hidden electrical kill switch inside interior

[indyjps]

anyone have a hidden kill switch inside the interior. thinking of installing one that will kill all power to electrical for security purposes. any ideas on where to locate it or safety issues involved.

[Yenkostyle]

Well if I told you where I located mine... J/K I too would like to know what peoples thoughts are on this from a safety standpoint... Sorry I am not much help.

[astroracer]

I had one in my bird just under the lower dash lip. It killed the ignition by incompleting the ground when the switch was open. Flip the switch and she would fire right up. I also had it wired so, if the ignition was engaged with the switch off, an inline fuse would blow, which killed the ignition even if the switch was found and turned on... The fuse was hidden in a different spot and would have to be changed before the car would start...
Mark

[Kenova]

........... I also had it wired so, if the ignition was engaged with the switch off, an inline fuse would blow, which killed the ignition even if the switch was found and turned on... The fuse was hidden in a different spot and would have to be changed before the car would start...
Mark
Good idea! Unfortunately, I'm unable to figure out how you did it. Would you care to share the idea by way of a simplified diagram?
Ken

[hotroddr]

Ive heard of a headlight dimmer switch installed under the carpet so you press on the carpet in a certain place and the car is able to start.
I mounted my switch under my drivers seat,
Another idea is to wire it through the cigarette lighter so the car will only start with the cigarette lighter pushed in.
I like the idea of a momentary switch hidden somewhere so that it wouldnt click like the headlight dimmer switch.
Of course you can always run a hot lead from the alternator to the distributor and hot wire it so kill switches cant stop everyone.

I used to flip the kill switch, disconnect the battery, turn the wheels all the way and put a club on it to make it harder to steal, or tow. Those anti theft devices are all easily broken past though

[paul67]

Don't forget if its comp controled engine you need a special 1.
paul1967

[Damn True]

I had one in my bird just under the lower dash lip. It killed the ignition by incompleting the ground when the switch was open. Flip the switch and she would fire right up. I also had it wired so, if the ignition was engaged with the switch off, an inline fuse would blow, which killed the ignition even if the switch was found and turned on... The fuse was hidden in a different spot and would have to be changed before the car would start...
Mark



If you'd draw up a schematic of that in paint or something I'd appreciate it.

[Ralph LoGrasso]

I think astroracer has the best idea here.

Don't discount a thieves intelligence. Back in the early 80s, my Dad had his '66 Corvette sandwhiched inbetween two cars (3-5" between bumpers), and he had a cut off switch on it. In brooklyn, car theft is always a problem, and my Dad was extremely paranoid. He used to wake up every hour or two and check to make sure his car was still there. To make a long story short, he woke up one morning around 3AM, and the car was gone. A couple of thieves had wedged it out from between the two cars and loaded it onto a flatbed. He actually wound up finding the car down the block on the exact same flatbed and got it back. Moral of the story is, if someone wants your car bad enough, they'll get it.

However, a kill switch can be a good deterrant, but a kill switch in a place like the cigeratte lighter, or the defroster, one of the buttons on the dash, etc. is almost useless. The thieves know all the tricks we do, and when they get into a car and it won't start, they start pushing buttons until it does, it won't take them but a minute or two to figure out one of the simple switches. This is why Mark's idea is so good, as they'll probably try to start it first, before looking for the switch.

Another good idea for a cut off switch is a two stage one. Where two things need to be done at once, or two buttons need to be activated, etc., for the car to start.

[ProStreet R/T]

I have a couple safety nets built into the truck. The new trucks have a ton of tight spaces so I wired a switch into the 12v on the standalone PCM. It's in a location where even if I told you exactly where it was would take a few minutes to figure out.

Also made it very easy for the car to be impossible to drive away. Wired the standalone with some twist lock bullet plugs. If you know where the pcm is, takes 20 seconds to remove the whole thing. Good luck going anywhere with out that. Makes me worry less if I'm going to be gone for a while out of town.

Or you could just remove your coil wire, or pull the fuel pump fuse if you use an electric pump.

[astroracer]

You guys have me wondering now... I'll have to get into the car to check the wiring. I thought I made a diagram when I did it but I looked last night and can't find it. I know it was pretty simple and I think I used a dp/dt (on-off-on) switch so the "off" side would go hot when the ignition was turned on and blow the fuse but I'm not sure. Let me look this weekend or maybe one of our wiring guru's can figure it out...
Mark

[Damn True]

I knew a guy in HS that had a Pro-Street Baracuda. He had a switch panel with about 5 switches on it labeled "fan" "fuel" "water" etc. They actually had nothing to do with any of those systems as he had the fan, fuel pump water pump etc all hard wired into 12v hot so when the car was on those systems were on.

But what the panel was is this: He had a bunch of NC and NO switches wired in series that had to be in the right combination in order to close the circuit and the required position had nothing to do with the on/off labels.

At any rate it was a pretty effective deterant. He and his dad were trailering the thing to So-Cal to a race and it was on the trailer in a hotel parking lot. Apparently the thieves had no trouble getting it off the trailer but then couldn't get it started. The hotel desk called them at 3am to ask why the car was blocking the driveway. They went outside and found the car, window broken ignition punched but otherwise intact.

It also kept him from driving the thing drunk on a couple of occasions.

[Steven]

I installed a kill switch several years ago which prevented the car from being stolen. The parolee was caught and stated that he figured that there was a kill switch due to not being able to start the car. He felt that the did not have the time to hunt it down. I now have two switches. Kill the starter and something else. Make sure you use the proper gauge wire and a heavy switch circuit.

[David Pozzi]

There are fuel shut off solenoids too.
My wife's car has a shut off switch in the trunk along with the battery, with it off, the only thing live in the car is the stereo memory circuit.
I have a friend who has a remote controlled battery kill switch.
I heard of a guy wiring his cigarette lighter to act as a kill switch. He would push it in to make the car start.

[Rolling_Thunder]

I have a switch wired to my neutral safety which acts as a kill switch... car cannot be startd with it off... i also am wiring in a switch that kils all power to the dash

[6'9"Witha69]

I have used a relay before to disable the - side of the coil. Car will crank and give the illusion of not having a kill switch when it really does. Some cars have neat places that only one finger can get into to flip the switch and you would have to contort yourself under the dash to figure it out.