XS 400 stock wattage headlight

[HoughMade]

I have a '79 XS 400F. The headlight works on high beam, but not low beam. I have power to the back of the bulb from the low beam switch, so I believe the low filament is bad.

Here's the thing- I know there is not a lot of spare capacity in these charging systems. I would like to find a replacement in the stock wattage of 40w/30w. Most of the replacements I see are 60w/55w. I seldom ride at night, but I want everything to work, so I want my low beam. I do not, however, want to put a more powerful headlight in if it will tax the charging system.

So, a couple of questions:

1) Where can I find a new, stock type 40w/30w headlight? (not interested in buying someone else's 30 year old headlight)

2) If you are running a 60w/55w on a stock late '70s XS 400 charging system, how does it work out? Have you ever had charging system issues?

Thanks.

[Speedshop]

i doubt you'll find an odd ball wattage like that these days, unless you live in a market where that is the the legal requirement.

try this guy...

http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/whatsnew.htm

I ran a XS400 on 55/60 with no problem.

[bznchris]

i doubt you'll find an odd ball wattage like that these days, unless you live in a market where that is the the legal requirement.

try this guy...

http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/whatsnew.htm

I ran a XS400 on 55/60 with no problem.

i had an h4 headlight conversion on my xs400. was running the standard 55/60w bulbs with constant charging problems. switched to a 35/35w h4 bulb and everything is golden.

these guys also make led bulbs that plug into any socket your bike may have. could possibly run a 55/60w headlight bulb if you switch everything over to these:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fled_prods.htm

[HoughMade]

Sounds to me like a retrofit for an H4 and the 35/35 may be the way to go. Are the two filaments set to focus at different lengths?

Thanks.

[bznchris]

Sounds to me like a retrofit for an H4 and the 35/35 may be the way to go. Are the two filaments set to focus at different lengths?

Thanks.

Yep, they're staggered just like any other h4 bulb. The high beam just isn't any brighter.

[HoughMade]

I have now replaced the stock headlamp on the XS 400. I used a headlamp from Candlepower that is designed to replace headlamps on '70s and '80s Japanese middleweight bikes with a 162mm headlamp. It uses a standard H4 halogen lamp. Here is the product:

http://store.candlepower.com/ca61quhahe.html

It has attachments on the back that are supposed to work for several bikes. the top and bottom tabs bolt right in, but there was no tab for the right/left adjustment screw. I drilled out the spot welds on the tab from the original headlight and epoxied it on the Candlepower unit with hi-temp epoxy. So far, so good.

I have ordered a 35w/35w H4, but I do not have that yet, so I installed a 60w/55w that can be found anywhere to see how it did. I road about 35 miles yesterday and the bike ran fine and it appears it is charging well. Candlepower claims a '79 XS 400 should be able to use this higher wattage bulb if the charging system is in decent shape. If the bike keeps running well and charging, I'll probably just keep the higher-wattage bulb. I'll have the 35w/35w just in case.