Modern Vespa

Hi - has anyone had any success using 12v led festoon bulbs to replace 6v festoon bulb on an early model vespa. Keep blowing tail light bulbs and looking for options,

You're running a 6V AC system, right?

Unless you have a purist attachment to keeping it "authentic," what you probably want to do is install a voltage regulator.

The early Vespa's used what was called a "balanced" AC system, where the load on each circuit was supposed to be enough to prevent voltage spikes. It was, I assume, a cost and supply chain risk control measure, but a terrible engineering solution because any failure resulted in a cascade of blown bulbs, which is what you're probably experiencing.

Increasing the voltage won't help. You might try increasing the wattage or, like Chandler says, get a regulator.

I tried that with my VBB When I first got it. It would still blow the bulbs eventually. I finally just gave in and got the regulator.

If you're blowing bulbs, let me go out on a limb and offer my advice: don't look for more expensive bulbs. Sort the issue at hand before blowing more expensive bulbs. That is, treat the cause, not the symptom.

Measure your voltage, report back.