Ok if i am understanding all the above correctly, i would take a R/R like what was in the first link, Do some soldering to the bikes stator or donor stator like in the second link to essentially convert my headlight to being DC powered instead of AC powered? The way the Honda is wired now is that the Headlight and Brake light are AC powered while the tail light and signals are DC powered off of the battery. I know some aftermarket headlight assemblies use replaceable bulbs of the H3 and H4 type that i can simply replace with a 6 volt H3 or H4 bulb. However by converting to 12V i can also look at the idea of running a low wattage LED aux light.

Darkrider... I hope you get on with restoration sooner rather than later. I love seeing these classics reborn! With an endorsement like that from weldandgrind, you know you found something special ;)

Once my wallet recovers from the wedding in July, It will be full steam ahead on getting the XL on the road. It and my DT250. The DT needs a carb job and a new battery. Going to try an emergency light SLA battery on the DT and if it works out most likely use one on the XL as well to keep it 6 volt. I lean more towards the idea of keeping it as it was at least on the headlight side for now. I may end up seeing what is easier to find parts wise for the signal lights. I have seen some guys fit aftermarket lights from dual sport kits and just change the bulbs for 6 volt versions.

Was that 1976 Yamaha DT250C dual sportbike called a duel sport back then. Does anyone know when the term duel sport was first marketed?

The Yamaha was marketed as an Enduro. Not sure when the DS term popped up though.

Wiring diagram http://pan.baidu.com/s/1dFdkQ5r

nice XL. i converted my 1979 model to 12 volt in four easy steps: put 12 volt globes in all the lights, got H4 headlight and hook it up, replaced the flasher with a 12 volt flasher and added a 12 volt battery. that was it. no need to upgrade the stator or the rectifier. not kidding!

I had heard it was that simple on these bikes. Nice to know that it is confirmed! I believe i read somewhere that the XL and XRs Stator put out plenty enough juice to run 12 V as is. What i may do to get a bit more umph out of the headlight is wire the AC lead to be the switched lead on a relay then that way the H4 pulls power straight from the battery when it is on. I am assuming you simply went from the 35 W 6 volt H4 to a 35 watt 12 volt H4?

i m running LED tail and indicators now, but had the normal setup converted to 12 V before - and a large round H4 metal headlight with a 55/60 narva plus filament. the original headlight is 7 inch i think, i got an 8 inch (i think) from the wrecker's. nice to keep it looking historical. as far as my bike goes, this worked well, did 10 000 km with that setup before going LED with the new zong motor.

Nice! Wonder if the original electronics would support LED lights for less power draw?

Test w/ "Dummy load" b4 order the LED...

the wiring will be okay, but 6 Volt LED? is that going to work with resistors and the original flasher? or will the 6V system drive the 12 Volt LED flasher?
in any event, don t bother with 6 volt, upgrading to 12 is easy and you need next to no skills, only globes, flasher and battery! 6 volt lights will be kinda dim in the daytime.

Nice, Like i said i may end up trying to wire in a relay to take the headlight load from the wiring. even if its just for safety sake. Use the original headlight wiring to trigger the relay.

Got the bike home tonight, Initial look over of it tells me i will need to get some parts for the rear brakes as well as the rear wheel adjusters. I am thinking i may look at getting a newer style H4 headlight with number plate to go with the newer super moto style fender that came with it.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...size_distr.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...size_distr.jpg

Check out that giant humongous tail light :hehe: you could certainly see that from behind back in the day