The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Tail light question

I've installed a new universal wiring harness in my rat rod. I would like to run the brake, turn and tail light all from the same tail light fixture. I am using tail lights like you would see on a small trailer (one bulb, two filaments.) Unfortunately, the kit does not come with anything to help with my situation. Can I purchase some sort of unit that will solve my problem?

35chev,

A taillight assembly with one dual element lamp is real standard. There should be a least two wires hanging from the setup. One wire would be tail and the other wire would be brake/turn. All this monkey motion would require you to have some turn signal mechanism in the cab. Does this make any sense?

Stuart

But wouldn't the turn signal be overridden when I have the blinker on and I hit the brakes? I want the blinker to stay on when I hit the brakes.

35; It's the other way around. The turn signal overrides the brakes. The brake wiring goes from the brake light switch, through the turn signal switches, then out back to the lights.

35chev,

When you have two taillights and you are stopped, making a left turn, the right brake light shines steady bright for a stop and the left brake light blinks bright for the left turn.

As Waldo says, this all happens in the turn signal mechanism before zooming down the wires to the back of the truck. Three wires gets the whole thing done. One wire for BOTH taillights and license plate light, and ONE WIRE EACH for a left brake light and a right brake light.

Stuart

You need to have two lamps. One as a standard taillight and the other wired as a stoplamp only.

Dave,

Didn't he indicate he has dual filament bulbs. Isn't this just like two lamps?

Stuart

Dave,

It depends on what you are calling a lamp. You need two filaments, or LED clusters, on each side of the truck, whether there are two single filament bulbs on each side or one dual filament bulb on each side, with the brake/turn lights controlled by the turnsignal switch. It is possible to use a single LED cluster on each side with an extra resistor and diode to the taillight wire, and the brake/turn wire directly attached to the LED cluster.

I was told that I would have to use a turn signal switch with brake light override built-in. The reason for this is because I just want to use a toggle switch for my turn signals. So, what everyone is telling me is to wire everything together and it should work, as is?

If I have one of the turn signals on and flashing, and then I push on the brake lights, the brake light will provide constant voltage to that filament and cancel out (override) the flashing turn signal? To fix this light override, do I need to install some mechanism that will detect when a turn signal is on and that will not allow the brake light to feed that light. So, for example, while the right signal flashes, the left brake light works but that right turn signal isn't overridden by the brake.

So do most steering columns have this mechanism built right in? Unfortunately, I want to stick with my original 1935 steering setup. Therefore, can I achieve the same results electrically by properly wiring up a group of relays????

Most people who want to keep the original steering buy an aftermarket controller that is clamped to the existing steering column and has the turn signal arm and the brake/turn circuit within it. If you didn't want it to show, you could install it behind the dash with just end of the the arm hanging down and push it to the left for or left turn or right for a right turn. With just a toggle switch, it would be a lot more complex to get it to work, or you would need two separate light assemblies on each side with turn lights only on one assembly.

35chev,

Pretty sneaky...you didn't tell us about the toggle switch thing! There was a thread that dealt with this topic some time ago. I have linked it, take a look!

http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin//ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002264#000006

Stuart

So, if I install a aftermarket controller, I don't need anything else? Just wire it up and the should work???

The reason I said you would need two separate assemblies per side with a toggle switch is the the original lights are too small to give good visual separation with three lights in each. When the brake lights are on, the turn lights would not be visible enough.

Yes. Just follow the instructions that come with it.