Help help, installed kill switch

[Che70velle]

Upon thinking about this a little, are you sure that you put the cutoff switch on the correct wire? I've always installed my cutoff switches on the ground circuit, instead of the positive battery wire. It removes all load from the switch.
I'm not saying it won't work the way you have it wired, I've just never done it that way.

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by Che70velle

Upon thinking about this a little, are you sure that you put the cutoff switch on the correct wire? I've always installed my cutoff switches on the ground circuit, instead of the positive battery wire. It removes all load from the switch.
I'm not saying it won't work the way you have it wired, I've just never done it that way.

Totally agree with using only the ground for killing stuff -- never the positive side!

[Musclerodz]

Dumb me didn't pay close enough attention to your diagram on how you hooked it up. As others have stated, I would move the kill switch to the negative side, but if there is still an internal issue with the switch, it will still cause issues. I did go to Flaming Rivers site and they show the switches to be load rated, but always safer to switch grounds.

[Lenie]

Thanks everyone, I did disconnect the negative and positive while installing, in the morning I'll switch it over to ground and see what happens. Appreciate the quick responses, I am an electrical dummy!

[DRJDVM's '69]

Take the switch out and connect the 2 wires.... If the issue is gone, it's the switch itself, not the location in the circuit

[Lenie]

Bingo, thanks Ned.

[ErikLS2]

I'm late to the party as usual here but it doesn't remove the "load" from the switch to have it on the ground side, it just removes the voltage from it as the "load" in the circuit (bulb, starter, computer, etc.) uses up the voltage before it gets there. Amperage though is the same throughout the circuit, power or ground side. Most vehicle manufacturers place switches on the ground side as the lower voltage reduces the very minor arcing across the contact points (where there isn't a transistor these days) caused by the additional voltage going through it and in theory making the switch last longer.

If removing the kill switch didn't solve the problem check for voltage loss across all the wires in the circuit. This is important, do it with the circuit operating. Set your meter to volts and connect it to each end of any wire you want to check. In your case each end of each black and red wire as well as across the kill switch contacts and alternator wire. On the large gauge wires going to the starter you'll have to disable the ignition system and measure it while cranking. I would pay special attention to the wire from the alternator (it might be too small for that span) and on this one the engine will have to be running, if it will run, if not while cranking will have to do. You should read very little voltage in any of these test, not more than 0.1-0.2 volts is ideal, if more than say a volt there's way too much resistance in the circuit or the wire is too small in diameter.

[DRJDVM's '69]

KISS...keep it simple stupid..

So then the debate comes back to, which side to run the switch.... my understanding is that it really depends on what your goal is.

If the goal is to cut all power in the event of a crash etc, so none of the electrical systems have juice flowing through them, then it should be close to the BAT and on the positive side. If you crash and things are all mangled, you may have created new ground points all over the place with shorted wires...and you don't want a bunch of hot circuits anymore

If the goal is more to be able to just essentially disconnect your BAT when the car is sitting, so the BAT does constantly get drained, then just put it on the NEG side