brake light confusion?

[Conrad17]

ok so my i have a set of those 4 light tail lights, for some reason, they are super bright, and when i press the brake, they do not get any brighter, i checked the wiring and it all seems ok, but i dont since i did not install them, and the guy that did ghetto rigged them.
im confused, please help lol

[wytbishop]

Well I don't know about your aftermarket lights, but basically there are two light circuits in the tail light (leaving out the reverse and turn signal obviously). On the stock assembly there is a 2 fillament bulb. One filament for tail lights, and the other for brake lights. So there are three wires going to that socket in each tail light assembly. One ground and two power wires. In your case there might be an individual socket for tail and brake lights...I don't know. But it sounds to me like he has wired the power wires for both the tail light and the brake light into the tail light circuit so they are both on whenever the lights are on.

Use a multimeter to determine which wire has power when the brake pedal is depressed...and wire one of the filiments, or sockets, into that wire.

[Newfie_dan]

running lights and brake light wires are switched the brighter one is the brake light and the dimmer one is the running light wire, although I have never seen an aftermarket tail light that does not plug right into the factory light sockets. Also make sure you have the right bulb in the right socket you can mess up how they behave by putting the wrong bulb in the wrong socket some have a single prong in the bottom and some have 2 in the bottom, make sure that you match the bulb to the correct socket.

[Conrad17]

allright will do
ill do some more investigating
thanks

[ninjajim4]

running lights and brake light wires are switched the brighter one is the brake light and the dimmer one is the running light wire, although I have never seen an aftermarket tail light that does not plug right into the factory light sockets. Also make sure you have the right bulb in the right socket you can mess up how they behave by putting the wrong bulb in the wrong socket some have a single prong in the bottom and some have 2 in the bottom, make sure that you match the bulb to the correct socket.

i initially had the same thought, but on second thought, i don't think they will actually fit. the dual filament and single filament bulbs have difference spacing between the notches where they lock in

[Conrad17]

im baffled
it out of the blue started doing this
the wires seem to be fine
and i havent switched any bulbs

[Ryan]

stuck brake switch?

[_-Night-Shade-_]

stuck brake switch?

+1 definitely doesn't sound like a bulb issue, I was going to suggest this too.

[Conrad17]

will a chiltons manual show where this is and how to remove it? ive never done one before

[Ryan]

its the one and only switch on the brake pedal.

[Conrad17]

allright
will do
hopefully i can fix it today