Topic: New headlight

[Tom H]

I have a 1976 CB 750 K6 that I bought last year. It did not have a headlight in it so I went to the local auto parts store and bought a new one. The problem is when riding at night with the low beam on it is not very bright at all but the high beam is fairly bright. The headlight is a wagner halogen type but I'm not sure of the rating. Is there a difference between a motorcycle headlight and a automotive headlight? any comments would be appreciated. 

[Egil]

       the12volt H4 60/55W  goes to boht automobile and bike

But rember to put ,twise big earth cable from light and 1 extras earth cabel (6>8mmØ) from Light/front fork to the frame and a weery good earh conectiens .
I have connected  my headlights via a Xtras relays connected like you connect your  xtra beem (on your car)
 
Mounted a 8 mmØ cabel from positiv + side of the starter switch (relay)Put a BIG AGU fuse like those they jus on to Bigcar stereos!
                                   (or from your battery if you have room for)

mounted a dobbel relay (for high and low beam)  from relay to the headligt I take 8mmØ   us the xsting cabel to stear the relay.

WERY importet you MUST have sam size of cabel in on the +side  lighbulb ase you have on the earth side  or it have no use.

I hope this may  help you on the right way.
 
Have i nice MC weekend
Egil
and my CB750K7  in Norway

[Steve F]

Like EGIL said (I think), I have relays feeding the headlight through it's own seperate fuse via 14ga. wire. The high beam switch turns on the relay to operate the high filament.  I hooked up the feed to the top of the starter solenoid, through a fuse and then to the relay.  From there I went with 16ga wire to the headlight hi/low filaments in the headlight.  I'm using a 14 ga ground.  The difference is like night and day (no pun intended) when comparing my stock '76 750F and the Cafe' '76 750F which has the relay.  When you flick on the relay controlled high beam, it's "right now" bright.  On the stock 750, it is really noticibly slower reacting, and not as bright.  When you think of the route the current travels to get to the headlight, using the relay shortens this path considerably.

[Steve F]

 ;)Another thing I did to the cafe' 750F was changed everything else to led's.  The only incandescents are the headlight and the tach/speedo.  This switch-over to led's has significantly reduced the current draw on the alternator.  Tail light, turn signals with front running lights, license plate light, idiot lights (and even the bar-ends) have led's.

[Mikeshonda750F]

Steve-o... post some pic's up man!! Been wanting to switch over to an all LED setup but can only find turnsignals and brakelight bulbs that are "animated" meaning the lights chase eachother.. or spin.. or alternate.. wich according to local law enforcment.. is illigeal

[MRieck]

;)Another thing I did to the cafe' 750F was changed everything else to led's.  The only incandescents are the headlight and the tach/speedo.  This switch-over to led's has significantly reduced the current draw on the alternator.  Tail light, turn signals with front running lights, license plate light, idiot lights (and even the bar-ends) have led's.

Did you have problems with the flashing rate(to fast)with LED turnsignals(decreased resistance)?

[Steve F]

Here's my "web page" if you wanna call it that: http://home.mindspring.com/~highvoltage/www/
There's some before and after pics.  I'm gonna have to get more deatailed pics up on the 'site (I'm not done with the website, so there's a link not working yet).
I machined all of the billet stuff myself, so finding anyting like that elsewhere would be difficult at best. Using led "bulbs" #1157 front and rear, fronts are amber of course, the tail light is one of those D.O.T. truck-type that was modified to fit my purpose.  The license plate light light was billet with a custom circuit board and 5 white led's, then epoxy potted with just the tips of the led's exposed.
The stock "thermal" type flashers will not work with led's so you have to go electronic there.  It still flashed too fast though, so I opened it up and replaced the capacitor inside with a larger one to slow it down.

[DrMark]

Hi, I recently changed my original Stanley M/C bulb on my 1978 CB550 with a H6024 Auto bulb. I did this based on a post about 3 weeks ago concerning the same topic. There are several configurations as far as wattage output. I definately noticed a big improvement in light output. I bought mine at Wal-Mart for $9.

[TwoTired]

I have a 1976 CB 750 K6 that I bought last year. It did not have a headlight in it so I went to the local auto parts store and bought a new one. The problem is when riding at night with the low beam on it is not very bright at all but the high beam is fairly bright. The headlight is a wagner halogen type but I'm not sure of the rating. Is there a difference between a motorcycle headlight and a automotive headlight? any comments would be appreciated. 

While bypassing all the bike's original 29 year old oxidized connectors and switches can, indeed, make your headlight brighter, I'm not convinced the benefit of doing this is that much greater than cleaning the connectors in the wiring harness.

Check the voltage at the operating headlight with a voltmeter, and compare it to a reading taken at the battery terminals under the same operating condition.  The difference is the result of losses in your existing wire routing.
Looking at the wiring diagram for the CB550 K3, there are 9 interconnects, 4 fuse clips contacts, 3 switch contacts in the power routing between battery and headlight.
There are 5 or more connections in the (green) return path from from bulb to battery.  That's 21 connections.  If each one provides just .1v loss, that's 2.1 volts lost before the headlight gets any power from the battery.  I've measured connections with more loss than .1V.  All the energy lost by the contacts is wasted as heat and the bike's alternator output power is stolen by these losses.
There is also the rational, that if your headlight circuits are wasting energy so are all the hundreds of other connections in the bike that bypassing the headlight circuits won't address.
Most of the switches in the bike are self cleaning as they wipe away oxidation as they are manipulated.  This is true until they wear out from use.  The connectors and fuse clips are another story.  These contacts are not of noble metals and oxidize over time.  The factory did not use anything to protect the connector metals from corrosion like they did for the switch contacts.  I use Deoxit on the connectors after I clean them to delay further oxidation.  It made quite a difference in bulb brightness and general efficiency of the bike's electrical system.
Cheers,

[Bob Wessner]

First I have to say I know as much about electrical theory as I do carbs, which is to say very little. I’ve been following this post and the references to needing extra wires and relays for converting to a Halogen headlamp have me confused. My stock lamp burned out and I replaced it with an auto 7” Halogen with no changes to wiring and everything seems fine. I have always ridden with the headlight on regardless of time of day. When I return and hook-up the Battery Tender, there is no loss of charge to the battery so the charging system seems OK. The tender is very sensitive, example if I were to turn on the ignition switch in the garage and just test the blinkers left and right for a couple of blinks each, it detects the loss and recharges. It only takes a few seconds to recharge, so it is very sensitive. I cleaned all connectors during the resurrection phase (it’s a K0). Have I missed something, should I have taken some precaution that I have overlooked?

[Steve F]

I'm using a Cibie (cats eye) convex H4 60/55W H4 headlight on my project with no other modifications to the wiring and it's so bright compared with the original Stanley unit that ships will change direction at sea, if I point it out there!

Soooooo, You're the reason my Uncle crashed his boat!  The Coast Guard's been lookin' for you........

[TwoTired]

I’ve been following this post and the references to needing extra wires and relays for converting to a Halogen headlamp have me confused. My stock lamp burned out and I replaced it with an auto 7” Halogen. I cleaned all connectors during the resurrection phase (it’s a K0). Have I missed something, should I have taken some precaution that I have overlooked?

Well, I'm sure you have a voltmeter.  Do the comparison of the operating voltage at the headlight to the battery terminals.  There will be a difference.  How large is the issue.  I wouldn't like to see more than a 1 volt loss due to wiring and connections.  The less the better.

Cleaning the connections is a good thing and often helps.  However, they will begin to oxidize again unless there is some kind of protective coating applied to them.  If oxygen can get to them, it will oxidize.  The oxidation is resistive, causes a voltage drop, steals energy destined for the end device, and wastes that energy as heat.  The more current you draw through a resistor the more energy is dissipated as heat.

You're description of operation suggests that your charging system is compensating for the increased wattage/amperage your new headlight draws.  But, it's a numbers thing.  How much higher wattage over stock is your new headlight?  Did you increase the main and headlight fuse capacity to compensate for the increased draw?
Cheers,

[Bob Wessner]

Thanks, I will do some poking around with the multimeter. When I cleaned the connectors, pretty thuroughly I might add, I also used some dielectric grease when I reseated them. There is only one fuse for the entire bike on these early ones. I don't recall the specific wattage of the new vs. old headlight, but it was not more than 5 watts diff. on high beam as I recall (just checked the new headlight, it's 40/60w, don't have the specs on the original handy) and I rarely use the high beam since I don't ordinarily ride much at night.

[TwoTired]

The book says the early CB750 came with a 40/50 watt headlight.  So, you are only drawing extra current with the high beam only and then about .8 amps beyond stock. Shouldn't be a worry.

On one of my CB550s a P.O. put a 55/90 headlight on the thing.  Yes, I have fuse and charging issues.

[Egil]

Stev F
For info!
In Norway we drive whit hi light on  so that the meeting   trafic (bus&car&truks) Will see the biker whit singel beam !

You have 2 wather pipes, one whit 2 inch in size , one whit 4 inch in size,  one of thes you can get ekstreamly whit wather true ,
one you wont  ?

I`m work in the firebrigad size have a meaning , I now the diffrent  its the same whit electricbabels compair to size .

Do you get most wather tru the biggest size ,   or tru the smallest size?

Egil
Norway