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good place for a kill switch?
pete wood - April 2nd, 2007 at 04:17 PM

just bought a kill switch for my battery.

http://www.narva.com.au/Switches_15.html 

where is a good place to put it on a buggy? Interior or exterior? Are there any little tricks?


BiX - April 2nd, 2007 at 04:48 PM

I mount mine inside the boot (near the battery), with a pull wire to below the dash, and a second wire pull to the outside grill above the bonnet......

For Cams, iam pretty sure it needs to be able to be activated from outside the car.


pete wood - April 3rd, 2007 at 08:15 AM

emailed my club scrutineer, he's sent me a cams document. so i'll have a look at next I guess. what did you make your draw wires with?


Kimbo - April 3rd, 2007 at 01:03 PM

Pete,

If you're planning on racing then the switch will need to be in a CAMS approved location - from the offroad buggy perspective, it has to be in the middle 1/3rd of the dash and can be reached by both occupants (assuming two) - for vehicles with windows then I believe there also has to be an exterior draw wire of some form, I think on the drivers side A-pillar. But, as I said that's for offroad, for other forms of racing they'll no doubt have their own requirements.

Now the next bit you'll need to verify with a car electrician (which I'm not) but if you're running an alternator (as opposed to a gen), then you need to consider how things are wired - with a gen you can effectively put the output from the battery straight into the switch and then run everything from the other side of the switch, throwing the switch in an emergency, cuts the power from the battery, and the engine dies - with an alternator I'm led to believe that doesn't happen, and on top of that if you "test" the switch (ie when you really don't have an emergency situation) you could end up damaging your alternator.

That's my 50c, for what is worth.

Cheers ... Kimbo


pete wood - April 3rd, 2007 at 03:58 PM

ta, I'll look into both those things.

nothing is ever simple is it....:crazy:


Kimbo - April 3rd, 2007 at 05:16 PM

No probs - I did somewhere have a diagram somewhere showing how to wire the switch if you're running an alternator, but can't seem to find it - I'm sure it had something to do with running the output from the alternator back through the switch (but definitely don't quote me on that one) - I'm off to a club meeting this evening so will ask around for a simple explanation (if that's possible)


amazeer - April 9th, 2007 at 11:32 AM

In my fastback I mounted it on the kick panle of the back seat, right next to the battery. I dont think it mattered where the switch was located though it would be pointless to put it where you couldnt reach it. If I reached back between the seats it was right there. It was also remote operated with a cable from the drivers A pillar with a cable from a bike shop.

I cant find the wiring diagram that came with my switch. It was the more expensive one that has a relay on the back of it to cut power to the efi computer and fuel pumps. It also had a ballast resistor looking thing grounded to earth to prevent voltage spikes from frying electroincs and alternator.


whatnow - April 25th, 2007 at 10:47 AM

good place for a kill switch... in my case i think a good place for a kill switch would be between my brain and my mouth, to be used in cases of intoxication.

henry.