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Hi all,

I was out cruising the other day and someone at a light told me that my brake lights were out. I replied that it's a 6 Volt system and they're not out but just really hard to see in sunlight.

That got me thinking that perhaps I should try and find some LED bulbs to replace the ones I have in an effort to help the brake light situation out.

I found the right bulbs for my application but then when I tried to turn my signals on and nothing happened. So I started poking around and found out that you need a special LED flasher in order to make the blinkers work. The regular flashers work on current draw. Since the LED bulbs have very little draw they won't trigger the flasher.

Here's the website where I found both the bulbs and flasher:

Flasher
ledlight.com/flasher-6-volt-led-3-prong-120-watt-positive-chassis.aspx

I won't link the bulbs because they might have a different base than your application but that same website has quite a variety.

You all may have already known this ... lol ... I didn't - so I just thought I would post this to help anyone else out.

-Crin

Just as a note - that flasher works whether or not you have all-LED lights in your car, it is much more tolerant than the standard flashers of the condition of the grounds, so your turn signals will work even if one light doesn't have as good of a ground as one might like - but you do have to attach the extra little ground wire to somewhere on the frame or other connection that goes to ground. I found a screw into the firewall.

A 6-volt system is not necessarily the reason your brake lights are "dim".
Assuming the wiring and grounds to be in good condition, the brightness (or lackthereof) of bulbs is primarily a function of the candlepower of the bulb, not the voltage supplied to it. In other words, a 10 candlepower bulb designed for 6 volts would provide the same brightness as a 10 candlepower bulb designed to operate of 12 volts.