Headlight Upgrades - Blast from the past

[BumbleBee]

Not news to anyone who has had a Morini since the '70s but back in the day, people did all sorts of things to ditch the original CEV 197 headlight with it's ?35/35W? Tungsten bayonet bulb. Just one of the popular choices was fitting a 6.5 inch headlight glass/reflector from a 1978 CB250N Super Dream. It JUST squeezes into the standard CEV chrome rim and looked pretty original once it was there. if you bought carefully the right version brought you the benefit of the popular H4 P43T "three tags" bulb holder, which took the most popular version of the 55/60W halogen bulb. These days the same holder would of course take an LED version of the same bulb. The CB250N unit must have seen several decades of service in my Morini including before I owned it, until recently the back fell off. That's pretty good service really. I had assumed that it would be hard to find a '78 super dream unit here in 2022 but no, it seems you can buy a "Xanadu" branded unit from several places. So if you like your Morini to have the size and style of headlight it was built with and look as standard (and you like to see where you are going) then it's still possible. I bought ours from motorcycleproducts.co.uk item number SKU; 018357 other sources are probably out there. You don't need to buy a big old 17" or a BMW car size 15 3/4"unit unless you really want to.
G&A

[MickeyMoto]

I still have my 1980s Cibie, bought from Halfrauds in Dartford for my Superdooperdream, then transplanted onto my Morini.

I try not to go out at night these days. In bed with a good book and a cup of cocoa. I'm sure 3Pot will be along shortly with some deer stories...

[huub]

you can also fit a LED headlight bulb in the original reflector.
look for 3000K color , they are a nice golden color.


as they pull less amps than stock they also keep your stock switches from burning
especially if you have a older 350

[3potjohn]

Yep , concave Cibie seems to work well enough.The bulb is a Phillips Vision Plus . Probably due for a replacement, it is years old.Don’t ride in the dark if I can avoid it.

[jones3321]

Hi,

On reading this thread I bought the Honda headlight. I opened up my CEV headlight and found four connections. The Honda replacement has three. Which of the CEV four do I connect to the Honda three. Then there is the issue of the Honda parking light ? Where do I connect this ?

Thanks for any tips,

Alastair

[BumbleBee]

Hi Alastair, can you post a picture of your four wires on the back of your original headlight?
Also which switchgear do you have on the handlebars?

[jones3321]

Thanks for your reply. I will run out to my garage in the morning

[jones3321]

Hi Bumblebee,

I hope you can see these

[BumbleBee]

Ok on the new headlight bulb (viewed as in your photo) the connection on the left is for the earth wire. The connection on the top is for the low beam wire. The connection on the right is for the high beam wire. For the side light bulb the center connection is for the side light wire and the other is for the earth wire. You will need a H4 P43T headlight connector block and perhaps some small wiring to replace the link wires you currently have. Careful to choose one which is not too long or wide for the headlight shell that you have.
Please take a meter and check your wire colours in case they don't match mine, which are as follows.
Headlight, Blue on mine is earth return. White on mine is low beam. Black on mine is high beam.
Side light, Yellow Green on mine is side light, Blue on mine is earth return.
You will need to join your two Blue wires into one connector at the headlight shell.

[jones3321]

Thank you Bumblebee - very clear.

[jones3321]

Hi Bumblebee and anyone who might have an idea.

After some procrastination I finally got around to mounting my Honda headlamp, which does fit very well into the shell.

I followed the scheme outlined. So taking my photo of the three pin connection. I attached the left pin (blue) to the left pin in the headshell, the top of the three pin to the second tab on the left, the right hand pin ( green) to the right hand pin. The two wites of the park light I combined and attached to the final (RH) tab.

When I turned the ignition on the main and dip beam worked. Nothing from the park light. I turned off the lights, started the bike. After running for a couple of minutes I switched the lights on an everything died.

There is now no sign of life from the electrics. The wiring diagrams in the blue book are for the Mk1 and generic 350. I wonder if someone has a chart for the 1976 Wire wheel, twin disc model?

Any thoughts on why the bike died ?

Electrics are generally confusing, Morini electrics even more so

[3potjohn]

Have you got fuses on the circuit board under the right hand cover?

[jones3321]

Hi 3potJohn,

Yes I do have the usual fuse box. They all look OK. To cut the messing around down a little I'm taking the bike to Ray Petty tomorrow.

Fingers crossed

[FatherB]

Going back to the subject of headlight upgrades: I've got a Cibie 150mm (6") concave unit in my 1976 Strada. I had a Philips Motovision 35/35w H4 in it which was very good. I then changed the bulb to an Osram 35/35w +90% Nightracer which was noticeably better. Recently I fitted an Agptek H4 LED which is even better again. I bought a pair of them for about £28 from Amazon. They are rated at 60 watts but that's the total for the pair. I tested mine and it actually consumes only about 28 watts so it gives the hard pressed 100 watt alternator an easier time. They're the same depth as a standard H4 so will fit the shallow standard shell. I use the flatter Cibie bulb connector which gives a few mm extra clearance over the more commonly available types. I've tried both of Paul Goff's excellent H4 LEDs but they're too long and won't fit the standard shell. I now use his LED in my Benelli 250 2C which has a deeper shell. The Cibie concave is, by far, the best 150mm light unit out there. They've been out of production for around 30 years but can still be found on Ebay occasionally but sometimes people are asking silly money. Don't bother buying one that has poor silvering only one in near perfect condition will give you a really good light. The Agptek LED H4 has a proper low beam cut-off and is super bright.

[MickeyMoto]

Classic Car LEDs make a bulb that fits in the original headlight bowl. It has an adjustment to get the cut off correct.

It is the only LED bulb I have found that doesn't dazzle. I also use their 21W equivalent festoon bulb LED in the side light. It is designed for MG reversing lights and is about 2mm longer than the existing bulb.

Not cheap, though.