WirthCoEngineering Inc 20308 Compact Battery Switch

This thing works great. Simple to install, simple to use. Build quality A+. Use this if you park your car for a week or more without turning it on. Storage and long term parking in an airport come to mind. Not only does it kill battery drain with normal on/off, the whole knob can come off which makes your vehicle theft proof. If your vehicle has an electronic key, make sure the windows are up and the doors are open before you turn off the battery. Your doors will lock automatically when electricity stops being sent to them and you will be locked out of your car. This happened to me and I had to call AAA to get me back in. Close your doors after the battery is turned off. If you remove the knob entirely for anti theft, throw it in the glove box until you need to reinstall. The chances of a thief figuring out how to reactivate your vehicle is less than zero.

Perfect. This is my second - I've had the other for 3 years. If you have a car that you might leave non running for a week or more at a time - this can save your $100 or $200 battery like it did for me. I got tired of killing DieHard batteries - they were under warranty but I felt bad for the store. Those newer gel batteries are not meant for deep discharge - you can't run them all the way down like a trolling battery on a fishing rowboat. The electronics in a car might run the battery out after a week or two of the car sitting around. Recently my truck battery went dead. The warranty was for 6 more years on this gel DieHard, but guess what - Sears near me closed down. So Costco's best battery - with 4 year warranty - was just under $100, and I think it's the same battery. When I installed it, I noticed the interior cabin light lit up in the truck. What the hell? Did I leave that thing on accidentally. So I bought one of these for the truck, and now, no worries.

I really wanted these things to work. Based upon other reviews, they seem to work well for some. I especially wanted to try one on a fifties car (positive ground) for whom nobody, including WirthCo, has any interest in supplying a regular battery-post disconnect switch. My battery cables and connectors are a custom set, heavy duty stuff. The little lever with cam action seems a good concept, but the effect was marginal on my setup. The lever required a lot of effort, the connection didn't seem all that secure. Besides, I should have noticed something from the outset. My cable clamp bolts have square heads, they fit into corresponding recesses on the clamps. This prevents the bolts from rotating as the nuts are tightened. Securing or removing from the battery post is normally a one-hand job. The round bolt head on these defeats that feature, the bolt and lever rotate freely. I should have thought of this before ordering.Positive ground systems were pretty much standard into the mid-fifties in US cars, later for some imports. For my vintage car, the best "battery disconnect" method continues to rely upon a 1/2" wrench stashed under the seat.

The metal used was cheap and didn’t create a consistent connection with the battery, causing my car to jerk violently. It was inconsistent so my mechanic had the car for a month trying to figure it out. Turned all my warning lights on…was just a mess.

My car has been sitting for a while as I'm not traveling for work, doing very limited grocery runs, etc etc. I'd come back to it after a week or two and the battery would be dead. The hassle of getting a jump to go to the store was really tiresome after the third time...Enter this little beauty.Easy to install on my Honda Fit. So very easy to use. And absolutely no issues since.Saves you time, money, annoyance. Worth it.

Would have given it 5 stars except the clamp for attaching to the existing battery cable was a little too big. It wouldn't hold my cable very good. You'd think this would be some standard size across the industry but maybe not. I had to put the clamp in a vice and shrink it a bit to make it hold tight. Also, I had to work with the thing a bit to get everything to fit - but nothing unusual for working on after market car parts. Good price too.

I have some kind of electrical drain in my truck which would pull the battery down to zero in a few days if not constantly driven - especially in cold weather. It was never intended to be a permanent installation just a stop gap until I found the electrical drain. But, I'm leaving it installed. It's very easy to install and use, deters theft, and allows quick connection of a battery charger while isolating the battery from the rest of the electrical system.I tried other switches but had trouble mounting them in the crowded engine compartment of the F-250. If I'd tried this first, my problem would have been solved in five minutes. I'll still haven't traced down that electrical problem - it's not much of a problem any more. Highly recommended.

The product photo may be misleading to someone not paying attention, Only the bolts with the arms are supplied. No terminal clamps are supplied.