powering down the alternator

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by DracoFelis

Most cars will turn on their brake lights before you have done enough pedal pressure to actually start braking (and with many cars you can even adjust the sensitivity of the brake light on switch connected to the brake pedal). And if you experiment somewhere you can see this light (or temporarily wire up an extension bulb to the brake light circuit, so that you can see the "brake lights" while driving), you can quickly learn how light of a touch "on the brake" will engage the brake light in your car.

And FWIW another thought I had (which I haven't yet gotten the energy to do to my CRX, but is still on my "to do list"), was to simply wire up a small (red) dash LED to the brake light circuit, so that I can always (easily) see (while driving) if/when the brake lights are on. Yes, I know if I'm braking a lot that my brake lights will be on, but when I simply want to press them just hard enough to engage the lights, the exact pedal pressure is not so clear...


Sounds clever. However, I could see that also getting you "in trouble". For example, you are starting to move forward from an intersection, and yet your "brake lights" are still on for a few seconds (confusing the driver behind you, and possibly even causing undo attention from a cop wondering why you are "riding your brakes").

So IMHO a better choice would be simply another (only on while being pressed) button, that is positioned somewhere that is easy to press when you want to, which only turns on your brake lights (while you press it) and otherwise does nothing. Ideally, you would want this mounted somewhere that it is easy/trivial to press when desired, but otherwise not in your way. For example, maybe you could mount it somewhere on the steering wheel itself (or maybe on your stick-shift if you have a manual)? Or perhaps a floor mounted button would work good, as you don't exactly need your "brake foot" (and therefore it should be "free" to engage the brake lights) if all you are doing at the time is DFCO (and you just want to alert the drivers behind you to the fact that you are slowing down).
In any event, those are some thoughts I had, and you are free to take this advice or leave it as you see fit. Either way it costs you the same amount (i.e. free).

That's a good idea... I'm thinking a floor mounted momentary switch on the left where the MFR's used to put the dimmer switch... Man I miss floor mounted dimmer switches. I think they were a lot more convenient than on the steering column.

-Jay