battery cut off switch?

[fetherw8]

now that everything mechanical runs in my car its down to the stupid things...somewhere there is a short causing my battery to drain. i was planning on making a cut off switch for my battery. has anyone done one before?i want the switch to go into the interior for easy access.

would a standard relay hooked up to the battery with a switch wired into the relay to turn it on work? or would just a normal switch be able to handle all the current from the car without failing miserably?

[h.240]

Do you mean cutting the main power from all the electrical components of your car everytime you shut the car off? This would get annoying if you don't like resetting all the functions in your car stereo. Usually when people hook up a battery cut off switch, it is just for the ignition power. This slows down theives trying to steal your car. Also, you should probably find the short before something major happens (i.e. possible fires).

[fetherw8]

my car doesn't have a radio so the only thing it would be reseting would be the clock. the short is just something small enough to drain the battery but not big enough to make fire. but i want to do this now just as a quick fix. so i don't have to keep pulling off the positive battery terminal every time i park.

[BMAR240SX]

Did you ever replace the hatch?

[fetherw8]

replace the hatch?

[onosqv]

It's gonna end up costing you if u don't have the equipment already - i.e. look into battery cut off kits that drag/track guys use.

The $$$ of wiring & the cut off terminal (no a simple relay doesn't make much sense in this case) & time involved making this work can probably be invested in tracking down your short.

[Vegascorbin]

We have a 240 as a dirt track race car and are required to have a Kill Switch within reach of the driver. ALL electrical runs through this switch. The switch costs about $25. The wireing is what kills you and also the switch is not small. If that is what you want check out Speedway Motors and search for a Battery Switch.

Better to find and fix the short.

[ChuckNC]

That seems like more work than finding the drain. Why don't you start with something easy, like pulling fuses one by one to narrow the circuit down?

[joenismos15]

DO you have after market foglights? did you wire them to the + side of the battery then to the switch then to ground on the chassis or to ground through the switch?

[rakers]

Howdy. Did you ever find your short? I have a mystery short too. So mysterious that when hooked up to a sensor, no leak is detected, but when left overnight the battery is dead.

I have checked every fuse, replaced the ECU, Igintion plus many other things that I'm embarrassed to admit. The autoshop where I left it GAVE UP. I'm thinking of taking them to small claims court.

But in the mean time, I'm also sick of disconnecting the battery cable at night...