Air brakes are a good thing, although they're designed with the laden weight rating of the vehicle in mind, so they can brake too hard when the vehicle is empty or loaded lightly.
bad brake light switch
More info, please. Namely, are you talking about an air brake system? You should hear some air as you apply and release the brake, but you shouldn't hear a continuous air sound as the brake is applied - if so, you've probably got a compromised air line or a bad brake chamber.
Either the power brake booster is bad, or it don't have any vacuum going to it. That is the part that the brake master cylinder is bolted to.
Brake light switch failure, bad ground wire at rear of vehicle or fuze blown.
Yes. The engine will idle poorly when a vacuum power brake booster goes bad. It can be a source of a large vacuum leak. A bad master cylinder however would have no effect on the performance of the engine.
When you hold pressure on the brake pedal at a stop light and the pedal slowly drops to the floor and the brake fluid reservoir still remains full, the master is bad.
The vacuum brake booster is going bad.
Assuming you're talking about an air brake system, if this is happening, then you have either a bad service chamber in at least one of your brake chambers, or a compromised supply air line. What to do should be obvious - get it fixed.
Assuming you're in an air brake equipped vehicle, it could be a number of reasons. Loose air line fittings, ruptured air lines, or bad gaskets in one or more brake chambers would be the primary culprits.
Bad stop light switch? Located at the upper end of the brake pedal under dash area
It's probably low on brake fluid or possibly a bad master cylinder. Add brake fluid and see if the problem gets better. If it doesn't go away, have someone help you bleed the air bubbles from the brake line. If that doesn't help, you may need to replace the master cylinder.
If you're referring to an air brake system, you have a leak in a brake chamber... one of your emergency chambers has gone bad (if you hear it only when you depress the brake pedal, then it's a service chamber).