brake light switch question

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Nov 28, 2006 | 07:15 AM

tgowers

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brake light switch question

i am not using the stock brake pressure switch on my 68 f100.... i am using a brake light switch out of a 2006 explorer, i had one laying around. it has 2 wires on it. when the button is pushed in the lights are off, when the button is out the lights come on...simple ehough. it goes in front of the pedal depending on how you look at it. my question is how do i wire it so that i don't lose my turn signals? i know that the switch just compltets the circuit...one is a hot and one is a ground. i didn't use the stock brake pressure switch because when changing the front to manual discs i knew i couldn't have a residual valve going to the front, so i didn't know if there was one in the brake pressure switch. i thought i was making my life easier....guess not. thanks for any and all help. -tony

Nov 28, 2006 | 10:05 AM

FordBoypete

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From: East Central Florida

I'm not sure what "in front of the pedal" means, but if the pedal moves away from the 2006 switch button your circuit will close or complete sending the same 12v current to turn signal switch so your brake lights activate. By using the same circuitry as the OEM wet switch used you will not have any of the problems you forecast.

OEM, wet, switches work on the same principal of completing a circuit. The turn signal switching & indicator is not smart enough to realize a switch was changed, it's either a open circuit [off] or not [on].

T-Sig set up can't trace how it happens, it can only respond to it. It's that simple.

FBp

Nov 28, 2006 | 11:33 AM

jowilker

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From: Creedmoor, North Carolina

Pete is on the money. I just pulled the wires back in from out on the firewall and used them on my upgrade switch.

John

Nov 29, 2006 | 12:27 AM

tgowers

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ok, i need a little more help, i get what you guys are saying.... somewhat. so if i use my new switch(it has a red and a green wire) i take the oem hot wire from the wet switch and the hot wire from my new switch and pigtail them together.....correct? and then take the oem ground wire from the wet switch and pigtail and my ground wire from my new switch and pigtail them together....correct? it seems like i am missing something. do i need to run a new wire from the fuse box? my wet switch is gone.... my engine is out of the truck, and my wires are just hanging from the firewall....where are the wires from the wet switch, and what do they usually look like, and how many wires are there? i am sorry for the lack of my knowledge of circuitry... but pete and john, if you guys can be as specific as possible i will be able to get this truck on the road. thanks guys, my buddy can probably figure it out just by what you guys told me, but if i don't learn it, then why should i even bother right...knowledge is key. thanks again guys, - tony

Nov 29, 2006 | 05:27 AM

jowilker

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From: Creedmoor, North Carolina

Tony, I unplugged the wires from the juice switch out on the firewall, pulled them back through the hole into the cab from where they came, and plugged them into the 76 donor switch that I had mounted on the pedal assembly. That is all that there is to it.

John

Nov 29, 2006 | 07:05 AM

tgowers

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sounds easy enough. i think i was over complicating it in my head. thanks john.

-tony

Nov 29, 2006 | 02:30 PM

FordBoypete

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From: East Central Florida

Tony you were over thinking it, but wise enuff to ask for help. It's easy as John says.

Since your both switches are Single Pole X Single Throw it doesn't matter which wire goes where in either switch. Closed = on and Open = off. You can't hook those two wires up incorrectly. . . . . . . Unless you hook them together.

FBp