Brighter headlight bulb?

carlluvscorinne · Post by **carlluvscorinne** » Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:38 pm

Hi All: Does anyone know of a brighter headlight bulb that can be used in my 1964 CB77? I like to ride my bike home from work at night (I work 2nd shift) and its hard to see very far ahead even with the highbeam on. I have tried adjusting the headlight bucket, but the bulb just does not produce very much light. (I belive its 25w low / 35w high). I have tried a couple different stock bulbs, but they are all about the same. Thanx in advance, Carl

e3steve · Post by **e3steve** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 8:37 am

Hey Carl, check out Paul Goff's site http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffybulbs.htm . I'm assuming, from your description, that you have a replaceable lamp and not a sealed beam. Your lamp's cap should have 3 'keyhole' slots around the flange; this denotes an American Pre-Focus cap (type APF). Goffy seems to have only 50/50W in 12V, which you'll probably get away with if you also change your stop/tail for an LED-type and swap out your rectifier for a modern silicon- or Schottky-diode type from Radio Shack.

In Europe we have (had, prior to P43- & then H4-flanged twin-filament headlamps) Bosch BA20d which differs from APF in fitting to the beam unit.

Further -

Rectifier info: http://www.honda305.com/forums/viewtopi ... highlight=
Taillight bulb info: http://www.honda305.com/forums/viewtopi ... highlight=

Incidentally, Goffy sends worldwide and accepts PayPal.

jensen · Post by **jensen** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 1:48 am

Hi,

First make sure that your reflector is in perfect shape, if not replace it.
The CB72 has the same headllight as a CB400F. There are a lot of aftermarket replacement reflectors with different types of bulbsmade for the CB400F, like halogene H4.

I have a Xenon bulb fitted in a CB400F H4 reflector for my 67 CB72.
A Xenon blub is 35 Watts, H4 consumes more.

A reflector with H4 bulb is fitted in my 62 CB72, it's working fine with another rectifier like steve mentioned,

Jensen

carlluvscorinne · Post by **carlluvscorinne** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 9:55 am

Thanks for the tips...this is exactlly what I was hoping for. I like the cb400F headlight lens idea if I don't have to change the taillight bulb over. Is the new rectifier needed if I just use the 35w xeon bulb with the cb400 reflector?
Thanx, Carl

jensen · Post by **jensen** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:51 am

Hi,

Go for the H4 / CB400F aftermarket reflector,
Forget the Xenon, the xenon option is much more complicated, it needs a stabiliezed power supply at all times, a ballast, and lot of re-wiring too.

I forgot that I made all the changes to have such a stabilized power suply.

A new modern rectifier is ALWAYS better, because of its efficiency, keep the old one for shows only.

So aftermarket reflector from a CB400f, H4, and a new rectifier will work for you.

In what shape is your reflector ?

Jensen

carlluvscorinne · Post by **carlluvscorinne** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:09 pm

Hi Jensen:

Thanks for the info, my reflector appears to be in great shape, crystal clear with no hazing or scratches. So just a new rectifer, CB400F reflector with an H4 bulb. I can use my original trim ring, headlight bucket and tail light bulb?
Thanks in advance, Carl

jensen · Post by **jensen** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:09 am

Hi,

Yes, I did this before I converted to even more light with the xenon, it worked.
I switched to Xenon because I wanted more power reserves for the Garmin GPS and a few other things.

If the H4 doesn't burn or is weak, check strength on your magnet of the dynamo,

Before you switch to H4, you can check this with a H4 bulb connected directly to the wires of the headlight (would take half on hour to find out).

Jensen