Honda ATC Headlight Upgrade 185 & 200 Models

[ATC King]

This upgrade is for the non electric start 185 and 200 ATCs with a 12v AC system.

It could be used on other models with the same headlight but wiring the regulator may be slightly different.



This upgrade requires no permanent modifications to the wiring or trike in general. Once all the parts are assembled and modified, it's a true bolt-on upgrade and completely reversible in less than an hour if desiring to return to stock or swapping to another ATC. No battery or DC system modification required.

Set your budget at $150 for this modification. It could be less, but expect that much depending on what parts and tools you have already.


The parts are:

One of the eBay/Amazon ATC headlight units
PIAA HS1 powersports bulb
Dorman bulb socket
Trail Tech adjustable AC voltage regulator
Japanese motorcycle electrical connectors (so it'll all plug into the stock harness)

Tools:

Basic hand tools
Wire terminal crimper
Rotary tool (Dremel) or something that'll trim the headlight tabs

Here's the headlight for the donor part.


All that's needed is the headlight itself.



The reason for using this unit is the ability to install a HS1 (same base a H4) bulb.

Mine came with the lens poorly secured. It fell off. Typical Chinese part. This is the main part of the upgrade that I searched for a while and it's all I could come up with. If anyone knows of a higher quality part, please list a link. Preferably one with a glass lens.

I just glued the lens back on. No need to return for another defective Chinese part...



Electrical tape used with sticky side out for clamping force and JB Weld plastic bond. Just throwing that in there in case anyone else has the same issue. Again, not the best headlight assembly but it's all I found. Time will tell how it hold up.


The new headlight fits the stock ATC bucket but needs a few things cut off. I use a diamond wheel on the Dremel. It's thinner than the fiber cutoff wheels and doesn't break. It works well on plastic.







The next part is the bulb. It's a PIAA bulb and I've been using these for years. They're great bulbs but expensive.



It'll go into the new headlight just like it's supposed to.




The new headlight comes with a rubber cover for the back of the bulb but it needs a bit trimmed off to work with the new socket.



The next part is a Dorman headlight socket. I used these because the wires come out from the bottom instead of the back which leaves more room for it to fit into the stock headlight bucket.




A comparison of the stock unit and new one. It certainly gives a bit of a modern touch to the trike.



For the light comparison later, the stock unit on my trike is in pretty decent condition. Not like new but good enough for a solid side-by-side difference.



The next part and it's an important one, is the Trail Tech adjustable AC voltage regulator.




I've bought one of the generic eBay/Amazon 12v AC regulators before and won't again. They're about $15 and this one is about $30 but there's no comparison. Spend the money and get the good part. The cheap ones won't hardley even let the system go past 12V and it needs to be between 13 and 14 to get a good light output. The adjustable one can go above 14V but it'll shorten bulb life.

Even if not doing the full headlight upgrade, installing the voltage regulator is a very good idea. The stock system will barley touch 12v with both bulbs working but if one blows it's very likely to take the other one out as the voltage can get over 15 really quick with a blown bulb and without a voltage regulator.


I done this on a 1984 (85?) 200S and the tail light harness had a double socket on each wire. That meant all I had to do is put connectors on the regulator wires and plug it in. The brown wire can be run to a chassis ground but to simplify the installation I just plugged it into the tail light section of the wiring harness.

Instead of drilling any holes to bolt the voltage regulator on I used Velcro. The real stuff. When doing things like this the real products are important. Knock-off cheap junk isn't worth the trouble. It may seem a bit cheesy to use Velcro but it works and doesn't require any holes to be drilled.



Put the voltage regulator wherever you want. All that's important is it has good connections and is out in the open to keep from overheating. On the 200S, the rear tool box area on the fenders was a convenient place and when installed it really isn't seen from behind. It's also easy to access for adjustment. The Velcro also provides a little bit extra vibration protection.



On to the headlight wiring, if using the Dorman connector, black goes to the ATC harness green, red to blue, and blue to white.



On to the results...

Low beam. OE left, new right.


High beam. OE left, new right.


Low beam was a huge improvement. I did get in a rush as I finished this later in the day. I didn't mark out a point to take pictures from and the OE pics weren't quite at dark but I think the improvement is obvious. The OE headlight has a very pronounced hot spot and not a very wide pattern. The PIAA bulb also produced a much whiter light.

The high beam with the new light does have a dark spot in the center. It's a bit annoying and it may be the headlight housing itself instead of the bulb but it's still brighter than stock.

The headlight still dims at idle because the voltage drops off but it won't flash like a cheap LED that's run on AC. Cheap LED lights don't have good electronics and won't last as long when running on AC.

I'd say on high that it's not that the light shines farther (it may a little) but it's a much higher quality beam. Wider and brighter. Low beam is a huge improvement though. The stock low beam is about useless and the upgraded low beam is very useful.



To note, the stock setup wouldn't even get to 12v. I done these pictures with the engine a mid revs and to get the light as bright as possible. With the PIAA bulb low beam would get just over 13v but high is still barley over 12v. The light will get brighter and I've just got to put the voltmeter on it and adjust the regulator.




A bit of a special option but anyone who's done the DC conversion on these ATCs can use this headlight in the stock bucket with a LED bulb. I will get around to that and there's a huge amount of pitfalls with H4 LED bulbs in terms of light quality and pattern. Some do have an adjustable position (clocking). Stay tuned for that.

[Scootertrash]

Excellent post!! Saved for later

Does this help with the tail light brighness as well?

[Footy]

Awesome! Thanks for the write up.

[ATC King]

Excellent post!! Saved for later

Does this help with the tail light brighness as well?

Thank you and yes, it 'could' help with the tail light brightness once the voltage is cranked up. Also, because there will be a voltage regulator the risk of going over that set voltage is mitigated and the tail light bulb more protected.

I've played around with putting LED bulbs in the OE tail lights and haven't found one that's any better than stock yet. There are some that have a projector type on the tip but they don't light up the housing as well as a stock bulb and others are just poorly designed and dim looking in the housing. PIAA does make some miniature bulbs but I haven't looked into if any are the type for the ATC tail lights.


This upgrade uses a 35/35 watt bulb instead of the stock 45/45 watt, which leaves a bit of power for a different tail light bulb. I'll try to get around to seeing if a bulb PIAA makes will fit.

[ATC King]

I put one of these headlights on my 185S that's been converted to DC power. I got one that came with an LED bulb.

I'll post some pictures later of the light quality, but it's not bad. It's probably not farther shining than stock but it's a white light and the most impressive thing is it doesn't dim at idle. I let the trike idle for several minutes and the voltage never dropped even a tenth, it stayed 14.7.

Compared to the other pod LEDs I have used, this bulb doesn't take near the power and still puts out acceptable light. It's now got the OE headlight back on it and I'm keeping the LED bulb the new headlight came with because it doesn't dim at idle and seems to have such a low current draw that it'll stay like that. If I need more light I'll add some to the forks or handlebars with a separate switch that way I can still have light at idle but turn off the more powerful ones.

[ATC King]

I finally got around to adjusting the voltage regulator.

It's now adjusted on low beam to about 13.5v at part throttle and maxes out just over 14v at full throttle.

As long as the OE taillight bulb will handle that, the voltage is where I want it.

For a reminder, the system is still AC and the voltage drops at idle. The regulator doesn't make up for the lack of power at idle, that's simply the design of the system. The regulator does allow for adjustment of the max voltage which helps balance bulb longevity with brightness and protects the bulbs if either burns out. It won't go over the set max, unlike the stock system without a regulator. Having the adjustment also means different bulbs can be used and the regulator set to work with them.