VJMC Tech Tip

I own a Honda CA77, CB77 and a CL77 and here in Washington we have a law requiring that the headlight must be on when operating the motorcycle. As we all know these old headlights are getting expensive if you can find them at all, so burning your headlight both day and night certainly shortens the replacement cycle for the lamp and increases ownership costs.

After experimenting with resistors to lower the voltage enough to extend the lamp life, I found that just where to put the resistor and the heat generated by it became a problem. The solution turned out to be simple. I purchased a Daytime Running Light System for my car made by CASCO Products Corporation (CASCO stock # 700514). This unit is solid state and uses Pulse Width Modulation technology and does not have the heat problem I experienced with my proposed resistor solution. The voltage at the lamp is 9.84 or roughly a 20% reduction from what the stock lamp would draw. I was quite pleased with the results and I purchased three more for the other motorcycles I own.

The nice part about it all was when I found I was able to mount the unit within the headlight shells making the installation quite simple with no external wiring required or showing. This "Daytime Running Light #700514 should be available at major auto parts retailers for around $46.00. A little less than a headlight for a CA77.

If you want to get in touch with the company, the particulars are: