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Column - turn signal wires

Reply #15 –
Quote from: jcassity;336488
overcomplicating it seek

use an inexpensive radio shack micro switch mounted to your brake pedal ,,:D
im sure you can figure it out from here,,getting the switch to provide the ground to the brake signal should be easy now.

just did this last month to a car.

diagrams here>
http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/jcassity_bucket/


There are ways with additional wiring, yes, and you bring up a good point - I could probably tap into the existing brake switch and use it to provide my signal so I know when the brakes are on, utilizing it to give me indication of the turn signal or hazard being on and with some simple wiring at the new tail light harness, the sequencers can get their signal on anything that is not-brake. I would likely just cheat and use a 5 terminal relay since a failed relay would just cause it to sequence on brakes again - no biggy although relays are pretty fragile when you're switching it with every brake pedal press. I don't have things available at the moment to do it with mosfets, although I've got a few hundred high amperage ones, and some drivers, packed away.

Or just finish up the wiring to the steering column...

So, what does the factory brake switch give us? Ground? I don't see it in the electrical diagrams.

Honestly, in the end, I'd like to make a sequencing module that would just plug in at the tail light harness connector, with two additional wires of course.
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Column - turn signal wires

Reply #16 –
Quote from: Seek;336520
There are ways with additional wiring, yes, and you bring up a good point - I could probably tap into the existing brake switch and use it to provide my signal so I know when the brakes are on, utilizing it to give me indication of the turn signal or hazard being on and with some simple wiring at the new tail light harness, the sequencers can get their signal on anything that is not-brake. I would likely just cheat and use a 5 terminal relay since a failed relay would just cause it to sequence on brakes again - no biggy although relays are pretty fragile when you're switching it with every brake pedal press. I don't have things available at the moment to do it with mosfets, although I've got a few hundred high amperage ones, and some drivers, packed away.
 
Or just finish up the wiring to the steering column...
 
So, what does the factory brake switch give us? Ground? I don't see it in the electrical diagrams.
 
Honestly, in the end, I'd like to make a sequencing module that would just plug in at the tail light harness connector, with two additional wires of course.

 
The factory brake lamp switch does not provide a ground. 12V+ unswitched from the battery stays hot all the time and when the brakes are pressed it passes the current from the brake lamp switch directly to the turn signal switch which distributes the 12V+ to the LH & RH brake/turn bulbs. The only ground is the black wires from each taillamp socket which is all junctioned in the wiring harness and grounded to the rear body panel.
 
You have a third brake lamp mounted in the rear window since you have a 1986 and newer model. It functions independently of the taillamp brake lamps and has it's own dedicated wire. No need to run a wire all the way to the front when the 3rd brake lamp wire is right there only a couple of feet away. The brake lamp switch has a light green wire that runs to the back of the car to the third brake lamp that is junctioned to the light green wire that goes to the turn signal switch which distributes the brake lamp current to the left and right taillamps. You have to cut the light green wire within the run that goes only to the turn signal switch. Likely the junction for the two light green brake lamp wires is close to the brake lamp switch where I believe two wires are joined into one terminal on the brake lamp switch connector.
 
A long time ago when I had my 1985 Tbird I got the silly idea to make the back-up lamps into amber turn signals. I remember cutting the supply wire from the brake lamp switch to the turn signal switch then running a new wire from front to back from the brake lamp switch. I just simply wired the turn signals to the back-up lamp socket, installed an amber bulb and installed a second 912 bulb and socket below that in the same back-up lamp section housing to retain the back-up lamps. For the brake lamps, I just connected the new run of wire to the four red section taillamp sockets while also extending a run of wire to my decklid to light up the third brake lamp in my 1994-98 Cobra style wing that I installed.

Column - turn signal wires

Reply #17 –
for the record, no on said to use the existing brake switch.
Its a power delivery component, not a ground control.


the brake switch showes up in various places, like on pg206.

Column - turn signal wires

Reply #18 –
Quote from: jcassity;336624
for the record, no on said to use the existing brake switch.


I understand that was curious how it told the car that it was depressed. So it's hot at all times and delivers a positive signal when switched on - that's all I was curious about. I like the idea of pulling this from the 3rd brake light wire though as it's much more elegant. I will re-run my wires and feed the signal it to the tail lamps as the control wire.
1988 Thunderbird Sport

Column - turn signal wires

Reply #19 –
Quote from: Seek;336649
I understand that was curious how it told the car that it was depressed. So it's hot at all times and delivers a positive signal when switched on - that's all I was curious about. I like the idea of pulling this from the 3rd brake light wire though as it's much more elegant. I will re-run my wires and feed the signal it to the tail lamps as the control wire.


Will this accomplish what you are trying to do?
I got lost a few posts ago :hick:
Fox-less at the moment

Column - turn signal wires

Reply #20 –
I just need a way to know whether the power being fed to the brake bulbs is brake or turn signal. If I know turn signal, I can use that, but if I know brake, I can use it to know when it's NOT on signal. Hazards doesn't matter much.

5 pin relays or mosfets handle the rest. I may use a relay temporarily until I get a correct mosfet. I assume capacitance won't matter much in such a simple circuit but I need to make sure I don't need a pulldown resistor.
1988 Thunderbird Sport
 

Column - turn signal wires

Reply #21 –
Yeah...I don't know what I was thinking. I have to pull the signal straight from the front lamps/indicator bulbs or else I'd have brake+signal state issues. Oh well. Back to the initial plan of splicing in at the steering column.
1988 Thunderbird Sport