Anyone try out Watson street works RF ignition and hot dot push button?

[Svtfreak]

Especially on coyote?

[edwardb]

No personal experience with that setup. I do recall Jazzman (Kevin) going through a lot of effort on his Mk4/Coyote build with the Watson's Streetworks keyless pushbutton ignition. Lost track, but pretty sure after a whole bunch of back and forth it didn't work out for him. Even if it eventually did, it took some significant time and effort. Maybe he'll see this and weigh in. Or you could PM him. Don't recall any others. I did look at a number of options to add this function to my Gen 3 Coupe build. I ended up buying the Digital Guard Dawg PBS-1 setup. I'm still in the process of installing it. But I've completely wired it up on the bench and tested it. Works perfectly. The outputs are exactly the same as a manual ignition switch (same wires, everything) so I have no reason to think it's not going to work with the Coupe build including the Coyote. The Digital Guard Dog setup is a little pricey, IMO, but it's a single module and is very well made. The keyfobs are also nice. DD size and quality.

[Svtfreak]

Thanks edwardb. I actually did pm jazzman also. They refunded his money. He recommended the same one you have. I’m looking into it also, and seems to be a better unit but not without some idiosyncrasies itself. Nothing major though. My Hanks fro the reply. Please let me know when you get it working with your coyote if it wasn’t easy to do. Mimicking ignition switch, as in truly taking place of the switch easily, it shouldn’t be hard to make it work right. I’m thinking now if I want a power trunk and hood release on weather I need which one.

[edwardb]

Not sure what idiosyncrasies you're referring to. It works exactly like the keyless remotes I've had in DD's with the only exception you have to press the brake down to shut the engine off. Which is totally fine (and IMO expected) with a manual shift transmission. As I mentioned, I've completely wired it up on the bench and confirmed it outputs voltage (accessory, run, start) exactly the same as the ignition switch. I'm confident it will work as expected in my build including with the Coyote. Speaking of that, the Coyote isn't any different than any other setup. With 12 volts on the ignition sense and 12 volts on the start sense it will start and run. Both of those have to work for any other engine as well. The PBS II adds the lock and aux output, still in the same module package. Don't have that one, but looks pretty straightforward to me.

I'll report the actual installation of the PBS I in my Coupe build thread. But a couple months away at least.

[Svtfreak]

I read where someone had an issue that without the motor running, the pbs doesn’t know and stays in run mode. Which actually is exactly like an ignition switch. So I thought about adding an ignition on light to my gauges (I’ll gave free spots) so if the light is on and motor off, I’ll know to turn ignition off and start over. But that’s just a nature of the system being exactly like a key. Once he realized what happened, and turned it off, it was doing exactly what it should have done.

I’m still a long way off from purchasing but I will ask you one thing, what size is the hole needed for the button? Happen to be same size as for th FFR ignition switch, by chance? I won’t is pickup and install this until final assembly, probably 1.5 or so years off.

[edwardb]

Not exactly following the issue you're describing. The start light button blinks when it's available for starting (e.g. when the keyfob is in range) and is on solid when the engine is running.

They have a whole bunch of start button options. All are shown on their website. Some with hole dimensions. I chose the Lexus one, and the hole is quite a bit larger than the FF ignition switch.

[Svtfreak]

Rather than try to clear up my substandard description, I’ll just say that it sounds like the push button light clears it up for me hehe.

Thanks. I’ll check out the size of the brushed stainless ones then, since they’ll match everything else best.

Thanks, EB. Think I’m gonna go same route you did. Just gotta decide if I want the extra functions or not.

[Jazzman]

Well I am a little late to this party, but you have the information right. I did try to use Watson's Streetworks Ignition module. They were having an ongoing series of difficulties making it dependable on the 2017 Coyote motor. Long story short, I went through three versions and still could not get one that would dependably start when I wanted to start, stay running when I was driving, and turn off when I said so. Watson's was very good to work with, and ultimately refunded my money when I decided I just did not want to fight their system any more. I believe them to be an honest company. By now they may have even worked out the bugs in the ignition system, I just don't know. I have read of several that have used the Digital Guard Dog, and it seems they have been almost universally pleased. Good luck with your Build!

[Svtfreak]

Thanks jazzman! I may call them and ask them about the coyote issues just out of curiosity. But as of now, I’ll be going with you and Edwards recommendation of the DGD. Especially since I may use that to add trunk and hood poppers and nix the cables.

[DarthTedious]

I have the DGD PBSII installed on my hotrod, so far everything is working great although I have not yet wired up locks to it, so they get my recommendation