Video Transcript for All About the Roadmaster Stop Light Switch Kit

Hey, everyone, Ryan here at etrailer. Today, we're gonna be checking out the line of Roadmaster Custom Fit Stop Light Switches. Being that these are custom fit to your particular vehicle, you definitely wanna make sure to use our fit guide, put your vehicle in there, and that way, you're gonna be able to make sure that you're gonna get the right part. So when it comes to the stoplight switch, these are used for a couple of different reasons. One of 'em, and probably the most popular is whenever you're setting your vehicle up to be flat towed behind your motor home. And if the supplemental braking system that you're gonna be using uses an indicator light, this is where the switch would come into play.

This would tell that indicator light when the brake pedal's being pushed down and power up the indicator light, let you know that the pedal's actually moving. Another reason would be if you're setting up a trailer brake controller. What would happen is the switch would give the signal to the trailer brake controller, letting it know you're pushing the brake down inside of the vehicle, and then the trailer brake controller would send that power back to your trailer's brakes and apply them. With that said, not every single vehicle is going to require the use of a stoplight switch like this for those components to work, whether you're doing a trailer brake controller or installing that supplemental braking system. Some of the vehicles from the factory will have an inactive stoplight switch or some of 'em, if you try to tie into it, it can kind of throw things off.

So by having the separate one, you're going to eliminate all those potential issues. Why don't we talk a little bit more about using this in conjunction with your supplemental braking system, 'cause that's probably the most popular reason why people use these. Right off the top of my head, I know there's three systems that would greatly benefit from using a stoplight switch like this. The Demco Stay-IN-Play DUO, as well as the Stay-IN-Play DUO that comes with the Wireless Coachlink monitor and the Roadmaster InvisiBrake. With that in mind, you can get those systems indicator lights to come on without using this.

But the problem is when you wire it up that way, the indicator light will only turn on if that system actually has power to it. And so, it's kind of only telling you half the story. With the stoplight switch and hooking your indicator light up to this, it's going to turn on when that brake pedal's actually getting pulled down and being applied. And so, it gives you a lot more accurate information and letting you know that the brake pedal's actually moving, and the system just isn't turning on. Because in all reality, if you did it the other way to where it would power up, you know, the light would turn on when the system just has power, for all you know, the brake pedal might not even be pulled down.

You might have an issue down there, but having it set up that way could mislead you into thinking everything's okay. When it comes to a trailer brake controller, there's really no other way around not using this. You know, if your vehicle requires it, it's just something that you're gonna have to do because that trailer brake controller has to know when you're actually pushing the brake down in your vehicle. That way, it'll send power to the trailer's brakes 'cause if you try to work around it, you can't have the trailer's brakes getting pushed down whenever you're not hitting the brakes inside of your vehicle. Really, what's going to make these kits custom fit to your particular vehicle is the mounting bracket. So I have a few on hand here. They're all for different vehicles and right away, you can tell a big difference. And what's pretty convenient that Roadmaster does is they utilize a lot of times, in most cases, factory hardware that's already installed on the vehicle. They can take out and allow you to mount these brackets up. And so, they make it as easy as possible when it comes to setting this up. And just like our vehicle today, we happen to have a Jeep Gladiator. Everything went together really smooth, and we'll check it out, give you an idea on how this works. On our Jeep here, you can see the stoplight switch bracket bolted right up to this bracing underneath the dash and put that stoplight switch in the perfect position to touch our brake pedal arm. That way, we can get a very accurate reading. (switch bracket whirring) How a switch is actually gonna work is pretty simple. So on the end of the switch, there's this plunger here. When this plunger is pushed down into the switch like that, it's going to be an open switch, meaning no power is going to flow through the switch. And so, let's just say, if this bracket was the brake pedal arm, 'cause that plunger is gonna sit against the brake pedal arm. When you initially set it up and the brake pedal is just in its normal position, that switch will be open, so no power will go through. But when that brake pedal starts to get pushed down, that plunger is going to start to come out. It's going to close the circuit and the switch and allow the power to flow through to either your indicator light or to your trailer brake controller. As far as getting this hooked up to your particular vehicle, the concept's gonna kind of hold true across the board. It's gonna be the same, pretty much, really with the exception of the bracket, you know, how that's gonna mount is gonna be different, of course, in each vehicle. But you get the bracket mounted up. And then as far as getting the switch set up, you'll have two wires coming off of it, all right And one of 'em is going to need power. So a lot of these kits are gonna come with a fuse and some wire that you can run to a power supply, whether it be in your fuse block or directly to the battery. A lot of times, I like to run 'em right to the battery just so it we know it will always have that 12-volt signal. And then the other wire will go to either your indicator light or your trailer brake controller's brake signal. On the trailer brake controller wiring, it's usually the red wires where you'd hook this up to, most cases. So that's really about it. And then of course, you'll have to adjust the switch like we talked about with that plunger. Whenever the brake pedals just in its natural position, you want that plunger to essentially be completely pushed in. And that's what these nuts are for here. So if you loosen those or tighten 'em up, that'll allow you to kind of position that switch closer to the brake pedal arm or further away. That way, you can really dial it in and get everything to work and power up as soon as that plunger starts to come out. And you wanna mention, too, there's actually a universal brake light switch that Roadmaster makes as well which is this part right here. And so, if you come to find out that you do need to use a brake light switch and for whatever reason there's not a custom kit available for your particular vehicle, which is kind of odd, an odd scenario, but it does happen from time to time. Or sometimes, what we'll run into is if you have a brand new vehicle, or they just haven't made a custom-fit kit yet, that's where you can use this universal kit. The part will just simply connect to your brake pedal arm and work the same way. So when it comes down to it, the major takeaway, if you're gonna be using a supplemental braking system like those we mentioned earlier, and you can't use your vehicle's factory brake signal or using a trailer brake controller, and you can't use your vehicle's factory brake signal, this is going to be the solution for you and allow you to get everything hooked up and working properly.