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Next is the installation of ABIGAIL negative battery terminal disconnects onto each battery's negative battery terminal. This allows me to very easily, quickly and without tools cut all power to my truck without the strain of repeated dis/reconnects being placed on the cable clamps.
I chose these switches as they're bolted not riveted at the blade pivot and clamp points, as well as their amp rating and overall rugged construction.
ETA: Please note I have edited the names of these switches . When I went to post links to them elsewhere I discovered that I actually bought ABIGAIL switches instead of the Wirthco switches I previously stated. Please forgive any confusion. Link:
Last is a ball valve installed in the heater core coolant supply line, allowing me to stop the flow of hot engine coolant into the heater core in the cab during hot summer months. I opened it mid October and likely to close it come May. 3/4" ball valve and barbs sourced from my personal archives.
This is a link to a valve just like the one I already had:
Next is the installation of Wirthco negative battery terminal disconnects onto each battery's negative battery terminal
Good stuff.
I have the knife blade cut-offs on my truck also. I stand half a chance of getting it started after sitting at the airport for 3 weeks at 20 below now.
One of my next mods is to do what you did with the plug. I have a 2-lead one from NOCO, one lead for the block heater, the other lead for the on-board battery tender/charger. I just need to find a decent weather proof in-line switch (or suitable low profile) for 15A so that I can switch on the block heater when I want, while still plugged in for the charger.
Cool idea on the shut-off valve. I wish I had thought of it for my old '89 F250. It was always giving off heat when I didn't want it.
Next is the installation of Wirthco negative battery terminal disconnects onto each battery's negative battery terminal. This allows me to very easily, quickly and without tools cut all power to my truck without the strain of repeated dis/reconnects being placed on the cable clamps.
I chose these Wirthco switches as they're bolted not riveted at the blade pivot and clamp points, as well as their amp rating and overall rugged construction.
Anyone else have an inexpensive, worthwhile and satisfying mods they'd like to share?
On the subject of swinging both ways, I recall posting about and recommending that the particular Wirthco knife switch some seven years ago, but I haven't had a chance to see that model installed in our specific vehicle application until the OP posted.
Is there an issue with the knife swinging backwards toward the vacuum bottle? For some reason, I don't recall having that much room behind the passenger side battery for the swing clearance of the knife, but your photo seems to suggest there is plenty of room... maybe not to swing all the way, but at least partially. Does that aptly describe the swinging action of your set up?
Here is my archived post that has a photo of what I cobbled up in the absence of not having a sample of the Wirthco model of knife switch that I had previously recommended:
Originally Posted by Y2KW57
(From about 7 years ago)
Version 1: The Green ****. Nothing obvious forced me to retire the Green *****, other than the knowledge that the connections were only rated to 125 amps. Not good enough, but I needed something, these were handy at the time, and they remained in service for 7 years. However, I do NOT recommend them, not only because of their limited ampacity rating, but because the diameter of the negative extension post is WAY TOO SMALL for a standard negative battery post cable clamp.
How Wirthco (and all the Chinese knock offs of the same product, including the ones sold at Harbor Freight) could get this wrong in the first place, and then KEEP getting it wrong throughout all the years and copies of this product ever made... is baffling. I loved the convenience and the partial "security" of being able to take the green ***** with me... but if there is a weak link in the ground connections, the undersized negative extension post, and the limited contact area of the 1/4x20 **** post, would compete for a D grade. Definitely needs improvement.
Version 2: The Knife. Rated at twice the amperage of the Green **** (250A continuous), I wanted to install the knife in the first place, but all the knife switches I found for post terminal batteries closed vertically. Which meant the hood wouldn't close. Then it occurred to me to use the Knife switches for GM side terminal batteries. I could then disassemble the knife switches, reassemble them to operate in a horizontal swing toward the direction needed, and couple them with marine grade battery post terminals on the battery itself. This works very nicely.
Of course, after hybridizing these, I find that Wirthco makes a horizontally closing version of top post battery knife switches, but it must be special ordered online, as no parts store stocks it. So if anyone is interested in horizontally closing knife switches for top post batteries, know that they can be had online. Don't buy the vertically closing ones seen in auto parts stores.
And here is my passenger battery as it currently (haha) sits...
Fairly certain that some marbles have managed to escape unwittingly from the bag between my ears, as I have forgotten what some of some of those wires and cables are that are in the way of a good swing backward... enough of a swing to avoid inadvertent re-engagement.
Does your knife have any issues swinging rearward? If yes, then there is an alternative. If not, then the Wirthco model you have is better than the one I reconfigured for an additional reason... the orientation of the non conductive connecting block is more resistant to bending when oriented so that the flat side is parallel with the knife.
I'm somewhat obsessed with distance between knife and connector when disengaged. I even keep a nonconductive block between the knife and receiver, so that it doesn't get swung back in without a deliberate and conscious effort.
On the subject of swinging both ways, I recall posting about and recommending that the particular Wirthco knife switch some seven years ago, but I haven't had a chance to see that model installed in our specific vehicle application until the OP posted.
Is there an issue with the knife swinging backwards toward the vacuum bottle? For some reason, I don't recall having that much room behind the passenger side battery for the swing clearance of the knife, but your photo seems to suggest there is plenty of room... maybe not to swing all the way, but at least partially. Does that aptly describe the swinging action of your set up?
Here is my archived post that has a photo of what I cobbled up in the absence of not having a sample of the Wirthco model of knife switch that I had previously recommended:
And here is my passenger battery as it currently (haha) sits...
Fairly certain that some marbles have managed to escape unwittingly from the bag between my ears, as I have forgotten what some of some of those wires and cables are that are in the way of a good swing backward... enough of a swing to avoid inadvertent re-engagement. But you have no issues swinging rearward?
The vacuum bottle is long gone, plenty of space for the passenger side knife blade to fully swing open. Memory tells me there's something whatever inconsequential easily moved aside.
Both passenger and driver knives swing open fully. I don't use this mod often, but when I do the switches are opened and closed anywhere from once to a bunch of times (depending on what I'm doing) in a short period of time, saving stress on the negative cable terminal clamps which aren't suited for repeated tightening and loosening.
I tried the green **** disconnects, but there was too much space between the negative battery terminal and the battery case so they wouldn't fit up right. The Wirthco are much better and I probably would have upgraded to them even if the green **** switches initially fit.
Using the Marinco mod everyday the romance is gone and deploying it has become pedestrian. Going under the hood and using the Wirthcos "blows my hair back" a bit. Looking forward to the 1.5 second it'll take me to close the ball valve come May. I'm a cheap date...
HVAC system operation would suck with the vacuum bottle long gone.
How does yours work without it?
And on a different note, show us your grille guard. Is it stainless steel or chrome or aluminum? Brand and model?
HVAC seems to work just fine. It's been gone so long perhaps I'm missing out on benefits I'm not aware of or have forgotten. Air pump/compressor at the passenger fender seem to run as it should.
As for the brush guard, the bull bar vertical components are aluminum and the horizontal components are stainless steel. I don't know the maker; it was on the truck when I bought it.
Cheap but exciting mod #2 are some LED's for the gauge cluster. These are so bright they actually throw light down into the footwell from up underneath the dash. The one gotcha with this one is that one of the illumination lights is one of those tiny #37/74 incandescent bulbs used for the warning lights, and none of the reputable OEM bulb makers make an LED version of that bulb, so I left that one alone and there's a dim spot in the middle/upper section where the other 7 LED wedge bulbs don't reach. Illustrates just how much brighter the LED's are though.
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