I recently went to the track. When I had my car inspected by the official, he told me that my battery needed an on/off switch if it was going to be in the trunk accordding to NHRA rules. Can anyone verify these rules with me about battery relocation so that I am further educated on it according to NHRA standards. Thanks!

 

Yep, if the battery is out of the stock location, a kill switch must be installed at the rest most section of the car. My set up:



Also box must be held in with mini. 3/8" bolts, and if unsealed must be vented to outside compartment.

 

got to do it. Any relocation of the battery requires the on off switch. Stupid rule but rules are rules.

 

how exactly do you have to wire it so that it actually works, meaning shut the car off. Granted the switch shuts off current from the battery but the alternator keeps the car running. at least on my car it does. Is it neccessary to wire the alternator directly to the battery? Thanks. CHRIS

 

The switch will cut power to the distributor, or the coil to be more precise.

Clayton

 

That is correct also if the car goes faster than 9.99 it must have a on/off switch. It should when turned off kill all power to the vehicle (meaning you have to run the alt. wire differently) Mainly it it for safety, If something goes wrong the first thing the safety crew does is turn off the battery.

 

that is an interesting way to position the switch

 

Just do what i did relocate to back, then put a dummy battery up front and take out after inspection.. I hardly go to the track so for me its stupid to put a switch on the car if i really only go 1 or 2 times a season.. But if your a tru drag racer than put a kill switch, i dont see why we have to go by NHRA rules if your car is daily driven...

 

YES... the alternator will keep the car running,

here's a quote from another message board:
"The car's electrical systems all use the body as a ground, including the charging system. If the car is running and the alternator is cranking out juice, disconnecting the battery, positive or negative, doesn't do squat. The alternator is providing voltage to the fusebox via the junction at the solenoid (or wherever you happen to have it), and all the devices share the body ground. If you really want your "kill" switch to stop the engine, you can put the kill switch on the positive side and wire the alternator to the battery side of the switch. Then when you disconnect it you isolate the alternator from the rest of the car. As you can imagine, pulling the load off on an alternator at full-tilt boogie doesn't do it much good, so you can get kill switches that short the alternator to ground through a resistor to protect it. Pegasus sells them for about $50."


You could also isolate the alternator through a seperate relay.

On my cars, the easiest thing I found was to use a One-way diode in the "field" wire.