What is this Button? - Solved

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RST Dana

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I have a guess here and hope someone has not already guessed it and it has been disproven. (not reading 7 pages LOL)
I have seen that type of switch before used as a Brake Light kill switch. Radar Detectors are illegal in several states and the troopers would "shoot fish in a barrel" so to speak. They would pull the radar gun trigger and then pull over anyone that hit the brakes and write them a ticket for having a radar detector. Lots of people figured out how to prevent the brake lights from working (simple rocker switch) AFTER they received a ticket LOL.
So OP just try the switch and check your brake lights to see if the are working and report back. if this has already been brought up Whoops sorry........
Recent google search indicates only two states consider radar detector use illegal. Virginia and Washington DC. Unless you are driving an 18 wheeler, then all states apply. In the latter case, the driver would need a device with stealth technology which is undetectable by popo technology, however, brake lights would still give you up.
 
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Joseph Garcia

Joseph Garcia

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Hi Folks,

I took some good natured heat from some of you regarding this button on my truck, of which I did not know its function, and I was not obsessed with tracing it down to figure it out.

At 5:30AM this morning, I was driving in the dark on my way to my 90 year old Mom's house in Maine to pick her up and take her to a Doctor's appointment in Boston. These long early morning drives alone in the dark can be full of brain fog, as part of me is still asleep, but sometimes a bolt of lightning strikes, and my brain actually works in hyperdrive. Well, this morning, that damn button came back into my mind, and I suddenly knew exactly what that mystery button was installed for.

Some time back, I had a pair of Rough Country 8" LED light bars installed under the rear bumper of the truck to augment my backup lights. The stock incandescent backup lights were virtually useless, and the upgrade to LEDs in the stock tail light housing improved the backup lights' brightness, but not nearly enough for me to easily back out of my driveway in the dark, with stone walls on either side. The installation of these LED light bars provided me with more than enough light to illuminate anything behind me for a few hundred feet in any kind of weather.

It suddenly popped into my mind that the installer had mentioned that he also installed a dedicated on/off button in this LED light bars circuit, so that I could use these light bars as auxiliary work lights, in the event that I needed a strong auxiliary light source while on the road away from home, or simply for lighting for the back end of the truck to perform any work on the truck or any non-related project in the driveway. As soon as I got home, I went to the truck and flipped the switch on in the truck's portable garage, and sure as Hell, the entire back of the portable garage lit up like daytime.

Mystery solved. Better late than never.
 
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Rocket Man

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Hi Folks,

I took some good natured heat from some of you regarding this button on my truck, of which I did not know its function, and I was not obsessed with tracing it down to figure it out.

At 5:30AM this morning, I was driving in the dark on my way to my 90 year old Mom's house in Maine to pick her up and take her to a Doctor's appointment in Boston. These long early morning drives alone in the dark can be full of brain fog, as part of me is still asleep, but sometimes a bolt of lightning strikes, and my brain actually works in hyperdrive. Well, this morning, that damn button came back into my mind, and I suddenly knew exactly what that mystery button was installed for.

Some time back, I had a pair of Rough Country 8" LED light bars installed under the rear bumper of the truck to augment my backup lights. The stock incandescent backup lights were virtually useless, and the upgrade to LEDs in the stock tail light housing improved the backup lights' brightness, but not nearly enough for me to easily back out of my driveway in the dark, with stone walls on either side. The installation of these LED light bars provided me with more than enough light to illuminate anything behind me for a few hundred feet in any kind of weather.

It suddenly popped into my mind that the installer had mentioned that he also installed a dedicated on/off button in this LED light bars circuit, so that I could use these light bars as auxiliary work lights, in the event that I needed a strong auxiliary light source while on the road away from home, or simply for lighting for the back end of the truck to perform any work on the truck or and non-related in the driveway. As soon as I got home, I went to the truck and flipped the switch on in the truck's portable garage, and sure as Hell, the entire back of the portable garage lit up like daytime.

Mystery solved. Better late than never.
LMAO. I can see somebody following you in the dark and they’re saying to themselves “ I wonder why that guy keeps turning those damn lights on and off” as you’re flipping the switch and looking around inside the truck to see if anything is turning on and off. Kind of like that commercial where the guy keeps pushing the button on his garage door opener and it’s opening the neighbors garage instead of his.
 

George B

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LMAO. I can see somebody following you in the dark and they’re saying to themselves “ I wonder why that guy keeps turning those damn lights on and off” as you’re flipping the switch and looking around inside the truck to see if anything is turning on and off. Kind of like that commercial where the guy keeps pushing the button on his garage door opener and it’s opening the neighbors garage instead of his.

What if he would have listened to us and tried flipping the switch in the day light and couldn't tell it turned the lights on. He would have reported that it didn't do anything. Or maybe he did and I missed it...
 

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Ron Mills

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If your shift lever doesn't have a "tow/haul" button, this could be a substitute to activate... just a thought
 
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