Red Flash

I had a cut-off switch on my 86' 900 for a while.

Somehow, the contacts in the switch would go bad. I had over a course of 10 years 3 of them. They all played out on me. The first 2 times I figured it out myself. The third time, I push started the car and drove to a mechanic. (I had no time to really think about the problem and I was in a "paid" parking lot.) If I had had a good memory, I would of have remembered where the fault came from the first two times. When the switches failed, it seemed like a bad starter selonoid...

Buy a good switch. It will save problems later.

dr bob

Looking at options for battery switches, one that pops up is a switch originally designed to fit a GM-type side-terminal battery. A hole at the end of one end accepts a both that threads into the side battery terminal. At the other end, a threaded (10 x 1.5) hole receives the bolt from the original side-terminal cable. Looking at one disassembled, it looks like the holes might be about right to use a short 10mm-thread bolt to connect the strap, while the original 8mm bolt could hold the other end of the switch to the original ground point with an appropriate washer as spacer. The switches typically have 1/4-turn ***** to open/close the switch.

Found a few different ones on Amazon that look promising.

UKKid35

Is it worth reminding people that you lose the Idle Stabilisation setting when you cut power to the LH?

Jamesr6967

You can buy a device that plugs into your cigarette lighter that uses a 9 volt battery to power the computer while the battery is disconnected.

Alan

Er.. well actually you can't...

Alan

Alan

That happens when you disconnect the battery any other way too... There are plenty of reasons why a convenient battery switch is a GREAT idea even if the only time you disconnect the battery is when you would otherwise have disconnected the battery anyway (and taken a lot longer to do it...) for maintenance etc work.

Agreed there are also poor reasons to do it - like because you have a parasitic leakage that you haven't debugged - in this case it clearly should at most only be a stop gap measure while you get to root cause - not a long term crutch.

The readaptation issues aren't that big of a deal though in my experience... probably more an economy issue than anything else.

Alan

UKKid35

The aftermarket chips trash the idle, and you end up with no engine braking. That's when it becomes much more than just an economy issue.

Plug in a JDS Spanner and normal service is resumed (sadly I don't have one, but fortunately I have a very generous 928 mate who always helps me out).

Alan

That sounds like an aftermarket chip problem though - no?

Alan

Alan

The Hella ones work very well, have very adequate specs, fit in this space and are relatively easy to mount...

There are others (all over ebay) that look like the Hella's but that aren't - get the real thing... if its ~$5 it probably isn't real...

Alan

Alan

Since you raised this analogy. You should fix the leak, but if it turns out you don't have a master shutoff valve in the house - I'd go ahead and install one of those for future convenient use.

I actually did this on my house (that already had a valve) after a phenomenally expensive & disruptive water leak. I installed a new better main ball valve (the old gate valve leaked a little water even when shut-off). I also installed a secondary electric shutoff valve connected to a water sensor system. Now the water will shut off on its own if it detects leaks at any fixture in the house. I can also shut off the water when we go away on vacation by just pressing a button. Overkill? If you have ever experienced a major water leak with thousands of dollars of remediation and many weeks of work, risk of mold and many days of earsplitting blowers and dehumidifiers - you never ever want to experience that again.

To me if you have ever disconnected your battery (positive or negative) to do work on the car - you will have spent approx 5 mins each way to do it, repeat this a few times and you will find great convenience in having an easily accessible easy to operate switch.

buccicone

Easiest: It's called "Battery tender"

Alan

This thread is about Mounting a Battery Switch, and anyway you are quite missing the point of what this is intended for.

I already have a battery maintainer permanently installed in the car - however - it has a totally different purpose.

Alan

Rennlistusername

Hello Leon,
I have a Porsche Cayenne that I leave parked for several weeks because of being out of town. You mentioned Touregs also have a battery disconnect that comes with new vehicles to the dealer and the dealer takes off the disconnect. I think that disconnect is exactly what I need to put back on my Cayenne and just switch it off when I am leaving town.
I uploaded the photo you you included in your message. Where is this location on the Toureg?

Thanks,
Philip

jameslandry

I have a GAMA electronics disconnect button, which makes it easy to separate the battery from my collection car for seasonal storage. Installation was simple and it is fairly durable and beautifully made.

StratfordShark

The GAMA looks elegant, but isn’t it just as much work to gain access to the battery in its location, so same effort as disconnecting the original ground lead, and much more effort than disconnecting at hatch end of ground strap whether with switch or not?