Does Exhaust brake activate brake lights?

Mine do too!

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards allow it to be set up either way. Whether your coach acts one way or the other is a function of the chassis maker. Tiffin Allegro Buses on a Freightliner chassis have the lights activate with the exhaust brake, those on a Tiffin designed Powerglide do not. Don't know about Spartans. I've had both a Freightliner and a Powerglide Bus and speak first hand. If your lights illuminate with the engine brake, a reprogram to the Engine Control Module can turn it off. It may or may not work the other way.

On our 2013 Bus on a Powerglide chassis, the brake lights do not illuminate with the engine brake. A trip to Alaska last summer showed many people coming up on the rig too fast when I was on the engine brake descending long grades. I asked Tiffin to reprogram the ECM to allow the brake lights to come on with the engine brake, and they accommodated me. However, when we tested it, the system worked like it should have, but with the first activation the Check Engine Light came on and would not reset. It turns out that when the ECM turns on the brake lights, it also sends a signal to the dash to illuminate a light on the dash showing the lights are on. On the Freightliner, this works fine. On the Powerglide, there is no dash light present, so when the computer tries to turn it on and cannot, it sends the Check Engine light. All these circuits are digital so an LED and a wire is not an option. I could probably design a mechanical system to come off the compression brake controller, but it seems like it's getting rather deep and no worth the effort.

MRUSA wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
An exhaust or Jake brake is basically just duplicating the inherent compression braking of a gas engine. I don't see any reason for turning on the brake lights every time you lift your foot with either engine.

Not exactly. Some Jake brakes have as many as three levels of braking which can be selected by the driver. Some of those levels are much stronger than a gas engine's compression braking.

Ok, I'll agree that at the higher braking levels, the lights are more useful.

Something to think about.. On some towed brake systems, Including but not lmited to the US-Gear Unified Brake Decelerator, and the Invisible brake.. Activation of the brake lights activates the towed's braking system.. now inertial sensors may determine if the brakes are applied, or how hard, but the system comes "live" when the brake lights come on.

Dutch_12078 wrote:
An exhaust or Jake brake is basically just duplicating the inherent compression braking of a gas engine. I don't see any reason for turning on the brake lights every time you lift your foot with either engine.

Obviously we're talking about something entirely different on my motorhome. When I've got the exhaust braking on and take my foot off the accelerator, it slows WAY down REAL fast. the 6-speed tranny display goes from "5" or "6" to "2" or "3" and the revs go way up.

I'm really glad the brake lights come on, since the exhaust brake slows me down so fast.

Dutch_12078 wrote:
An exhaust or Jake brake is basically just duplicating the inherent compression braking of a gas engine. I don't see any reason for turning on the brake lights every time you lift your foot with either engine.

Not exactly. Some Jake brakes have as many as three levels of braking which can be selected by the driver. Some of those levels are much stronger than a gas engine's compression braking.

Well Gang,
Our brake lights DO COME ON with the use and, activation of the exhaust brake. For safety sake, I agree with that operation. The primary reason is, if you're slowing down, manually, that is, by the use of any braking mechanism, how in the world is anyone following you going to know that you're slowing down? Even if traffic is light or, the sun is in particular position, or any set of circumstances, and a driver is not at his or her best that's following you, and your exhaust or, Jake brake is doing it's job, than before you and, either him or her, realize it, you're slowing down and, he or she, has either ran into you or, at the very least possibly come real close to doing so.

Most of the time, I agree with Bret Wolf on most matters but, in this case, it to me, really doesn't matter if the grade 14 miles long, if some one following me sees brake lights and, again even if they're on for an extended period of time, at least they're warned and can take action as they see fit to avoid a possible rear-end collision. Besides, I've been on some long grades in which the E-brake as been activated for extended periods of time and, I give it a "break" every now and then by stabbing on the brakes with enough pressure and, slow enough to de-activate the exhaust brake for even a just a few seconds at a time.

Then, it eventually is triggered again. If conditions warrant it, I might use the flashers to warn fast, rear approaching drivers that I am GOING SLOWER than the normal flow of traffic.

It's a matter of preference and or, just what one regards as "safety" measures.
Scott

Mine do not.

2008 Monaco Dynasty---Same brand mentioned sorta---brake lights come on when you lift off of accelerator with jake brake turned on.....Good way to get hit in the rear end if you slow quick like that and they don't come on.....I would want them to work for my own safty.

bullydogs1 wrote:
On mine, the exhaust brake in use activates the brake lights...however the toad lights do not activate..when I activate the service brake, the toad lights do light up---found it interesting when my wife was following me one night...

That sounds odd. I wonder how that works?