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replacement brake lt. sw.

Posted by John Davis

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replacement brake lt. sw. #1
John Davis SE Pa., USA 1974 MG MGB GT V6 Conversion	Posted: September 14, 2012 08:55AM Registered: 8 years ago Posts: 2,004

Does anyone know of a brake light that will fit the later Bs or Midgets? The switch on my car is working intermitantly, so I can't tell when I have brake lights or not. I was hoping for a better switch than the Chinese ones that are the standard now. I know I can add a relay, but the switch still must be reliable.
John

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Re: replacement brake lt. sw. #2
69Sprite Brian M San Jose, CA, USA 1969 Austin-Healey Sprite	Posted: September 14, 2012 09:25AM Registered: 10 months ago Posts: 189

Honestly, I'm not proud of this, but here's what I did. My brake light switch went out immediately after I bought the car. Sigh.

I was 200 miles from home with no brake lights, and had to get the car home that day. We removed the switch and found that it was completely shot, no chance of refinishing. What we ended up doing was going to a local parts store and getting a 90's Geo Metro brake light switch. The threads were within a millimeter of stock. We tapped the brake light switch hole to accept the new switch, which was easy, due to how close the threads were.

Again, I'm not proud of the "fix", but I had to drive the car 200 miles and wouldn't do it without brake lights. I also wasn't somewhere that I could wait to get a new switch in the mail.

Now I have a switch that's inexpensive, but also in-stock at every parts store on the planet. Next step will be adding the relay.

The key to using another switch is making sure that the button goes in the right direction. Our switch is "open" all the time, until you close the circuit by pressing the brake and releasing the pressure off the switch. It's backwards of a normal switch, if you will.

Good luck!

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Re: replacement brake lt. sw. #3
James E Jimmy Campbell Bedford, Va, USA	Posted: September 14, 2012 04:12PM Registered: 1 year ago Posts: 1,745

Are you sure its not normally closed, when the pedal is up its on the switch keeping the lights off, then when you push the pedal the switch button comes out and turns the lights on. Right?

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Re: replacement brake lt. sw. #4
69Sprite Brian M San Jose, CA, USA 1969 Austin-Healey Sprite	Posted: September 14, 2012 04:17PM Registered: 10 months ago Posts: 189

Maybe I'm switching my terms. When I said closed, I meant that when you take the pressure off of the switch (button comes out) when you press the pedal, you close (complete) the circuit (lighting the brake lights). When you let off of the brake pedal, it pushes the switch in and opens (breaks) the circuit (turning off the lights).

It's the opposite of a normal push-button switch, where you would press it to make the light come on. In our case, you press it to make the light go off.

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Re: replacement brake lt. sw. #5
James E Jimmy Campbell Bedford, Va, USA	Posted: September 14, 2012 04:26PM Registered: 1 year ago Posts: 1,745

Thats right. I have a thread down a little lower titled Color Blind Wiring Job, there is a pic of a switch that fits and is changeable without unbolting the pedal mount. I use them on the magnet control switches and the last for years and get pushed 100s times a day.

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