rear brake light switch

[proot370]

Hi, I am having a problem with the rear brake switch. When the switch is connected, the brake lights are on, when I step on brake pedal, the brake lights go out. The reverse of what should be happening. The front brake switch works fine if rear switch is disconnected. It's as if the rear switch wiring is shorted, but if it was, the switch would not turn off lights when pressed. Any thoughts, I'm perplexed? Have replaced the switch, and the relay, no change.

[triton28]

The way the switch works is the opposite of most brake light switches, ie. on The Voyager XII when the switch plunger rod goes in to the body of the switch the circuit closes and the lights illuminate, whereas most rear brake light switches operate on the principle of pulling the plunger rod to close the circuit. In the former case the spring keeps the circuit open until the pedal is pressed, and in the latter the spring is just to prevent undue pull being exerted on the switch itself while the brake lever is pressed.
With this in mind the only thing I can think of is that somehow the spring is connected to a part of the brake lever that pulls the spring when you press on the lever as opposed to relaxing the spring which is how it is supposed to work. Something about the linkage/spring is suspect to me.
Just a guess on my part but with a new switch and relay there isn't much else to look for IMO.
Others may have more helpful ideas to post.
Dave

[Van Voyager]

Is it possible you have the wires to the tail light bulbs reversed? That is, power from your brake light switch is feeding your tail light filaments and your tail light power is feeding the brake light filaments. The brake/tail light connector(s) should be 'keyed' to prevent the wiring swap but if someone had the pins out of the connector....

[Nails]

Also note that the rear brake has two separate switches, one for the brakes and the other to cancel the cruise. (On the front brake, these are combined -- why there are four wire connectors.)