Brake light issue?

Was showing my buddy my passenger side power window I just installed and was showing him my new 3rd brake light and he told me my right brake light was out... Do'h! I unbolted it and the other one goes out... Do'h! I have the flame LED lights from Speedway. I used a cheap brake switch from Oreilly's.

The tail lights, and turn signals still work fine. Do you think this could be a faulty brake switch? Would the interruption be between the brake switch and the lights them selves? No fuses are blown so I'm leaning toward the switch. I tested one side of the brake switch and my test light went on but not the other side... is it supposed to read like this or is this the problem?

I've been driving it all summer and just started tearing into it to work out a few small kinks for next car show season.

 

Grounding issue

 

When you step on the brakes both sides of the brake light switch should be +12volts. When not on the brakes one side of the switch is +12volts. The side of the switch that goes to the tailights (or turn signal switch) is only hot when the brake pedal is pushed in.

 

I'm cleaning the grounds real fast and will check the switch again. I'm just wondering if it's a ground issue why are the tail lights and turn signals still working? They are all on the same LED bulbs and have the same ground???

 

Not knowing what what your car is I cant say for sure but most brake lights are provided power through the signal light switch in order to override the brake light when you have the signals on.If wired your 3rd brake light incorrectly you might have created the problem.Disconnecont the 3rd brake light and see what happens. It is also possible that the signal light switch failed.

 

It's a custom 46 International pu. I used the Rebel Wire 9+3 kit and made my turn signal switch with an on-off-on toggle and 2 relays (double pole double throw). The turn signal still work fine but maybe something came unplugged for the brake switch???

I cleaned the grounds and re tested the brake switch. When I test the brake switch only one side lights up with the brake pushed and with the brake not being pushed. Is this an issue?

 

I swapped out the switch just to see and they are working now. Should I still check to see if something ruined the old switch? Could there still be a ground issue and this end up happening again?

Can I add an extra inline fuse or something to help protect this?

 

I think I got it fixed. The switch was the only thing testing bad... replaced it and everything is working fine now. kinda glad this happened... I needed to go through and clean up my wiring and this gave me an excuse. I'm spending a bunch of time but I will feel much better when everything is clean and proper. I saw the weather proof connections to protect the grounds and think I might use these for ALL my ground connections to keep the terminals from corroding and rusting... either this or I was thinking of gluing plastic whiskey bottle caps around the ground connections to keep them from getting wet.

I think this was a bad switch and not ground connections but it's always good to double take your grounds and do something to keep them clean.

Thanks all for the help!

 

inline 2 post hyd. style switch...? my a has been going those things ever couple months.

 

i had the same problem with the same lite.ended up running a ground wire from the lite and everything is fine

 

Here's a less elegant, but much simpler third brake light alternative that avoids all wiring issues: http://www.brakeflasher.com/