C1, I put the switch in the trunk. Ran a wire from the coil (I forget which terminal.) through the firewall, and interior into the trunk. After the trunk, it went to ground. In the trunk, the circuit has an on and off switch.
If the switch were anywhere else outside the interior, it'd be obvious to a bad guy watching you if you bent down and did something before you got in the car and started it. But it's not so obvious when you go into the trunk first.
A better way to do a "kill" switch is with relays. Control the relay with a sequence of innocent appearing actions and a timer. That'd really fool 'em.
Also consider a fuel line shut-off petcock and an alarm.
On my C1, I put the switch in the trunk. Ran a wire from the coil (I forget which terminal.) through the firewall, and interior into the trunk. After the trunk, it went to ground. In the trunk, the circuit has an on and off switch.
If the switch were anywhere else outside the interior, it'd be obvious to a bad guy watching you if you bent down and did something before you got in the car and started it. But it's not so obvious when you go into the trunk first.
A better way to do a "kill" switch is with relays. Control the relay with a sequence of innocent appearing actions and a timer. That'd really fool 'em.
Also consider a fuel line shut-off petcock and an alarm.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 7,106
Likes: 38
From: Newark DE
do you smoke and does the ciggy lighter in your car work?.
you could actually wire up the cig lighter so that with the actual lighter out the car won't start but by putting it back in it will complete the circut and the car runs.
When you leave the car just pull out the lighter and throw it in your glovebox, pocket, whatever. Nobody is going to think that is your kill switch even if they did find the lighter sitting in your glovebox - they will just think you are discouraging use of the lighter in the car.
When I worked for a car stereo/car security shop a number of years back we did that trick a lot.
Unfortunately I was the sales manager not one of the installers so I can't tell you exactly how to wire it up but now that the idea is out there i'm sure others who know wiring a lot better than me should be able to figure it out pretty easily. I know my installers said it worked great and it was easy to do.
you could actually wire up the cig lighter so that with the actual lighter out the car won't start but by putting it back in it will complete the circut and the car runs.
When you leave the car just pull out the lighter and throw it in your glovebox, pocket, whatever. Nobody is going to think that is your kill switch even if they did find the lighter sitting in your glovebox - they will just think you are discouraging use of the lighter in the car.
When I worked for a car stereo/car security shop a number of years back we did that trick a lot.
Unfortunately I was the sales manager not one of the installers so I can't tell you exactly how to wire it up but now that the idea is out there i'm sure others who know wiring a lot better than me should be able to figure it out pretty easily. I know my installers said it worked great and it was easy to do.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 18,191
Likes: 145
From: Snake handler
I've heard of the 'ol lighter trick. I would think that you have to isolate it from the console ground - I'd like to do this. I now pull the coil fuse (modern GM fuse block) and sometimes I remove the green **** from the battery shut off. It would be nice to just push in the cig lighter and go....Any body know how to wire this?
pm
pm
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 3,025
Likes: 12
From: Pleasant Grove AL
If you are wanting to complete a ground circuit, disconnect teh power feed from the center terminal on the back of the lighter and attach the wire you want to ground to it. After this, pushing the lighter in will complete the circuit.
