Golf Cart Lights - Answering Your Questions - Part 2

Written by: Amber Ripley

Read Time: 3-5 minutes

Quote of the Day: “When you possess light within, you see it externally.”

You have golf cart lights questions, and we’re here to serve up the answers you need. As common as golf carts are in the world today, there is still fairly limited information out there publicly about the specifics…Especiallygolf cart lights… and we’re here to fix that.

In part one of this Q&A series, we started slow, and cleared up some of the basic golf cart lighting questions. This time, we’re digging deeper and getting into specifics regarding light kit wiring, why your brake lights aren’t working, how your golf cart’s voltage affects its lighting components, and more!Let’s go!

How to wire lights on a golf cart?

Whether you're an experienced electrical engineer or just more of a hobby golf cart enthusiast, we believe that everyone has the ability to wire lights to their golf cart. The most important factor when wiring golf cart lights is connecting to the appropriate voltage for your golf cart light kit.Supplying too much voltage to a light kit will burn it up, and not supplying enough power to the lights means they won't illuminate enough, if at all.

For a technical guide that includes diagrams, detailed instructions, and everything you never knew you needed to know about wiring golf cart lights, you have to check out this in-depth article we put together.

Other than the wiring, it's pretty simple. Make the appropriate cuts to install the actual lights and any other components, such as a push/pull switch or turn signal assembly, connect the wires, secure everything down, and you're ready to go!

How to install 12V lights on a 48V golf cart?

If you have a 48-volt (or 36-volt, for that matter) electric golf cart, but you purchased a light kit only compatible with 12 volts, don't stress! This is very common among not only aftermarket golf cart lights but all kindsof golf cart accessories that require electricity.

A Voltage Reducerdoes exactly what its name implies: it takes the entire voltage of your cart (36V or 48V) and reduces it down to 12 volts to prevent overpowering your accessories and burning them up. 

Installing a voltage reducer is a walk in the park with this step-by-step, detailed guide!

*Note: if you have a gas golf cart, you will always have 12V of power and do not have to install a voltage reducer!

How to turn on golf cart lights?

Depending on the type of lights you purchased (complete golf cart light kits, light bar, light strips, or other accessory lighting), you will likely have one of the types of switches shown in the photos below (or a slight variation thereof).

Regardless of what they look like, all of these switches perform the exact same function, just like a light switch on your wall at home. Some even have helpful visual indicators, such as LED lights, to indicate that they are transmitting power (and to avoid them being left on!).

How to install a golf cart light switch?

Installing a golf cart light switch almost always requires drilling a small hole in the dash or a nearby interior spot on the golf cart. Mounting the light switch on the golf cart dashboard is typically recommended for easy accessibility. It's also the most convenient method to route the connecting wiring harnesses and keep them concealed beneath the dash. 

What kind of light kits are available for golf carts?

• Basic Golf Cart Light Kits - The no-frills method to add basic illumination and safety to your golf cart, basic LED light kits include headlights and taillights as well as the required wiring and installation instructions.
• Deluxe/Street Legal Light Kit- The surefire way to get everything you need in one seamless package. Headlights, tail lights, turn signals, a horn, all the required wiring, and a set of detailed installation instructions. *This is the kit you need if you are in the process of modifying your golf cart to be street-legal or LSV-compliant.

• Light Bar -As the name implies, this simple, mountable light bar provides very basic lighting, usually fixed to the roof or the front hood of the golf cart. **This accessory is universal and will work with Club Car, EZGO, Yamaha, ICON EV, GEM, Star EV, and any other golf cart model on the market!
• LED RGB Strip Lights -The most customizable of all the golf cart lights are these app-controlled, Bluetooth-enabled RGB LED Strip Lights. Easily mounted anywhere you can imagine, with endless possibilities.

How many amps do golf cart lights draw?

How to add brake lights to a golf cart?

The best way to add golf cart brake lights is to get them as part of a light kit. This ensures seamless compatibility within the wiring and won't require any splicing or re-wiring on your part.

Adding brake lights to an existing light kit is possible, but there is muchmore involved than simply installing a complete, all-in-one deluxe light kit.

This requires you to cut and splice all new wiring that feeds into the brake pad and tail light wiring from the batteries. Then you hope that your existing taillights were made with dual filaments to be able to illuminate differently between tail lights and brake lights.

Put simply, we never recommend rigging up your own electrical systems for your safety and the overall well-being of the supporting electrical system.

How to add an LED light kit to a golf cart?

The steps for installing golf cart light kits are relatively similar but can vary slightly amongst brands of lights and models of golf carts. The general process is as follows:

• Cut out templates for headlights and taillights

• Mount turn signal assembly

• Route wiring harness to headlights, turn signal, and tail lights

• Mount brake switch and timer relay

• Install the push/pull switch into the dash

• Connect all components to the wiring harness, then connect the wiring harness to the battery(ies)

• Secure all lights into their place on the cart

Never stress again deciphering complicated wiring diagrams that may as well be hieroglyphics to a rookie installer! Every light kit from Golf Cart Stuff™ comes with detailed, photographed, step-by-step instructions.

How to install a light bar on a golf cart?

...and don't forget about the voltage reducer we discussed earlier if your cart operates on more than 12 volts!

How to install LED strip lights on a golf cart?

Installing golf cart strip lighting is simple andversatile. Use the double-sided adhesive, durable mounting clips, or a combination of the two to secure these lights almost anywhere on your golf car: underglow lights to silhouette your custom wheels and tires, under the roof to add ambient lighting to your ride, inside the wheel wells... and more!

The best part? These LED light strips are Bluetooth enabled, app-controlled, and can be synced to pulse with the beat of your favorite jams - set to any one of the millions of color combinations available!

Why aren’t my brake lights working?

This is, hands down, the number one question we receive, so we had to include it here. 
If you purchased one of our Instamatic Street Legal / Deluxe Light Kits, you’re on the right track. You’ve got everything you need to light the path ahead, indicate your direction of travel, send a friendly little “beep-beep” to let folks know you’ve arrived, and bright red LED brake lights - for safety.

We’ll get right to it. There are two easily overlooked reasons your brake lights aren’t working, and, lucky for you, they are both quick and simple fixes.

1. Brake Timer Relay

This little box connects to the brake switch and essentially helps your brake lights to know to turn off after about 45 seconds to avoid excessive power draw. 

The wire colors that go into this relay will be slightly different amongst a couple of different golf cart makes and models, but we’ve got the cheat codes below for you!

Club Car:

EZGO, Yamaha, and other Club Car models:

2. 48-Volt Power Relay

This power relay is an electrically operated switch that takes a small amount of electricity from one component and relays it to another higher-current component.

While we could go on and on, that feels like a perfect place to wrap this one up. We hope you’ve taken some helpful points from this article and learned a little something about golf cart light kits, wiring, voltage, troubleshooting brake light issues, and more.

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We know you have questions that we missed, so leave those in the comment section below, and we’ll include them in part 3 coming soon!

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What would you get if you crossed a scientist and a golf cart? It would be our Senior Content Writer, Amber Ripley! If you have a question, she knows how to research to bring you the information you need. Before joining the ranks at Golf Cart Stuff™, Amber was in sales and marketing for industrial tool and die products, so digging into all the nitty gritty, technical details about Golf Carts is par for the course…In the words of a famous songwriter: “If you got a problem, Yo! She’ll solve it!”

"Here for the Ride"