Worried about turning at night, in rain or other conditions of poor visibility? Finally, you've decided that it's time to fit some bright indicators to your Austin 7. Although the basic installation is perfectly straightforward, a number of people, especially those new to Austin 7s, have asked for advice, so I hope that the following notes will help them - and you -  though the process and result in bright indicators visible in all conditions.

Mounting Options
Indicators need to flash between 60 and 120 times a minute but, where to mount them? Obviously, the ideal place is high up and as widely spaced as possible - but in many cases this is impossible and some compromise has to be made. On an Austin 7 built before 1932, and using the original lights, some form of brackets at both front and back will be necessary. In the photographs below are shown the various shapes and mountings of brackets that might be helpful. On a Box saloon, Ruby, or other late version with both rear-wings carrying tail and stop-lamps, the indicators can often be combined inside those with various specialists offering such conversions that obviate the need for separate indicators. Some people have even fitted the indicators inside the headlamps, using special dual-purpose, white/amber LEDs.

Voltage Considerations
On a 6-volt system LED bulbs are a really good idea - but so often they suffer from interference from the ignition system and/or dynamo. The flashers work when the engine is not running but then refuse to work at all, or flash too fast or too slowly. Other A7 owners have had an LED installation work perfectly with the engine running, but stopped when the brakes lights came on.

One of my cars runs a 6-volt LED system with no problems at all (and without any form of suppression on the ignition circuit). On another car, as soon as the dynamo was charging, the indicators refused to work. So, to that vehicle, I've fitted a small motorcycle 12-volt "gel" battery, clamped down on its side under the passenger seat and 21-watt tungsten bulbs fired by an ordinary 3-pin electro-mechanical unit. The result has been very bright indicators, visible even in strong sunlight. The battery keeps its charge for months.

Another option is a 6-volt to 12-volt step-up transformer of the type commonly advertised on eBay. As the output is usually only 3 amps and, as two 21-watt, 12-volt bulbs volts draw 3.5 amps, it might refuse to work or, being overloaded, fail prematurely - though one would work with LED bulbs and my wife's Ruby is fitted with one.

On both 6 and 12-volt systems (especially if using LED bulbs which do need a good earth) , it's a really good idea to wire the indicators - both live and earth - directly from the indicator switch to the battery via a separate fused circuit. This ensures maximum brightness and also ease of trouble-shooting should things go wrong.


Which Lights to Use
A wide variety of lights is available, allowing one to choose from the large and obvious to the smaller and rather more subtle. The best balance between the two might be the ones that I've fitted on my older cars, a mini "Rubbolite" type that comes with a set of simple right-angle brackets. On one car I've fitted them to brackets secured to the front wing stays and, at the back, on the number-plate support arm. Willie McKenzie has the flashers as a complete kit on this page: http://austinrepro.com/headlamps/  .... Other suppliers also have them. An alternative - though very expensive - might be this one

Rather than the large switch provided with the comprehensive Willie McKenzie kit, I've used a small, less conspicuous almost 'vintage-looking' one or, this might be a solution, a switch with a short, illuminated stalk. 

Warning Lights and Buzzers
Connected to my system from the third terminal on the flasher unit (usually marked 'P:) is a warning buzzer together with a warning light (one or another is a legal requirement). You'll find a variety of buzzers on eBay, but one I used (12-volt but it works perfectly on 6 volts) was this. https://www.vehiclewiringproducts.co.uk/p-637-cab-buzzer?search=buzzer.
The warning light I use is a tiny, but very bright LED that's really easy to fit anywhere - mine is just trapped against the small panel I made to hold the indicator switch. On eBay, just search for "grain-of-wheat LEDs" and you'll find them available at low cost in a variety of colours.
If you have a 2-terminal flasher unit - and hence no way of connecting a buzzer or light - when using an LED system, its possible to wire in two 'grain of wheat' LEDs, each connected across the contacts to the left and right flashers.
If, on an LED system, you try to wire in conventional warning bulbs, they will almost certainly take so much current that the flashers will refuse to work and, if you fit a buzzer, you'll need one that uses the minimum amount of power. A search on eBay will reveal what you need - I found a good selection by searching for 12 volt cab indicator transistor buzzer

Mounting the Indicator Switch and Warning Light
To keep things looking neat and tidy - and as inconspicuous as possible -  if you make a small bracket to carry the switch (like the one shown below, bolted to the underside of the driver's side glove pocket) it can also be made long enough to carry, on its underside, both the flasher unit and the buzzer. If these are secured with doubled-sided tape or Velcro and fitted with long enough cables, if any part fails, it's a simple job to unbolt it and get to work. Alternatively, I have seen a system where all the components were mounted on a piece of thin plywood fastened high up on the inside right-hand face of the scuttle. With long cables, this could be detached and brought out beyond the steering wheel and so very easy to attend to.
An alternative switch might be the one used on the Citroen 2CV. This clamps to the steering column and is, apparently, a perfect fit.

Flasher Units
With ordinary tungsten bulbs, it's essential to use a standard electro-mechanical flasher unit with 3 terminals. Don't use an electronic flasher unit; although some sellers claim that these will work with ordinary bulbs - or even a mixture of those and LEDs - and my experience shows that not all do. I have found that an ordinary 12-volt electro-mechanical flasher unit will drive one amber LED flasher bulb (equal to 21 Watts) together with one tungsten 21-Watt bulb - but I've never tried that arrangement on a 6-volt system.

Enhanced Safety, Brightness and Colour
Another point concerns the amber glass covers and the colour of bulb to use. It might appear that a white 6000K LED bulb will give the brightest light, yet experience shows that the amber element is somewhat 'washed out' and an amber 3000K LED bulb will provide a more distinct and rich amber glow. I fear that only experimentation will give the answer but, if you are using the Rubbolight' type, run on a 12-volt system and using an amber LED intended for use as a flasher (i.e. equal to 21 Watts), this will, in my experience, gave a very much brighter, more intense amber light than a white LED. In the daytime especially, the washed out light is not the distinct amber glow expected by other drivers. Here are two videos of a bright and rich amber 12-volt system using amber LEDs with the equivalent of 21 Watts as supplied here.  Video 1   Video 2
Standard electro-mechanical 6 and 12-volt flasher units are supplied by this company with a smaller motorcycle-type one also available. Reliable electronic flashers and bulbs can be obtained from Classic Car LEDs

Wiring
What wire to use? The heaviest load is two 21-watt tungsten bulbs on 6 volts - meaning that 7 amps need to be carried. To allow for voltage drop, a wire with a core diameter of 1.3 mm should be used, the nearest to this current available appears to be 1.5 mm.
With LED bulbs you need to know their power consumption - they do vary - and look for online charts as to what wire to use.
It goes without saying that all cables should be securely clamped at regular intervals - and its also a good idea to add a loop here and there to provide spare cable that can be pulled through if things go wrong. Here are two sources of suitable wire with descriptions of their current capacity. First, ordinary modern twin-core cable: https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/p/twin-core-thinwall-cable and secondly, a modern wire, but cotton braid wrapped to give it a 'vintage' look https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/p/braided-multicore-cable.

Trials and Tribulations
Having converted one car from 6 to 12 volts, for some unaccountable reason, the indicator warning light stayed on continuously (as did the buzzer), though it still flashed correctly. To my surprise, I discovered that this was not an uncommon fault, with some information already online about it. Despite ensuring that everything was well earthed and trying three different flasher units, the problem persisted. The solution was to remove the lead from the flasher unit that powered the warning light it and use the left and right outputs from the indicator switch to power individual lights and buzzers. By using tiny buzzers and 'grain of wheat' lights, there was no interference to the output to the LED flasher bulbs. An alternative arrangement would have been to use a small illuminated indicator switch and separate buzzers for left and right. If this happens to you, and you find that the warning lights and buzzers adversely affect the main bulbs, a solution would be to use a two-gang, 6-contact switch and run power separately to the warning lights and buzzers from the second set of terminals. This is also a handy thing to do if you find it difficult to fit all the various wires into a standard indicator switch. Search the web for "Double-pole 12-volt on-off-on switches" - perhaps this one is still sold.
You can read more about fitting indicators in this article on the Austin Seven Friends' Forum.

In Summary
A 12-volt system is preferable to a 6-volt, either from the car's supply if converted to 12-volts, or a separate, small 12-volt battery. It's worth confirming that, with the lights you chosen, 21-Watt amber LED indicator bulbs behind amber glasses will give a superior result to white bulbs. Do earth everything back to the battery, especially when using LEDs

If you have any observations about fitting and using indicators, or can contribute photographs showing other mounting solutions, the writer will be pleased to hear from you.