When you park your muscle ride during the week, do you disconnect the battery cable? Think about it. Chances are that most of that wiring is over three decades old and has been modified or hacked into several times. Given that situation, the older musclecars are often subject to drained batteries if the car sits for more than a couple of days.
Even if you have rewired the car, the chances of a short or a wiring harness problem that could result in a fire is, in most cases, slim. However, after a weekend of cruising or some fun dragstrip abuse, connections can vibrate loose, heat can melt through sleeves, and circuits can fail. By simply disconnecting the battery, the odds of a wiring-induced fire occurring are between slim and none. But opening the hood or trunk, getting a wrench out and constantly messing with the battery terminals is a hassle.Painless Performance recently developed a heavy-duty Remote Master Disconnect Kit that makes disconnecting battery power as easy as flipping a toggle switch. Simply install the heavy-duty solenoid/relay assembly on the battery positive cable before the starter solenoid and mount a small toggle under the dash-instant power kill! The relay is capable of carrying up to 250 amps continuously, so there should be no trouble with a multitude of electronics.
The starter solenoid is the component responsible for physically opening the circuit. The trouble is having a control that allows you to switch the solenoid so it is on (closed) or off (open). That's where a relay comes in. A relay is a handy device that allows a switch with a small amount of current to control a high-current circuit.
It is important to note that this kit does not pass for a legal cut-off switch like the ones required in drag racing. It simply serves as a handy safety switch or even as a theft-deterrent for your car and is extremely helpful in cases where the battery is mounted in an inaccessible position.
Our installation took about an hour and has given us a piece of mind when parking the car overnight or during a long storage period.
