And Then There Was Light

So, as stated in earlier posts the headlamp on my Honda CM400T is like riding down the road with a flashlight, and not a good one at that. Something had to be done, so I finally went down to WallyWorld and bought a set of cheap halogen driving lights for a quick fix until I can come up with something better. Car lights are not the best option, they have a tendency to vibrate themselves to death on a motorcycle, but for $17, it was a doable option.

I had been trying to decide which way to wire them, either directly in the headlamp or directly to the charging system. Despite being more work, I decided to wire them to the charging system in hopes of avoiding overloading the fuse for the headlamp. The first order of the project was to drill holes onto the headlamp mount to mount the lamps to. Extreme caution had to be taken to avoid drilling into the brake lines or other electrical wires. With that done, I mounted the headlamps into the holes that had just been drilled. Holy Crap! I think this is going to work!

With the lights installed, it was time to start on the wiring. This was not that difficult either. I started with running the individual grounds to the to the screws used for mounting the lights on the bolt side. After that, I disconnected the battery and connected the power wire to the charging system and ran it to the handlebars. I ran the connectors from the lights to the toggle switch on the bars, and then ran a another ground from the toggle switch to the back of the other mount. Mounting the toggle switch was a little more interesting. I ended up getting creative with some zipties and came up with a solid solution.

At this time, everything was hooked up and it was time to give it a try. I turned the key and hesitantly flipped the toggle. VIOLA! LIGHT! 55 watts of clean halogen light spilled into the driveway, I leaned back in satisfaction. It was getting dark out so I decided I would finish it up in the morning since I was off. When I got around to finishing it the next morning, all that was left was splicing some wires to shorten them and then hide them, while locking the lights into position. This didn't take too long, so after a bit, it was time to take it for a test on the road.

I decided to run by and see Cat at work, a nice long trip on a beautiful day. It was a great ride and I felt more confident that I was much more visible to traffic. I'm excited about driving to work on Monday to see how well it does in the tunnels. Later that day, I decided to take her out for a night ride to see if the lights were vibrating or anything. Damn! These things are bright. My charging system is having a little difficulty keeping up with them. When I hit the brakes or a turn signal, they dim a little bit. Something to look into. Overall, I'm very happy with the outcome of this. Now I should be able to start fishing after work now that I feel moderately safe in the dark.

It only took about 3 hours to do this all together. The most difficult part was connecting everything between the forks and behind the headlight. I'm sure a hour could be shaved off if I had been a little more organized, lots of trips to the basement. So, if you got an old bike that doesn't give off much light and there are no real options to upgrade, try this out. How long will they work? Will it stress my battery? I have no idea the answers to these questions. I'm sure I will find the answers out though. All I do know is that I feel ALOT safer out on the road, and they even look pretty cool on hte bike. SWEET!