The really old big light bulbs or the small bulbs were designed to work on 117V AC and won't light on 6V DC. These were the ones connected in parallel keeping the string light when just one bulb burned out. The old mini lights use to light on 1.5 volts and were connected in series. When one bulb burned out the string would not light. You can connect these lights to a 6V battery by dividing 1.5 into 6 to find out how many bulbs will light with a 6V source (4 bulbs). You can continue to connect a 4 bulb group in parallel until you exhaust the lantern battery current output (approx 4 groups of 4 bulbs).
Today's bulbs are LED lights and require ABOUT 1/2 volt to light so you can get 12 LED lights to glow using a 6V source. LED's are diodes and light in only one direction. Usually you will see a tab or slot on one side of the bulb to mark the + side. Connect the bulbs + to - and then connect the battery. If the lights do not light then reverse the battery leads.
Today's bulbs are LED lights and require ABOUT 1/2 volt to light so you can get 12 LED lights to glow using a 6V source. LED's are diodes and light in only one direction. Usually you will see a tab or slot on one side of the bulb to mark the + side. Connect the bulbs + to - and then connect the battery. If the lights do not light then reverse the battery leads.
