jvdavidson
'78 XS400-2E
Greetings all,
I've wired up my '78 with twin lights in the back which serve simultaneously as my tail, turn, and brake lights - the lights are actually trailer lights so they're plenty large
I've hooked them up using a trailer harness and, functionally, they do their job, they get brighter when I hit either brake, and they blink just fine when I use my turn signal. Problem is they're about useless during the day as they're so dim you can hardly tell I'm braking or turning - at night I'm good. When I take out the bulbs and hook them straight to the battery they're about 2x as bright as when they're in the socket. Because of the obvious safety concerns associated with poor lighting, this bike has been parked with the exception of a few short evening jaunts since early last fall when a riding buddy alerted me to just how bad my lights were. I'd love to get this thing fixed as I've invested a lot of time into getting it from a 10min hassle of furious kicking to start it plus random backfiring and dying in the middle of intersections of inner-city Chicago waiting at lights, and god-awful high revving for no particular reason, to its present condition of running gorgeously like a clock...albeit a poorly illuminated clock.
Electrically I haven't done much to this machine - I replaced the turn signal relay to an EP-34 to work with LEDs but beyond that, nothing. I've been meaning to replace the voltage regulator to a solid state as I believe is common - I'm open to suggestions for what kind of reg to hook up to this bike. Your advice is sincerely appreciated.
Best regards,
I've wired up my '78 with twin lights in the back which serve simultaneously as my tail, turn, and brake lights - the lights are actually trailer lights so they're plenty large
I've hooked them up using a trailer harness and, functionally, they do their job, they get brighter when I hit either brake, and they blink just fine when I use my turn signal. Problem is they're about useless during the day as they're so dim you can hardly tell I'm braking or turning - at night I'm good. When I take out the bulbs and hook them straight to the battery they're about 2x as bright as when they're in the socket. Because of the obvious safety concerns associated with poor lighting, this bike has been parked with the exception of a few short evening jaunts since early last fall when a riding buddy alerted me to just how bad my lights were. I'd love to get this thing fixed as I've invested a lot of time into getting it from a 10min hassle of furious kicking to start it plus random backfiring and dying in the middle of intersections of inner-city Chicago waiting at lights, and god-awful high revving for no particular reason, to its present condition of running gorgeously like a clock...albeit a poorly illuminated clock.
Electrically I haven't done much to this machine - I replaced the turn signal relay to an EP-34 to work with LEDs but beyond that, nothing. I've been meaning to replace the voltage regulator to a solid state as I believe is common - I'm open to suggestions for what kind of reg to hook up to this bike. Your advice is sincerely appreciated.
Best regards,
