No brake lights....dam eyetalyun lektronix!!!!!!!!!!! Progress

[Buckethead]

I suppose this means it's the microswitch.

Not necessarily.

Several things come to mind:

1) Do you have an aftermarket horn? Have you checked the horn electrical connections or contact condition? My Hella Supertones recommend using a switched relay and a 16A fuse on a dedicated circuit. 16A is a LOT of juice. I'd check the contacts and then the fuse again just to rule it out.

2) Have you tried disconnecting/reconnecting the taillight wiring bullet connector, where it meets the main wiring harness? It's possible to have a one of the 5 pin/slot connections get buggered up while the rest of them work just fine. DAMHIK.

[Howie]

Yup...on your S2R 1000 it's going to be fuse #5 15 amp.  Pull on the brake lever and see if the fuse stays in tact, i.e. try the horn to see if it still works. 

DOH! SR2

[Meerkat]

Also, did this just start happening?  Were you fiddling with anything before?  I seriously doubt it's the switches as to have both go bad at the same time is quite the coincidence.

Of course I was fiddling with things before it happened. I had to bring the battery into the house to keep it charged over winter (For some reason, the condo association doesn't want to pay to charge my battery). I swapped out the closed airbox for a cut one. Put a new beer tray on without the bumpouts to mount the turn signals. Swapped a motodynamics integrated light in for a different integrated light from the PO. So you can see I didn't really fiddle with it a lot...just a little.

So I tried to parse all of the suggestions that came through while I was trying to earn enough $$$ to get some new farkles and here's what I found:

1) My little fuse continuity light tells me that the front switch is good. Light turns on when the lever is pulled and off when it's released if I'm holding the prongs of the tester to the connectors (that hide behind the headlight). Yeah! One thing not to buy.

2) The factory horn still works and the blinker signals still work (front and rear).

3) I unplugged/replugged the connectors for the front switch, unplugged/replugged some kind of connector that I think was connected to the rear brake: little plastic thing with a yellow rubber seal..one side had prongs, other side had slots for the prongs. The prongs on my "tester" aren't long enough to reach into the plastic plug parts. Unplugged/replugged all of the wires for the integrated light. Horn and blinkers still worked after this.

4) I'm not sure what a "taillight wiring bullet connector" is. There are a bunch of wires inside some plastic wrap thing into which I plugged the connectors from the light...same place as the old one was connected. There are 7 wires that come out of it: 2 for each blinker and 3 for the tail/stop light.

Thanks for all your help so far! At least I know for sure the switch is good. I picked up a multimeter on the way home in case that's helpful.

[Meerkat]

Significant Progress!!!!!!

I was testing all of the wires at the tail light (as if I knew what I was doing) and I noticed that the two wires that supply power to the light had the same voltage. Then I thought...what if I have a brake light that's ON all the time. I unplugged one of the wires and what do you know the light is dimmer. Replug the wire and the light gets bright as if I pulled the lever. So then I get brilliant (well not really but...) and unplug the rear brake connector that's mounted on the frame (the prong containing thing I mentioned in the last post).

Now the pre-finale:  THE FRONT BRAKE LEVER NOW TURNS ON THE BRAKE LIGHT LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!

So now the problem is isolated to the rear brake switch. It's dark in my garage so I can't really see what's going on there so I can't figure out much with it now. Any advice on how to test/fix this or is it a "just buy a new one" fix?

[Slide Panda]

So what you're telling us is you, you YOU plugged the running light lead, into the connection point for the braking light. Aren't you some sort of smart-ified teacher and stuff?

[errazor]

I think Hi's telling us that Hi have a broken or bad adjusted rear brake switch.

[Meerkat]

So what you're telling us is you, you YOU plugged the running light lead, into the connection point for the braking light. Aren't you some sort of smart-ified teacher and stuff?

I think he's telling us that he have a broken or bad adjusted rear brake switch.

What errazor said! If Yuu would have paid attention to these "smart-ified" teachers, maybe you would have understood that.      Yuu ever coming riding with us again? Got to ask DRKWNG about those damn socials too...oh, Julie.

[hackers2r]

Gonna go with a bad adjusted switch.  Although, it would make more sense to test the switch first!  Good to hear it was nothing major, and your horn works again! 

[Meerkat]

Thanks for the suggestions, Hacker! Horns are an absolute essential here in DC. I see diplomat plates and my life flashes before my eyes.

Supposed to be beautiful here today, so I'm splitting out of work early to do some riding! Tomorrow is back to cold, so I'll check the switch then.

[Slide Panda]

Meh, we all know I'm about finger pointing.

This should be a pretty easy fix. Those switches really don't crap out, so the two main options are: out of adjustment or stuck due to goop.

They are a simple press activated clicker. The body is threaded and is mounted to the rearset, and has nut on it as well to act as a jamb-nut. Just disconnect the switch and turn the switch body back out of the rearsets. Once backed out so it's not touching the brake lever, reconnect and try your lights. If the problem reappears - the switch is stuck. If not, then just turn the switch body back in to a point that it works properly when the lever is depressed, and cinch it down with the jamb-nut.

IF the switch is stuck - roll down to Radio Shack and pick up some switch clearer/lube. Apply liberally and work the switch until it frees up.