So I got left standing on the side of the road again with my 76 CB550. Gotta love the charging system. I went for a good ride the other night where the bike ran upwards of 3000rpm and all was good, however ran out of juice as soon as I hit suburbia the next night. Unfortunately most of the driving I do is around town, and the local road designers love stop signs and stop lights, SO it seems like I have pretty much a battery operated bike on my hands.
I have read up on the forum about the charging system, and it seems that it was barely adequate when these bikes were brand new, and as they age, well I guess not all things get better with age. I have a stock electronics system on a 1976 CB550F, for except the headlight, which is a Delta Halogen headlight with a 60/55W bulb (which I purchased before realizing that it will tax the system more than the stock). I really like the brightness of the headlight and would like to keep it if possible, and was planning to install a Dyna S electronic ignition over the off-season. Which I understand doesn't help my charging system.
This is the headlight...
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ItemBrowse/c-10111/s-10101/p-100000388387/mediaCode-ZX/appId-100000388387/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:100000388387SO... seeing as the charging system itself doesn't seem to be easy to upgrade to higher output, I am planning doing a sort of electric/electronic diet for my CB550. My goal here is SYSTEM EFFICIENCY (and wallet efficiency)
So I can run the things that matter. I am also thinking of doing a write up of this as I go along to help anyone else looking to do the same.
I plan to polish and coat all terminal with dielectric grease, and replace wires where necessary (as per other posts). I would like to also switch over to electronic regulator and rectifier and switch all other lights to LED. Which makes me ask for advice on what I will need to do this. I would like to change my little bulbs in the dash, my gauges, turn signals (front and back), and stop light. Now for the holy grail... I would like to retain near stock or better brightness and have my running lights up front working as well and cooperating with my turn signals. I am also thinking of purchasing new (more streamlined) LED turn signals.
I understand that I will need an electronic flasher relay to compensate for the lower load of the LEDs in the turn signals. Does it just replace the original? Do I need one per signal or per side? I would like to avoid going the resistor way, since my ultimate goal is to utilize the low draw of the LEDs so I don't have to walk home from almost every ride
Is this the best way? Can I use a flasher from another motorcycle/car to do this?
I found these relays for now...
http://www.customled.com/PRODUCTS/FLASHER_RELAY/flasher_relay.htmHas anyone had any success with their running lights and their turn signals using LEDs? How about using these Magic Blinker units? What would it entail to build these? I am not afraid of soldering. I imagine these would work with electronic flasher relays or is that redundant?
Magic Blinker
http://www.customled.com/PRODUCTS/MAGIC_BLINKER/magic_blinker.htmI have purchased LEDs from
www.superbrightleds.com for my Jeep before (changed whole interior over to LED) and am happy with their products. However, I found when replacing the 1156 bulbs in the Jeep that they were marginally visible through the red lenses (a.k.a. red filter) and had to take them out again. I have read somewhere that it is because the red light range emitted by the LEDs is so narrow that most of it gets absorbed by the lenses. Any suggestions in this departmen and on retaining near stock brightness through the original rear lens? I believe the lights I used were Eurolights from Toucan Ind. I will change the rear tail light if necessary.
I know with the gauges I might have to change the sockets, and change some things inside. I am planning on taking the gauges apart anyway to put new white face gauge decals, so no big deal. Am thinking of painting the inside white or lining it with reflective material, and possibly wiring 4 LEDs instead of the original 2 light bulbs to get more even light coverage. Any pointers? Am thinking of using the BA9 units from
www.superbrightleds.com for the instrument lights and gauges.
Any advice, experience, links, wiring diagrams, or cross over parts from would be HUGELY appreciated. Even if the advice is that the savings of changing it all will be insignificant and to abandon mission...
before I start spending $$$