Why Wont My Golf Cart Lights Work?
The main reasons golf cart head lights don’t work are blown out bulbs, dead battery’s, faulty wiring, bad headlight switch, bad voltage reducer or a blown fuse. These are all easy to troubleshoot, and very easy to fix.
Your golf cart’s lights may prove faulty for a variety of other reasons. Common issues with a golf cart’s lighting system can range from a blown-out fuse to a faulty lighting switch. In general, most golf carts are equipped with headlights but no tail lights. If your vehicle is equipped with tail lights it is likely you added these yourself or had them added custom by a mechanic. Therefore, troubleshooting problems with your vehicle’s headlamps will be a different process than troubleshooting your vehicle’s taillights. Each of these troubleshooting processes will be outlined below, but first, you should become familiar with the different parts of your vehicle’s lighting system.
The Various Parts of a Golf Cart’s Lighting System
Your golf cart’s lighting system is composed of various parts. Each of these parts works together to produce a working electrical circuit that provides a current to your vehicle’s headlights and brake lights (if your vehicle is equipped with them). The most obvious parts of your vehicle’s lighting system are the headlight and brake light bulbs. These parts of the system are responsible for producing light. In addition to the actual bulbs, the lighting system is also composed of fuses and the lighting switch.
The fuses act as the safety patrol of the lighting system. These pieces of equipment manage the intensity of current different parts of the lighting system can receive. The lighting switch allows operators to enable and disable the vehicle’s lights. All together these parts produce the vehicle’s electrical circuit. If one of these parts fail, then the whole system fails and your vehicle’s headlights or brake lights will produce no light.
| LIGHTING SYSTEM PART | FUNCTION |
| Headlights/Brake Lights Bulbs | The actual part that produces light for the vehicle. Similar to car or truck lighting, headlights on a golf cart produce yellow or white light, whereas brake lights are colored red. |
| Electrical Circuit | The system of wires, fuses, and resistors that produces a stable electrical system. This circuit provides power to a majority of your cart’s electrical functions. Your cart most likely has multiple smaller electrical circuits. |
| Fuses | An electrical device that controls the intensity of current your vehicle’s lighting system can receive. |
| Lighting Switch | Allow cart operators to activate and deactivate the vehicle’s lighting system. May include the option to switch between hi-beam lights, turn signals, and running lights. |
Troubleshooting Your Golf Cart’s Faulty Headlights
1. Blown Fuse on your Golf Cart Headlights
Problems with a golf cart’s headlights are commonly linked to a blown-out headlight fuse. A blown headlight fuse will cause your vehicle’s headlights to not receive the power necessary for them to produce light. If your vehicle recently experienced flickering or dim headlights before your lights stopped working this is all but a sure sign that the problem with your headlights is a blown fuse. When this fuse begins to fail it commonly produces lights that flicker or are significantly dimmer than normal. Your vehicle’s headlights could also be affected by a poor or incorrectly wired circuit connection.
2. Poor Headlight Circuit
Was your vehicle’s electrical system recently replaced or repaired? If so, then it may be best to expect your headlight problem to be attributed to a poor circuit connection. When a golf cart’s electrical wires are pulled out, replaced, or repaired it is common for the headlight circuit to be affected. When this circuit is weak or broken your vehicle’s electrical system is unable to provide enough electricity to the headlight fuse causing the golf cart’s lights to fail.
If you added headlights yourself and you take your cart to the dealer, they may mistake your work with factory and accidently disconnect and forget to connect. Always check your wiring if they stop working after the cart has been worked on.
3. Faulty Golf Cart Headlight Switch
The third reason for a golf cart’s headlights to stop working is a faulty headlight switch. Sometimes this switch will not receive enough current causing the switch to fail. When this switch fails there is no way for the golf cart operator to activate the vehicle’s headlights.
4. Blown Headlight Bulbs on your Golf Cart
Finally, your headlight bulbs could simply be blown. Most of the time they are easy to replace, simply purchase new bulbs and replace.
If you have LED bulbs, they may not be replaceable and you may have to purchase new headlights. The tell tale sign if a bulb is burnt out is if one of the lights work and the other doesn’t.
5. Dead Battery on your Golf Cart
Some gas golf carts have a battery for accessories, and some electric batteries have a separate battery for radios and lighting as not to draw power from the main power bank. Always check to see if this battery is fully charged and has enough voltage to power your accessories.
6. Blown Voltage Reducer
Many electric golf carts will have a voltage reducer to reduce the voltage from 48 volts to 12 volts to power your lighting. These systems will go bad and you may have to replace it. To tell if your voltage reducer is bad, simply take a multimeter and measure the voltage to see if it is putting off 12 volts.
How To Fix Your Golf Cart’s Headlights
Fixing your golf cart’s headlights involves determining the source of the problem and then replacing the faulty equipment or wiring. The following steps should allow you to determine the problem:
- Evaluate the circuit connection. Check each wire involved in the circuit for damage.
- Check the connections from wire to wire. Are they each securely connected to one another to form the closed electrical circuit needed for lighting.
- Using a multimeter check the amount of power running to the lighting fuse. No power running from the fuse most likely means that the fuse is blown. Replace the fuse.
- If the fuse is not the problem, you will need to now check your vehicle’s lighting switch. Is it receiving enough power? If it is receiving enough power, but your lights do not light up then the problem is your switch.
- Replace the switch.
- If you have power running to your lighting switch and power running to your fuse then your problem is most likely blow headlight bulbs.
- Replace your headlight bulbs.
- If your battery is dead, it may be time to replace or charge it.
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