Mechanical brake switch

[floridasteve]

I am so confused right now its not even funny.

Can someone walk me thru how to wire this switch. It seems to me that I am not getting power from the steering column white wire. This is the brake connection, right?

I thought that I took the white wire from a GM column to the one side of the switch and then the other side to the lights. But, if there is no power in the circuit?

Then thought that I place power to one side from the fuse panel and then connect the lights and column wire to the other side of the switch? That does not seem correct.

Someone please help me understand this relatively easy switch that I have complicated in my head!

Thanks

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by floridasteve

Then thought that I place power to one side from the fuse panel and then connect the lights and column wire to the other side of the switch? That does not seem correct.

Yes, that sounds pretty close the way you've described it there.

A fuse in the fusebox (often labeled "TAIL / STOP" or similar) should supply power to one terminal of the brake light switch (usually through an orange wire). The output of the brake light switch will be live whenever the pedal is pushed ... that's fed to the turn signal switch (usually through a white wire).

The turn signal switch takes care of routing power to the individual bulbs. So when it's in the center position, it routes the power from the brake light switch to both brake lights. But when signaling to make a turn, it overrides the brake light on that side and instead powers it from the turn signal flasher.