How To: Killjoy's Killswitch

killjoy

New Member
Killjoy’s Killswitch

Preface:

Do this at your own risk. I’m providing this information as a guideline only. Anything you do to your car is by your choice and yours alone. I’ll help you as best I can if you get stuck. Read this write up all the way through before you attempt this.

Upon completion, your car will not start unless the cruise button is activated. If cruise button is not on, the horn blows when you attempt to crank. Cheaper alternative to an alarm if you’re worried someone might attempt a GTA.

Materials needed:
- 2x SPDT 12v Relays (radio shack, autozone)
- A handful of wire, different colors. Literally what you have lying around will probably work. For the starter wire however, find something around 12 gauge (that’s a little bit thicker, you’ll see below)
- A handful of 3M Wire taps, male and female, a couple 12 gauge butt (barrel) connectors. These can be bought at a local radio install shop – I’d go here over radio shack or anywhere else as you usually can get plenty for less than $5. Might as well get 2 relay’s while you’re there. You can also get all this on the almighty internet.
- Digital Multimeter or, computer safe 12v test light. I use a test light for everything, many people believe they’re dangerous and can set off airbags. Stay away from airbags and you’ll be fine with a test light (I’ll repeat this during the write up)
- Black Electrical tape
- Strippers, Crimpers
- Power Drill with Philips head
- 10mm socket
- Zip Ties
- Self-tapping metal screw (for grounding)
- Killswitch diagram, print it up here: http://www.clubintegra.com/board/showpost.php?p=684434&postcount=26

1. Start by wiring up the relays. Tape them together with the black tape first; we’re going to be making a harness. All you need to do really is copy the diagram.. pay attention closely to which color wire you’re assigning to which circuit. The wire that you open up the starter wire with (input and output) must be at least as thick as the starter wire in the car (it’s about 12 awg in the car). You can wire all 3 grounds to 1 wire. When you’re finished copying the diagram to your relays, your harness should look something similar to this:



Put the proper taps on the ends of your wires. Leave about 1’ to 1.5’ of length. The starter wires need butt connecters on both, the rest need male taps except for your ground wire, which needs a ring terminal for proper grounding.

(You’ll notice for the starter wires I didn’t use butt connectors, I used different taps. I just ran out is all, you should use butt or barrel connectors)

2. Time to take your car’s underdash apart for wiring access. There are 3 screws holding the plastic underdash on, 2 are obvious and the 3rd is behind the change pocket. Pull out the pocket for access.


3. Remove the metal barrier with a 10mm socket.


Next is to find, test, and tap your vehicle’s horn, cruise switch and starter wires.

4. The horn can be found coming out of this plug attached to the fuse box, the color of the wire is blue/green. Tap this wire with one of your bigger gauge taps. This wire provides a negative trigger when the horn is pressed.


5. Pop your cruise switch out careful with a pick or if you’ve got nothing else, a flathead. Be careful doing this, it’s pretty easy to poke holes and nick up your dash. The light green wire is the wire we want to use, it provides a positive trigger when the button is pressed. TEST TEST TEST

NOTE: do NOT leave your cruise button on when you park and leave your car. It WILL kill your battery as it leaves the relay engaged. shut it off when you park your car (this is the point of the killswitch, anyways

6. Your starter wire can be found in this harness; it is a 12 or so gauge black/white wire. Test to ensure this is the wire, and then cut it right in half, with an even amount of length on each side for easiest integration. The starter INPUT wire from your relay = the KEY SIDE. OUTPUT = CAR SIDE of the same wire.



7. Ground your relay harness, before connecting anything. Find a solid piece of metal and this does NOT include the steering column itself. Self-tap screws are best but if you don’t have them, you could get away with using a screw that secures something into metal but I would not advise this. I found a nice piece of metal, here:


8. Connect all your wires from the relay harness, to their specific tap accordingly.

9. Once finished connecting, test to ensure functionality as I described in the beginning. If something doesn’t seem right, check your connections. This setup is working flawlessly in my vehicle.

10. Once you’re all set, tape up the relay harness with black tape. This is for added protection and the fact that it is much harder to find in your dash if it’s not so brightly colored. Now, take your relays and bury them in the dash somewhere, zip tie them to factory harnesses. BE CERTAIN to leave some stress relief for every single wire, ie, none of wires should be pulling tightly, this will cause the taps to fail.


Here is a (blurry, sorry) shot of my relay harness buried away.

A few last words…

Be careful doing this, set some time aside and make certain you’re sure about everything. It’s pretty easy to connect something wrong and blow a computer or worse. STAY THE HELL AWAY from YELLOW HARNESSES… these are airbag related, and if you accidentally ground one wire or send power to one wire in one, you could easily trip an airbag, which I sure would be bad news for you.

Good luck and enjoy. If you find this easy, then you should be able to tackle an alarm/remote start without too much of an issue, FYI.

-k
 
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killjoy

New Member
Good write up, but do you realize you just told the entire world how to start your car?
its already removed bro, I literally did this and took it out, this write up was per request. I have an alarm anyways

Another thing,

You do not need to use the cruise button. you can add your own button and hide it or use some other switch in the car that provides pos trigger continually when pressed for your killswitch.
 

Accel.speed

basically, i like fast!
its already removed bro, I literally did this and took it out, this write up was per request. I have an alarm anyways

Another thing,

You do not need to use the cruise button. you can add your own button and hide it or use some other switch in the car that provides pos trigger continually when pressed for your killswitch.
Wow i reallly want to do this! Just so stupid friends stop jacking my car if i leave my keys sitting around lol.
But I have an rs so I dont have cruise control. Should I go get one off a junkyard and the main relay harness so i dont mess up mine on accident? Im pretty much a nooby at electronics so im kinda worried about doin this...
 


killjoy

New Member
Wow i reallly want to do this! Just so stupid friends stop jacking my car if i leave my keys sitting around lol.
But I have an rs so I dont have cruise control. Should I go get one off a junkyard and the main relay harness so i dont mess up mine on accident? Im pretty much a nooby at electronics so im kinda worried about doin this...

nah I wouldnt... I'd add a cheapy switch that throws power to the relay when you switch it instead of cruise.. hide the switch somewhere. I forgot not everyone had cruise. Or if you want you can use some other switch in the car of your choice. I'll try and test the wire for you.
 

dreamofjdm

2@DHD2r3@Th3H013Thread
Wow i reallly want to do this! Just so stupid friends stop jacking my car if i leave my keys sitting around lol.
But I have an rs so I dont have cruise control. Should I go get one off a junkyard and the main relay harness so i dont mess up mine on accident? Im pretty much a nooby at electronics so im kinda worried about doin this...
you can add the a cruise button, and no one will ever know
 

mirrorimg

Well-Known Member
its already removed bro, I literally did this and took it out, this write up was per request. I have an alarm anyways

Another thing,

You do not need to use the cruise button. you can add your own button and hide it or use some other switch in the car that provides pos trigger continually when pressed for your killswitch.
Just checking ;)

It would probably be a good idea to use a combination of switches, or hidden switches. You did a good job though, not many people are familiar with wiring and relays are a whole different story for novices.
 


killjoy

New Member
Just checking ;)

It would probably be a good idea to use a combination of switches, or hidden switches. You did a good job though, not many people are familiar with wiring and relays are a whole different story for novices.
thanks mang.

Oh man I worked at a shop and we made multiple secret motorized hide aways for some customers. They only opened by a series of switches (like turn sig, cruise, hazard, sunroof, right rear window) in a certain order. Made good money off of those (lots of labor), lol
 

suspendedHatch

Legalize Illegal Aliens
I know I'm not going to make any friends but that could have been done a lot better. That isn't going to do any good especially on a Honda. All that wiring is plainly obvious and there's no reason to bother with the cruise switch. Besides that, many thieves prefer to jump the starter under the hood.

And T-taps on such an important circuit? Yikes!

It could have been wired differently so it doesn't kill your battery.

I would love to help with some positive feedback if there is a genuine interest but I have a feeling this will become a pissing match.
 

Accel.speed

basically, i like fast!
I know I'm not going to make any friends but that could have been done a lot better. That isn't going to do any good especially on a Honda. All that wiring is plainly obvious and there's no reason to bother with the cruise switch. Besides that, many thieves prefer to jump the starter under the hood.

And T-taps on such an important circuit? Yikes!

It could have been wired differently so it doesn't kill your battery.

I would love to help with some positive feedback if there is a genuine interest but I have a feeling this will become a pissing match.
There's a nut shot lol. uhhh well then whats a better way to do it?

Yeah and how would you do multiple switches?
 

killjoy

New Member
Hatch,

I'm aware it could have been done without killing the batt. I just wasn't aware the cruise was wired for constant until after I put it together, so I made a note instead of fixing it. Laziness got the best of me..

I've had no problems with T-taps on the many thousands of remote starts/alarms I've installed.

You're prolly right, it would become a pissing match, but I'll gladly not respond if you'd like... you're older and probably have more experience than me, but its whatever dude, this is just an internet forum, not life, no worries. I won't be offended
 

*jeezer*

project one all day!!!
nice write up i like that the horn will blow i look forward to doing this seeing it wont be my only kill switch
 

suspendedHatch

Legalize Illegal Aliens
Age is not a factor and experience isn't the end of it either. It's all about creativity and that's something you clearly excel at. I'm not one to sit on a high horse so if there's anything I can do to help you improve your install LMK.

I'm working on a pretty big project concerning security on our 3rd gen Integras. Helping on forums is where I get the inspiration for making the site.

Yeah those T-taps cause intermittent problems and ultimately lead to premature failure of car alarms and relays. They're also messy and leave an obvious trail for a thief to follow. I used to rip them out all the time. A good install on a DEI alarm should last as long as the car.
 

killjoy

New Member
I look forward to what you have to offer, Hatch.

3m T-taps, when installed properly with stress release (or provided enough slack) and using the correct size (which may require stripping some insulation off) have never failed me. I've pretty much got them down to a science. For people that don't use them on a regular basis however, yes I should have used the poke wrap and solder method I suppose. For speed of install though, can't beat them. This was more of a 'here's how to do it', I would guess many on here would like the peace of mind of soldering, thats up to them though. You're right about an easy trail for an experienced thief.
 
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