Golf cart turn signal kits: add-on signals, horns and brake lights

If your cart already has headlights and taillights, a golf cart turn signal kit is the cheapest step toward the street: about 45 to 95 dollars for a universal column-switch kit, or 100 to 200 for the upgrade kit that matches a RHOX, Madjax or Buggies Unlimited basic light kit. Either one adds the four amber lamps, the flasher, the switch and the brake-light switch that most ordinances and the federal LSV rule want.

Signals are one step in the lights and street-legal section. If your cart has no lights at all, start with the light kit guide and buy a deluxe kit; it includes everything on this page. If you are working down the full checklist, the street-legal guide is the list.

What a turn signal kit has to include

Four lamps, two front and two rear, in amber. A flasher relay to make them blink. A switch to pick left or right. A brake-light switch at the pedal, because most basic light kits have taillights but nothing that gets brighter when you stop. A harness to join it all, and a fuse.

Most kits throw in a horn button, and some include the horn. Check the box contents before you compare prices, because a 40 dollar kit with no brake switch and a 70 dollar kit with one are not the same product.

The lamps run on 12V, like everything else in a light kit. On a gas cart that is the starter battery. On an electric cart it is the voltage reducer your light kit should already be running from. If your lights are tapped off two batteries in the pack, this is the moment to fix that; the light kit guide explains the reducer.

Flasher relay: get the electronic one

A flasher is the part that clicks. Old-style thermal flashers rely on the current through a filament bulb to heat a strip and open the contacts. LED lamps draw a tenth of that, so a thermal flasher either never clicks or clicks too fast. Every kit on this page ships an electronic flasher, often called a no-load or LED flasher, which blinks at the same rate whatever the lamps draw.

If you are reusing lamps from an older halogen kit, the electronic flasher still works. If you are buying a flasher on its own, two-prong and three-prong versions exist; match the one your switch harness expects.

Column switch or dash switch

A column switch is a lever clamped to the steering column with a horn button on the end. It is where a driver’s hand expects a signal to be, and it is what every deluxe light kit uses. The clamp fits a round column of about 1 to 1.25 inches, which covers Club Car and EZGO; some Yamaha columns are fatter and need the shim that better kits include.

A dash switch is a rocker or toggle in a dash blank, usually with an indicator light. It avoids the column altogether, which helps on a cart with an aftermarket wheel or a tilt column, and the indicator reminds you the signal is on. Neither type self-cancels after a turn the way a car switch does. You will leave it on, and the indicator is the only thing that will tell you.

Brake-light switch

Nearly every golf cart has mechanical brakes: a cable from the pedal to drums on the rear axle. The brake-light switch for a mechanical system is a plunger switch on a bracket behind the pedal arm. Pedal at rest holds the plunger in; pedal moves, plunger extends, contacts close, brake lamp lights. Adjusting it is a matter of bending the bracket or threading the switch body until the lamp comes on in the first inch of travel.

A few carts, and most LSV conversions with hydraulic disc brakes, can use a pressure switch threaded into the brake line instead. It is cleaner but it is a brake-line job, and if you are not comfortable bleeding brakes, the plunger does the same thing.

The brake output goes to the brake filament of a dual-filament taillight, or to a separate brake lamp if your taillights are single function. LED strip kits combine running and brake in one housing.

Wiring colors and the 12V feed

There is no industry standard for golf cart accessory wiring, so the wiring diagram in the box is the authority. The usual pattern is red for 12V positive, black for ground, and two signal outputs in green and yellow or brown, one per side. The brake switch has two wires of its own, one from 12V and one to the brake lamps. The flasher sits between the 12V feed and the switch.

Feed the kit from the same fused 12V point your light kit uses, which should be the reducer’s output on an electric cart. Add the kit’s inline fuse even if the reducer has its own. Ground to the frame with a ring terminal on a clean bolt, not to a body screw into plastic.

Which kit for your cart

Cart	If you have a brand basic kit	If you have a universal or unknown kit
Club Car DS, Precedent	That brand’s deluxe upgrade kit	Universal column-switch kit
EZGO TXT, RXV	That brand’s deluxe upgrade kit	Universal column-switch kit
Yamaha Drive, Drive2	That brand’s deluxe upgrade kit	Universal kit; check column diameter
Work cart or older DS with tired taillights	LED strip kit	LED strip kit

Model details, including where the serial plate is and which body year you have, are on the fitment pages for Club Car, EZGO and Yamaha.

Install: an afternoon

Disconnect the pack or pull the main fuse. Mount the front signal lamps on the cowl beside or below the headlights, and the rear lamps on the rear body beside the taillights, two screws each. Clamp the column switch about a hand’s width below the wheel, or fit the dash switch in a blank. Mount the brake switch behind the pedal and adjust it so the lamp lights early in the travel.

Run the harness along the frame rail with the light kit harness, tie it every foot, and keep it clear of the brake cable and the accelerator linkage. Connect the flasher, the switch, the lamps and the brake switch per the kit’s diagram, then the fused 12V feed and ground. Reconnect the pack and check left, right, brake and horn before you put anything back together. Plan on three hours the first time.

What is left after signals

Mirrors and seat belts, usually. The mirror guide covers what the rules generally want and which clamps fit which struts, the seat belt page covers belts and brackets, and the LSV explainer is for owners deciding whether to go all the way to a titled vehicle.