Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Brake light not engaging

Howdy,

I was wondering if someone can point me in the right direction.

My brake light isn't engaging when the lever is pulled in. It illuminates when the ignition is on but nothing the lever is pulled.

I've changed the bulb and all the fuses look good.

I have a multimeter but very little skill in using it... can I use it to tell me if the fault is in the wiring?
The switch is clicking fine at the lever end.

Cheers

So the front brake lever is not activating it? Does the rear pedal light it?

No the rear doesn't activate it either... but that died some time ago and since I very rarely use the rear brake alone I didn't bother fixing it.

The front lever is not lighting up the stop light (real bright light) but the ignition is lighting it as normal.

Remove the seat and look for the 4-5 pin connector from the rear fender.
I had an intermittent open circuit there once.
Cleaned the contacts and it was good as new.

Yeah.. I've had that connector apart and all look ok.. I'll give it a spray with some contact cleaner.

I had a similar issue with Karens bike...turned out it was the bulb socket contacts and the bulb not making a clean contact. Remove and replace then test.

If Zs suggestion doesn't work, it's easy to test for power at the bulb end of things. Just pull the bulb and you will see 2 terminals in there... one is for the taillight, the other is for the brakelight. Ground the negative terminal on your tester to where the bulb housing makes contact, and touch the two terminals one at a time with the positive terminal (make sure a brake is engaged for this test). If you get a reading on both terminals the circuit is okay.

While here, might I suggest throwing one of these in your toolbox. They are inexpensive and are PERFECT for testing circuits!

For our overseas friends, grounding = earthing.

No brake light is caused by a bad switch. To test the switch and wiring simultaniously use a jumper wire to bypass the switch in the circuit. This can be done whilst the switch is in the circuit or out. Locate the connectors plugged into the switch. Unplug the connectors. Use the jumper wire to jump across the connectors where they connect to the switch. If the brake light comes on suspect the switch. If the brakelight doesnt come on suspect the bulb, fuse, and wiring in that order. Oh yeah, the ignition should be on for the test. Most people replace the bulb first as that is the most common point of failure then the fuse. Since you had already elliminated these I didnt include them in my procedure.

The rear brake light switch is pressure operated by the brakeline and the front brake switch is mechanically operated by the front brake lever. It's contact is held open by the brake lever until the lever is pulled in at which time the contact becomes closed turning on the brake lamp.

I've had both switches fail on my 06 america. The rear switch in the first few months after buying my bike new and the front switch just last year with over 30kmiles on the bike.

To check the front brake switch.

Unplug the 2 connectors from the switch and short circuit the ends with a paper clip or small piece of wire.

If the brake light works then, you have a faulty switch.

Make sure you have your ignition on.