Battery Isolater......again!er!

[Ralf Pickel]

I also have been using the red key, FIA type master switch on most cars. Highly recommended - but don´t buy the cheapest, because they have keys on which the actuating pin is plastic / in unity with the key. They do tend to break off if you hit the inserted key - then it´s lights etc. off !
Better ones - "real" FIA type switches - have an inserted metal pin, which cannot break.
Also good to use is the twist-type switch - I have one on a car since more than 20 years without problems.

[Steve Jones]

I've used these on all my cars, Ralf. However, the only time I had a problem was with the metal pin type where the plastic of the key failed at the pin location. All my others have been plastic with the key and the pin moulded as one and, so far, so good. All my cars carry a spare key 'just in case' though!!

Steve

[Nick Salmon]

I use three different types of cut-out on my cars. 

The green/black screw type.

  2.JPG (Size: 9.98 KB / Downloads: 311)

The removable red key

  1.JPG (Size: 10.38 KB / Downloads: 311)

The part ceramic rotary

  3.JPG (Size: 10.93 KB / Downloads: 311)

The only ones that have ever failed are the cheap removable red key type.

I am always very careful to firmly screw down the screw type. A couple of years ago I took the MGTD to Wiscombe for the VSCC hillclimb. I was leaving at about 4am and reckoned the hill would be clear - so I went for it... I set the car up to tackle Sawbench (a tight hairpin) and just as I turned in everything turned off. Engine dead and lights out in an instant. Hugely disconcerting!  In the woods at that hour it was mighty dark and I was lucky to stop without hitting something. You guessed it; the cut out had undone itself. Still, rather there than in the outside lane of the M25 eh?

[Peter Naulls]

I've had two of the red key types fail this year - different makes.

Peter.

[spannerman]

The red key type don't seem to like water
In them had two of them fail !
I now use the red ones that have a shroud
On them ?

[Austin Carr]

Just found another type of isolator:-

https://images.app.goo.gl/SF6sFtsSi2pG9EmW7

[Tony Press]

Don't make it too complicated- the green knob works well if treated carefully - the only time I had a problem was when I hadn't screwed it down properly - it vibrated up and the car stopped - after checking all obvious fuel and electrical connections and calling the RACV the penny dropped. I lifted the seat and tightened the screw. Much embarrassment !

[Ferg3]

In the end I bought a couple of new ones from Green Spark, in "Durite" bags. Although superficially at least the same as the one that failed (bought from eBay), they are slight differences in outward appearance and finish and they were easy to install, pinching up properly.

[Tony Press]

Possibly those in a Durite package are the quality controlled pieces from the 
Taiwan factory.

The others go out a back door !

Products here are supposed to be marked with country of origin but 
i have only seen a picture of a Taiwan stamp on one green knob switch. 

I remember when products were supplied with a QC certificate - long gone