Brake Light Wiring - Aftermarket Harness

[ol'skool]

Just finished majority of the wiring on my 69 Ghia. All that is left is the brake light switch wiring. Im using all the original switches and steering column. There are 2 wires for the brake light circuit. Orange and white. The orange wire is from the fuse panel and goes to the brake switch. That's done. The white wire returns and goes to the lights. Where do I connect the white wire to for lights to come on when brake pedal is pushed. I looked at the watsons kit and others but hadn't found anything on the brake light wiring. I've done many harnesses on hot rods and classic cars but this vw stumped me for this circuit. Probably something simple.

[runamoc]

[ol'skool]

All of the original wiring is gone. None of it's there anymore. What I'm asking refers to aftermarket wiring harnesses. Not OEM or replacement but using a generic aftermarket like Kwik Wire, Easy Wire, or Watsons, etc....

[sjbartnik]

Then...you connect the white wire to the lights. Run it to the back of the car, hook into left side brake light and run jumper from left side to right side brake light.

Originally I believe there was a connector either under rear seat or in engine compartment to split the single wire off to each brake light. You could do that with a Y connector in the engine compartment.

This is about the simplest circuit in the whole car. Power goes from fuse box to switch. Output goes from switch back to the lights. Done.

EDIT: I should say if you are trying to use both switches for redundancy that complicates things a bit. Are you running a brake pressure warning light inside the car? If not, you can leave that bit out and just use one of the switches to operate brake lights, leaving the other one disconnected.

If you want to wire in both switches for dual-circuit brake light redundancy, just make your wiring look like the original wiring diagram at the brake light switches.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[ol'skool]

That's not the right way to do it. If I do that, then how with the turns signal work effectively. Brake light wiring runs through the turn signal switch on just about every car I know of. Well, most anything since the 1950's. Most of the aftermarket wiring harness, Kwik Wire, Rebel, Easy Wire all use a GM wire colors and diagrams. Each one is wired a little differently between Ford and Chrysler but 90% is the same between them. VW is different. Is there a wire than runs into the turn signal switch assembly the white wire coming from the brake light switch would connect to? This is so the brake lights and turn signals all work together. This is done so when I push the brake pedal the front turn signals don't light up. The way you are telling me to wire it is what exactly will happen. It will back feed through the wires and light up the front turn lights.

[sjbartnik]

[ol'skool]

Using all stock lighting. The 3 bulbs are being used. The bottom is tail light and the upper 2 bulbs are turn/brake combination. I know there is a way to do it. There are other members on the sight have used aftermarket harness but so far they haven't chimed in on how they did it. I was able to get the turn signals figured out based on what they did but not brake light switch connections.

[sjbartnik]

[ol'skool]

[sjbartnik]

Gotcha. That you were trying to do something different from stock would have been nice to know in the first post!

I think the problem you're going to run into is needing a turn signal switch with the 3 extra terminals required which your '69 Ghia switch won't have.
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[runamoc]

[ol'skool]

The more i think about it, the more I'm going to split up the tail lights like stock. One for each. Run a wire direct for the white brake light wire to the bulbs in back. That's the simplest way to go right now. I can always make the change later if necessary.

[scotty timmerman]

if you want more light in the rear when you brake i would recommend doing the led strip 3rd brake light in the deck lid. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=301587&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
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[Lo Cash John]

Are you using a Rebel harness? They use orange and white for brake circuit.

I totally understand what you're doing with the tail lights and think it's a great idea. As mentioned, you'll need a turn-signal switch with brake wire inputs (switch then routes the brake light voltage down the turn signal wires to the back) OR a wire in a "trailer converter" which ultimately does the exact same thing.

While you're at it, you may want to add a strobe/pulser box to the brake lights. Motorcycle guys add them to bikes all the time. Anytime you hit the brakes, the box flases the brake lights 3 times in very rapid succession before going full ON. This hopefully gets the attention of the cell phone wielding asshole in the SUV behind you. These boxes are about $40 and can be had at most any motorcycle shop.

I'll be making those same mods on my son's 70 Ghia using a Rebel Wire harness.
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[ol'skool]

I didn't want to get that involved. I used a Kwik Wire kit. They are a local company and I install many of their harnesses in customer vehicles. For the most part, same thing. I ran a separate brake light wire from the white wire to the rear. I wired the bulbs like factory. I might switch to LED bulbs in the rear. Not sure yet. Never thought of the pulsar module. I noticed a few new vehicles that do that on the center mount light. Something to think about.

[[email protected]]

ol'skool, is this what you were referring to?
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5289499#5289499


PS: i know its over a month old but i lost my bookmarks recently and while looking for the info posted above came upon this thread. hopefully it makes it easier for someone else to find since its deep within clkwrks thread.