Brake Light Switch Wiring Help Needed (for towing monitoring)

[Trailsman]

Have a ready Brute Elite tow bar, and am trying to add their In-Dash Brake Light Monitor/Indicator DL-100 kit to my 2020 Gladiator/and motorhome, but I'm running into issues right off the bat. Per their instructions:
Step 1. Locate the brake light switch. (I've done this as pictured below)
Step 2. Locate the wire that sends the signal to your brake lights from this switch. There are usually two wires running to this switch. One supplies the switch with a constant 12 volt current and the other sends a current to the tail lights when the brake is activated. The wire that carries the signal to the brake lights upon activation of the brake pedal is the wire you will splice and run to the dash of your motor-home.

Here is where my problem is...there doesn't seem to be 12 volts coming off this switch....and I have 3 wires coming off this switch, not 2 as mentioned above.

Has anyone installed one of these on their gladiator that might be able to help me with this install issue......or can it not be installed on 2020 Gladiator? Or is there any other way to get this installed? Trying to have this hooked up before my next camping trip so I don't ended up burning up another set of brakes that happened awhile back on a old rubicon I was towing when the cable got too tight.

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[Mr._Bill]

Do you have the Tow Package? It may be easier get a brake controller harness and tap into that to get what you need.

 

[Trailsman]

Do you have the Tow Package? It may be easier get a brake controller harness and tap into that to get what you need.

I don't believe I have the tow package on my gladiator sport. Everything else has been hooked up and have towed many times, just ultimately trying to eventually get the red led in my motorhome to tell me if my brakes are pressed (for when they shouldn't be), just can't figure out how to begin now that I don't have 12 volts at that switch. In the meantime will look into the brake controller harness to see if it will work with this setup.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

These don't send a signal to the brake lights directly like some, or older vehicles did. The signal comes from the ABS controller.
I believe these have the brake lights triggered by the ABS controller.

Find the trailer brake controller harness at the left kick panel and use the brake light circuit wire there.
If you have the 7 and 4 pin connector at the rear of the truck - you have the harness at the kick panel. As far as I know all of these are wired for trailer brakes - at least that's what I've always thought.

If you have that connector, I'd never mess with the brake light switch on these.

 

[Trailsman]

These don't send a signal to the brake lights directly like some, or older vehicles did. The signal comes from the ABS controller.
I believe these have the brake lights triggered by the ABS controller.

Find the trailer brake controller harness at the left kick panel and use the brake light circuit wire there.
If you have the 7 and 4 pin connector at the rear of the truck - you have the harness at the kick panel. As far as I know all of these are wired for trailer brakes - at least that's what I've always thought.

If you have that connector, I'd never mess with the brake light switch on these.

Have both the 7 and 4 pin connectors at the rear, so will try and locate that brake controller harness.

 

[Bakerboy]

I know this is an older thread, but did this ever get figured out? Or has anyone else done something similar? Oh Great Gladiator wizards…..

I have the same tow bar system (ready brute elite 2) and recently had a cable failure. Therefore the brake wasn’t being applied. It was my fault, turnbuckle was a tad tight on the cable. I am trying to hook up a wire, so I can run a small notification light into the RV. So when the brake is applied (cable pulled/hitch surge brake) in the gladiator the small light will glow in the RV and I will know the brakes are being applied. I have a 2023 Jeep Mojave. The 4 prong (picture) brake tow line on the kick panel and the 2 plugs at the rear (picture). I have tested the kick panel plug, it appear to have 1 constant hot and 3 that don’t seem to have power. I tried pressing on the brake and they don’t light up. I was hoping that when I press the brake, one of the 3 others would power up? I really don’t want to pull a power line from the rear all the way to the front for a brake power notification light. I have a Tazer and turned on TRLR and Trlrbrk, hoping they would do something. Nope

Any ideas?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The connector there is for trailer brake controller.
Hot/12v+
Ground
Signal back to trailer brakes
Brake light signal

The brake light signal comes from the ABS controller, not the brake pedal or some switch. It only comes on if the brakes are applied through the ABS - as in when pressing the brake pedal, which triggers the ABS to send the signal to turn on the brake lights.

Tazer won't have any impact on this at all - those are pretty much meaningless in this situation.

I have no idea how your tow bar situation/system works, but to get the Jeep brake lights to come on, the brake pedal must be pressed and trigger the ABS.

 

[Bakerboy]

The connector there is for trailer brake controller.
Hot/12v+
Ground
Signal back to trailer brakes
Brake light signal

The brake light signal comes from the ABS controller, not the brake pedal or some switch. It only comes on if the brakes are applied through the ABS - as in when pressing the brake pedal, which triggers the ABS to send the signal to turn on the brake lights.

Tazer won't have any impact on this at all - those are pretty much meaningless in this situation.

I have no idea how your tow bar situation/system works, but to get the Jeep brake lights to come on, the brake pedal must be pressed and trigger the ABS.

Thanks @ShadowsPapa since my tow system works with out any power on in the jeep. I tried pressing hard on brake pedal and nothing comes through the plug. I may have to pull from rear. When I step on pedal brake lights come on just sitting in driveway. Was hoping OP responds too.

Although shouldn't one of these power up when you press the brake?
Signal back to trailer brakes
Brake light signal

 

[Bakerboy]

Since this is bound to happen to someone else. Here is what I found out. Hope it helps.

You can use one of these kits, shop around, they may be cheaper:

https://www.etrailer.com/Tow-Bar-Braking-Systems/Roadmaster/RM-751000.html

https://www.etrailer.com/Tow-Bar-Braking-Systems/Roadmaster/RM-751497.html

Or........I am going with this option:
One of those wires in the trailer brake plug at the front of the coach runs to the rear trailer plug at the back of the coach. You'll need to use a meter to identify which one. There is a color code, I think it's blue, but not sure.

Since the new toads are so hard to tap into for a brake light indicator, I do mine differently. I take a small roller switch and make a bracket so that the switch rides on the brake pedal of the toad. When the pedal moves the roller switch opens.

I run one side of the roller switch to ground in the toad and the other side of the switch to the trailer connector (umbilical) at the front of the toad. I connect it to the pin that corresponds to the brake controller wire you identified at the rear of the coach.

In the front of the coach, I run a small indicator light where I can easily see it while driving. I connect one side of the light to 12-volt power from somewhere in the dash and the other side to the trailer brake wire you identified. Now when the brake pedal on the toad "moves" it sends a "ground" signal to the light on the dash.

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