Honda 200 ES dim headlight

[wellys88]

Have a 200ES. The headlight stared being very dim. Especially when rpm's go up. Gets a little brighter at idol
G

[ATC King]

First, check the battery. Not just voltage, but under load.

A bad battery can make the voltage regulator act like that. Check all the connections and wires. Make certain it has a good ground.

[Gabriel]

Might also check voltage at the headlight connection. Could be a bad connection in the harness.

[wellys88]

Ok thanks. Will check those today when I get back to shop

[shortline10]

A lot of times it’s just a corroded light socket , ground side .
Fairly common problem on Honda Atvs .

[Tnwildman]

Check your ground my did that. Ended up being bad ground where wiring harness was grounded to the frame.


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[ps2fixer]

Another note, the power wire can suffer from the same issue as the ground wire, bad connection. Just to add to everything, check the regulator plug, if it has a poor connection it can get really hot at the terminals and burn the wire/plastic housing.

Here's a couple photos pulled from cycleterminal.com for an example.



If you get really fancy with understanding electronics, you could check the voltage drop across the wire to the headlight and such. From my understanding that's the best way to know if a connection is good or not, but never really done it myself.

[wellys88]

Didnt end up having much time today had to go on a breakdown call. But checked battery. 12.3 volts. Then it wouldn't start on button but started by pull. Light still same way. Will do tests you mention and also test for power drop.

[wellys88]

Found 2 separate issues today. Red wire with fuse attached to possitive connection was very bad repaired that. Light problem solved. Proceeded to go through all starting wiring system and check connections. Found one of the green wires attached to inhibitor relay hanging by a threat. Resoldered and pushed button she fired right up. Thanks to all who provided help. Cleaned all connections including grounding points. Good to go. Thanks again.

[350for350]

Good to hear that you got it fied. Now go ride the wheels off of it to celebrate!

[ps2fixer]

Nice work catching the wiring issues. Seems like harness problems are getting more and more common from them getting quite aged. Stiff/brittle wire is a bad sign that the wire insulation could snap exposing the copper. I have some things in the plans for the 200es and similar machines for new harnesses, but probably won't have anything fully figured out for quiet a long time, one of the hurdles of course is the round 6 pin CDI connector used in 84-85 that isn't in production anymore, so a new suitable replacement CDI is needed as well with the newer style plugs.

Anyway, hopefully you don't have any more issues with the machine and it's a solid rider (pun not intended lol).

[wellys88]

Nice work catching the wiring issues. Seems like harness problems are getting more and more common from them getting quite aged. Stiff/brittle wire is a bad sign that the wire insulation could snap exposing the copper. I have some things in the plans for the 200es and similar machines for new harnesses, but probably won't have anything fully figured out for quiet a long time, one of the hurdles of course is the round 6 pin CDI connector used in 84-85 that isn't in production anymore, so a new suitable replacement CDI is needed as well with the newer style plugs.

Anyway, hopefully you don't have any more issues with the machine and it's a solid rider (pun not intended lol).

My next question was did u work on new harness for the ES yet lol. Yes the new connectors and CDi would be great addition and a USB port for charging phones����. Thanks again. And yess the took it for a good ripp 350!

[ps2fixer]

Well the CDI would be down to either a Chinese one (I want to try to measure their performance vs OEM with a tester I want to try to build), or Mike's ATV Fix's ATC200X CDI which I'd think would work on pretty much any 200 series.

The ATC200ES has a lot of wiring going on, so it wouldn't be a cheap harness, just a random ballpark guess, but probably around $200. I have a 82 200E and 84 200ES harness on hand, just need an 83 200E to note all their differences and see if I can make a one fits all harness or how I'll go about it. I have most of the raw materials needed to make one, just trying to standardize a little more and make the design a little bit more of my own instead of a direct copy of the exact year.

Not to throw out false hope or anything, but I hope after the tester thing I want to make, I hope to make an actual digital CDI myself. If I can get the main hardware figured out well, the programming side gives me a lot of options since I'd be programming the actual engine logic, not just changing numbers in a table like car ECU "programming". Wishful thinking, but the same base hardware could have wifi or bluetooth radio added to it + a cell app or laptop program and have the CDI programmable (ignition timing mainly). I'm still pretty new to designing electronics from the ground up, so I'm trying to learn how the Chinese ones work better. I think I can make a fully simulated CDI tester with what I've learned so far, just have to have the fun working with high voltage (100v+) and buying the correctly rated parts to handle it. Not exactly a simple beginner project lol.

Anyway, the main hold up for the 84-85 harnesses has been that pesky CDI connector, some machines you can go to a newer designed CDI, like the 86 250R CDI on a 85 250R, for the 200ES, you'd be going backwards to a 82-83 200E CDI, or in theory a 86-87 200X, or a 86 200S CDI. The 86-87 200x engine was redesigned, so not sure if it kept the mechanical advancement or not. Of course an aftermarket, or new CDI would be ideal. Just "it works" isn't good enough for me, I want something that's OEM performance or if possible something better.

Also, tip on the USB charger stuff, there's an AUX plug near the front of the machine, big black 2 pin connector. It unplugs and uses two bullet terminals. I hacked up a 12v AUX connector for like a car and wired it to the rack for trike fest to power a GPS that was mounted in a case that mounts on the handle bars. Everything worked out great, but you'll need a battery to keep the DC power nice and smooth. Too bad that connector wasn't more widly used, which reminds me, I think a Honda Rincon has a 12v aux plug like a car, might be something to look into to see how it's mounted up. Also neat feature is that the AUX plug cycles on and off with the ignition key. You can't draw too much on the 200ES, the alternator only outputs around 70w peak, but on the 250es it's 200w. Plenty enough for a 2 amp usb charger (~10w) though.

[wellys88]

I think I have an 83 200E parts bike in the mound of 3 wheelers behind my shop lol. I can check see if it still has usable harness. I saw that connector you where talking about today then I took the light off the ES.

[wellys88]

What are my options for using a bigger battery than the stock. What's the output of the charging system on an ES