My neighbor and I was talking about kill switches tonight, and how I'm wanting one for the vert. but I am totally against toggle switches (even if they are hidden). He suggested using the lighter as a kill switch by pushing it in to bypass the circuit to the coil, I could even hook it to the Tach wire to help conceal it identity
I thought that was on track with what I had in mind, but also thought the way my luck is, the thief would get frustrated on trying to find the kill switch and take a break and want to light up a cigarette with the lighter, see that it doesn't work, get upset, throw the lighter knob on the floor, and try starting the car again to find out it will start this time. /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif Doh!!!
I had heard about using a reed switch behind the dash, and keeping a magnet handy to activate it. So I got to thinking there has got to be a way to incorporate the lighter idea, with the magnet idea, this way I don't have to worry about scratching the paint on the dash with a magnet. How about using the lighter as the Reed Switch? For those that might not know what a reed switch is, this is a small switch that is activated by a magnet. The actual reed switch is enclosed in a sealed glass cylinder, with a terminal on each end. This is similar to the magnetic switches used on house alarms on windows & doors. When the magnetic field is broken between the two magnets, the alarm sounds. they have a normally opened type and normally closed type depending on what you need.
The way I would use it here, is to place a reed switch behind the cigarette lighter socket, and to mount a magnet inside the lighter knob itself. This way when the lighter is in the socket, the magnet closes the circuit and the car can be started, but once the lighter knob is removed it opens the circuit, therefore acting as a kill switch!
Even if the thief was up on how lighters being used as kill switches the normal way of being pushed in to kill the ignition, and just in case someone did a reverse electric kill switch (similar to this idea) where the lighter is removed instead of pushed in to break the circuit,and the thief thought of this too, by bringing a pocket full of universal lighter knobs, he still wouldn't be able to activate my switch unless he brought a magnet as well!
So what do you think? Would this be worth the effort to try and do? Do you see any drawbacks with this type of system? I know nothing will stop a thief if he wants the car bad enough, but for those amateur joy riders, hopefully they wouldn't know what to look for, and wouldn't want to waste more time trying to figure it out. Of course this wouldn't be the only line of security for the car, but might be a good deterrent.
I thought that was on track with what I had in mind, but also thought the way my luck is, the thief would get frustrated on trying to find the kill switch and take a break and want to light up a cigarette with the lighter, see that it doesn't work, get upset, throw the lighter knob on the floor, and try starting the car again to find out it will start this time. /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif Doh!!!
I had heard about using a reed switch behind the dash, and keeping a magnet handy to activate it. So I got to thinking there has got to be a way to incorporate the lighter idea, with the magnet idea, this way I don't have to worry about scratching the paint on the dash with a magnet. How about using the lighter as the Reed Switch? For those that might not know what a reed switch is, this is a small switch that is activated by a magnet. The actual reed switch is enclosed in a sealed glass cylinder, with a terminal on each end. This is similar to the magnetic switches used on house alarms on windows & doors. When the magnetic field is broken between the two magnets, the alarm sounds. they have a normally opened type and normally closed type depending on what you need.
The way I would use it here, is to place a reed switch behind the cigarette lighter socket, and to mount a magnet inside the lighter knob itself. This way when the lighter is in the socket, the magnet closes the circuit and the car can be started, but once the lighter knob is removed it opens the circuit, therefore acting as a kill switch!
Even if the thief was up on how lighters being used as kill switches the normal way of being pushed in to kill the ignition, and just in case someone did a reverse electric kill switch (similar to this idea) where the lighter is removed instead of pushed in to break the circuit,and the thief thought of this too, by bringing a pocket full of universal lighter knobs, he still wouldn't be able to activate my switch unless he brought a magnet as well!
So what do you think? Would this be worth the effort to try and do? Do you see any drawbacks with this type of system? I know nothing will stop a thief if he wants the car bad enough, but for those amateur joy riders, hopefully they wouldn't know what to look for, and wouldn't want to waste more time trying to figure it out. Of course this wouldn't be the only line of security for the car, but might be a good deterrent.