TheSamba.com :: View topic - Lest Winston Wander... Where to Put a Kill Switch?

Mon May 01, 2006 12:28 pm

Well, after all the work... and work... and work... I've put into Winston, it occurs to me that a cut-off switch somewhere within him might be a good idea.

Tell me, please, Ye Experts, where would be a good place to put in a small unobtrusive switch close to the wheel that would keep Winston from being hot-wired and disappeared? Ideally, my clock on the panel would keep working and I wouldn't lose my radio pre-sets.

Many thanks for good suggestions!

Best!

Mon May 01, 2006 1:26 pm

you can mount it in two locations
1 being the secound battery compartment
2 being under tha ashtray

Mon May 01, 2006 1:59 pm

Hmm… Both are good places for long-term storage, but inconvenient to say the least. More for the 2nd battery box. Under the ash tray would be visible from outside the van when being accessed. (I’m paranoid, and wouldn’t want to telegraph where the cutoff switch is hidden.)

While I have yet to install one myself, I was thinking above/inside the vents in the center duct cover might work. Mount the bracketry to the front wall for the cover to clip over placing a toggle switch up inside the vent where a knowledgeable person could reach from the drivers seat, but where someone who doesn’t know might not think to look. Don’t know what the heat situation is though being that close to the radiator and front heater core.

Mon May 01, 2006 2:22 pm

Get a second rear defroster switch, and mount it in the blank space. It will look stock, and be easy to access. kind of the purloined letter approach. The thieves look for so called hidden switches. BTW, I just happen to have a rear defroster switch used as a paperweight in my hanger.

Cheers,
james

Mon May 01, 2006 2:34 pm

That's clever, Dogpilot! You're quite right, no one WOULD notice that. The part of the question I've not had answered is what wire would run through that switch...

Just brilliant.

Best!

Mon May 01, 2006 3:00 pm

you could always run a switch to the fuel pump .....and hide the switch under the passenger seat or mabye install a barrel switch in the dash in a PITA location to get wires to ......hmmmm now ya got me thinkin

Mon May 01, 2006 8:37 pm

Best way I've found, did this in my old 82 scirocco, is put a switch in the line for the negative side of your coil. They'll be able to get it turning over but it'll never run unless the switch is turned on. :lol: My switch was for some fog lights the guy had removed from the car that was in the dash cluster. Worked awesome. So get some foglights (don't wire them up) and get the original VW switch for them. Wire that in as your kill switch and bob's your uncle! :wink:

Cheers
Scott

Mon May 01, 2006 9:05 pm

Cut the power to relay #53 in the little relay box in the engine compartment. It is the fuel pump relay. If you really are lazy,you can just take this relay with you instead of doing the switch thing.

Cheers,
James

Wed May 05, 2010 1:18 pm

So, in 2007, the worthy kevinbassplayer wrote:

Quote: Look under the van on the passenger side just behind the fuel tank. There will be a short piece of hose that may or may not have a filter attached, then you will see a roughly 6 inch or so long round thingy that the hose from the tank is attached to. that is the fuel pump. There is a clip with two wires that is attached to the fuel pump, these wires are what deliver power to the fuel pump. The basic idea behind a fuel pump cutoff switch is to cut one of these fuel pump wires and attach a switch in between them. dosen't matter which wire, either one will break the circuit when the switch is in the off position and not allow the pump to run. Switch on, all good.

Are both these smaller wires off the relay, so that what I just realized is Dogpilot's defroster switch could control them without melting? I'm with Dogpilot and dobryan about having the switch easily accessible.

Just puzzling, and puzzling...

:shock:

Best!

Wed May 05, 2010 1:27 pm

If you decide to add a switch like a fog light switch, be cautious of the load on it when deciding what circuit to interupt. To much current and the switch will die a premature death. The VW switches are more suited to energizing relays than handling hi loads. I like the idea though.

Wed May 05, 2010 2:46 pm

I had a kill switch installed in the engine compartment. This is because my battery is back there (being a diesel originally) and it was a pain in the butt to disconnect it when doing any work.
It's maybe not the most convenient location but no one will find it and it has a removable switch that I can take with me, so the van can't be started without it. I think it came from a marine store.

Wed May 05, 2010 3:07 pm

btlbugtyp1 wrote: you could always run a switch to the fuel pump .....and hide the switch under the passenger seat or mabye install a barrel switch in the dash in a PITA location to get wires to ......hmmmm now ya got me thinkin

On my old XJ I ran the kill witch to the Starter Relay. Flip the switch and it was impossible to energize the starter. Lights, acc etc and no Starter...even if hotwired, still, no power to starter.

Wed May 05, 2010 5:33 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=339728

Wed May 05, 2010 5:42 pm

Our Adventurewagen wouldn't start and would sound a really obnoxious alarm if you didn't have the turn signal turned to the right (up). There was a relay that cut the power to the starter. It worked great! I cant remember where it came from though. Ed Anderson installed it as part of the original conversion.

Wed May 05, 2010 6:29 pm

I have been thinking about a little brass valve on the fuel line... yes it would be a pinta but would work nicely if the van was to be left somewhere for a while - although I guess anyone stealing it might make it a couple blocks before having problems.

Wed May 05, 2010 6:48 pm

What about one in the drivers side defroster the on right next to the cluster paint it black and down inside would be hard to see but easy to axcess 8)

Wed May 05, 2010 9:50 pm

Actually, don't use just one switch - use several, in various internal or external locations. You can leave the others as dummy switches, or hook one up to sound the horn, for example. Even better if it would be a train horn!

My favorite would be to wire up a switch that set off one of those gag smoke bombs in the engine compartment. Or perhaps powered up a Model T ignition coil connected to the bodywork.

Be really sneaky - sneaky is gooood!

Thu May 06, 2010 12:17 am

I think that you should get one of those twist timers you see on bathroom heatlamps. That way the crooks can only get so far. While you're at it, throw in a real heat lamp so you can dry off while driving and save a little time in the mornings, maybe broil a nice rotisserie chicken.

Although then the robbers might wonder what the ticking sound is, but you could fix that by placing clocks all over the interior of the van, some of them real clocks, others with boxing gloves on springs in side them, so that every year when the robber resets for daylight savings he gets a shot in the kisser.

Or you could get a club and just wait for the robbers inside the van and bonk them on the head. Or maybe one of these steering wheel lock devices, I forget what those are called at the moment.

:wink:

I think that a dummy foglamp switch that kills the coil or fuel pump is your best bet. No sense going completely Rube Goldberg, especially if one day you want to sell Winston (god forbid). If thieves want your van badly enough they'll tow it, hard to find a switch to stop that.

Thu May 06, 2010 5:39 am

msinabottle wrote: ...it occurs to me that a cut-off switch somewhere within him might be a good idea.
This home-brew circuit is very clever.

Magnet reactivation = no visible ON switch.
http://autospeed.com/A_107975/cms/article.html

Thu May 06, 2010 9:09 pm

While I do appreciate the input, I find that no one's answered the question I answered when I reactivated the thread. I was under Winston today when I installed the resistor fix, which seems to have gone as well as I might have hoped.

I only saw the one power wire coming out of the fuel pump, and that ran straight back to the rear engine compartment. Does anyone have an idea of how much current (after the resistor mod) is running through it? Would a loop with, say, 16 gauge wire up to a switch in a cab melt a defroster switch (found that, today) in the console?

Thanks for the input... Can anyone answer my question?

Best!