Motorcycle Repair: Voltage Regulation

Question
I have a Dream 305 CA77 and battery voltage ranges from 12.4 - 14.4 while I test it in the garage but runs upto the mid 16 volts after an hour or so on the road.  Unfortunately I have buned out both beams.  What regulates voltage on 305's and are there any cheap fixes for the rare and expensive Dream headlights, such as fitting a bulb socket? Thank you in advance.

Answer
Eric, that is kind of unusual for the 250-305s to generate 16v, generally. The battery should be fully charged and load-tested to ensure some kind of "regulation" function. The charging system can go wild if the battery isn't there to dampen the output. There is no other voltage regulation function.

See Charlie's Place for his Honda Dream replacement unit which uses replacement bulbs. People have cut the sealed beam bulb socket out of the old units and then installed a replaceable bulb/socket in the reflector, as well.

You should use the 35w H2 bulbs, rather than 55w types as they draw too much voltage/current for most Dream charging systems. Charlie's Place also has reg/rectifer units that will help manage the charging system output.

http://www.charlies-place.com/index.html

Bill Silver