Anti theft ideas for a ‘93 Ranger

[Snoranger]

Unless they find a photo of it on the internet.

But who would be dumb enough to post a close-up pic of the splines on the internet?

 

[cbxer55]

One guy I see at work, he disconnect the battery every day when he gets there. Opens the hood and reconnects it before going home. There are also quick disconnects you can attach to the battery. Myself, I highly doubt anyone wants to steal my old Ranger. My Lightning and Mustang and two bikes are garage kept. The Stang and Lighting have those special keys, the vehicle won't start without them.

 

[91stranger]

You disconnect it from the original circuit and re-purpose it for security.

It still wouldn't work.... the socket is 12v + and -, which is no where near the same thing as a switch. A switch is wiring into the positive lead, the switch then opens and closes the circuit as it turns off and on. A cig lighter is not a switch. You would have to wire a 12v plug and then the plug would act like the switch when you plug and unplug it. I think you are still mis-thinking the cigarette lighter and how it works lol.

 

[zachwabbit]

But who would be dumb enough to post a close-up pic of the splines on the internet?

Me apparently

 

[racsan]

I doubt a close up would give someone enough of a blueprint to build a hub, youd need to know many things, including a possible tapering of the splined area.

 

[Snoranger]

Me apparently

Don’t worry... it will be ok. We won’t tell anyone what it looks like.

 

[zachwabbit]

Don’t worry... it will be ok. We won’t tell anyone what it looks like.

My mistake was trying to poop and post online simultaneously too early in the morning on a weekend, clearly it led to my private spliney-bits mistakenly being shared on the interwebs

 

[Curious Hound]

It still wouldn't work.... the socket is 12v + and -, which is no where near the same thing as a switch. A switch is wiring into the positive lead, the switch then opens and closes the circuit as it turns off and on. A cig lighter is not a switch. You would have to wire a 12v plug and then the plug would act like the switch when you plug and unplug it. I think you are still mis-thinking the cigarette lighter and how it works lol.

When @19Walt93 brought up the idea, he mentioned adding a shorting bar to remove the resistance of the heating element. It would work fine that way.

 

[Curious Hound]

My mistake was trying to poop and post online simultaneously too early in the morning on a weekend, clearly it led to my private spliney-bits mistakenly being shared on the interwebs

I hate when my private spliney bits are in public display.

 

[RonD]

Just to add to this cigar lighter discussion, you can pull off the 12v wire and put a GROUND wire in its place to, say ground a relay or ??? to activate it
When pressed down the cigar lighter would stay down, not heat up, and ground the added wire until you PULLED up on the cigar lighter handle ungrounding the added wire

If you are hung up on the "must have 12volts" to activate something, then you will miss out on the very very simple solutions

And if you have to have 12v then use the main light switch, has 12v all the time, and parking light wires are already in the engine bay
Thieves are not likely to turn on the lights until AFTER they have engine running, and probably not until a few blocks away, lol