Installing 35W bulbs in fogs on Cal Vintage

The good news is that the Moto Guzzi California Vintage comes standard with two very bright auxiliary lights, sometimes called spotlights, fog lights or driving lights.

The bad news is that if you casually ride around town with these on for any significant period of time, you will drain your battery.

Here I show you how I changed these bulbs to reduce battery drain.

The good old air cooled Moto Guzzi 1064cc v-twin engine that I love, just does not have enough room for a larger factory alternator, so we make due with the rated maximum 350 Watts at 5000 rpm.  I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t ride at 5000 rpm.  I enjoy riding within 2600-3000 rpm range on average. Maybe an occasional shift at 4500 rpm the mood strikes me.  So, with the way I ride my California, the alternator just isn’t keeping up if I have the two factory 55 Watt auxiliary lights on.  This is a common minor issue with the Vintage, but it’s easy and can be very inexpensive to resolve.

The most simple way to fix this is to replace the factory 55 Watt H3 auxiliary light bulbs with 35 Watt H3 bulbs.  I’ll show you step by step below exactly how I changed them on my 2007 California Vintage.  I have no idea why I waited so long to do this.

For me, picking out which H3 replacement bulb to buy was quick.  We’re a single income family and I can’t justify spending a week’s worth of groceries for a set of high tech bulbs.  I went for just the 35 Watt standard halogen bulb for only $6 each.  But, if you are so inclined, or if you ride a lot at night, there are several high performance 35 Watt H3 replacement bulbs that will work great on the California Vintage or any other H3 lamp.

If you want to keep, or surpass, the Guzzi factory brightness while using fewer Watts, theH3 PIAA Xtreme White Plus 35 Watt (p/n 70323) bulbs will do the trick since they give off of an equivalent of 70 Watts (for about $42 each from PIAA, or about $39 from Motorcycle Superstore).   A slightly less expensive PIAA 35 Watt bulb is their Star White (p/n 70363) , which gives of an equivalent of 60 Watts for about $27 each from PIAA.

I have to keep my motorcycle expenses to a minimum so I decided to swap mine over to H3 standard halogen 35 Watt replacement bulbs for about $6 each from Motorcycle Superstore. (They also sell the PIAA Xtreme bulbs for about $39 each).  Total cost for my two standard H3 bulbs with shipping and a new copy of MotoUSA magazine was less than $19.  I considered this a good deal, especially because the automotive parts stores wanted $13 per bulb for the standard H3 halogens.

To replace both the auxiliary light bulbs, the only tool needed is a phillips screwdriver.  It took me about 15 or 20 minutes to do both.  I took the opportunity to have my 9 year old son help me so he could learn.  He also took all these pictures for me while I changed the bulbs.  It was a win-win deal.

Located on the bottom front of the chrome bezel is a single stainless steel  screw.  Loosen the screw slowly to avoid stripping the screw head with the driver.  After removing the screw, pull the bottom edge of the lamp bezel outward while  pivoting at the top of the lamp housing.  Lift the top of the bezel up over the raised lip and now it is only connected by 2 wires.  Hold the lamp assembly to avoid excess strain on the two wires coming from the rubber boot.

Carefully peel the rubber boot away from the rear of the lamp assembly to expose the wire connector.  For whatever reason, my California Vintage has a red/orange boot on one light and a black one on the other.  Anyway, slide the rubber boot back down the wires toward the lamp housing shell so that you can get to the covered connector on the white wire.  The connector is a locking type, but all you need to do is pinch it with your fingers to get it to release the blade on the white wire.

Next, you will see there is a small metal wire clip that is sprung into place to hold the metal flange on the H3 bulb into the receptacle.  Using your fingers, just spread the two ends of the wire gently to release it, but try not to permanently deform this wire.   Once opened, it can be hinged backward out of the way.

Lift the old H3 bulb out from the receptacle holding it by the white wire.  Be careful not to touch the bulb if it is still good.  Touching the bulb will shorten the life of it due to the natural oils on your skin.  Obviously, don’t touch the new bulbs either, just hold it by the white wire or maybe the metal flange.

Install the new H3 bulb in the same way, with round flange cutout to round side and flat cutout to flat side. Next, swing the little wire spring clip wire back over the bulb flange and cross the two ends of the wire spring clip over to lock them into their holding places.

Next, plug the blade on the white wire into the connector on the blue wire and make sure the little detent finds the hole on the blade so it locks.  Slide the insulating cover back over this connector.  Slide the rubber boot back towards the new bulb, being careful that the black wire and blue wire pass back through the hole of the boot.  Work the rubber boot into it’s original place on the rear of the lamp reflector.

Place the lamp assembly back into the rear lamp shell by hooking the top of the bezel on first and swing the bottom closed.  Check that the screw hole lines up properly and that the ribs in the lamp lens are straight up and down – correct as needed.  Turn on the lamp top make sure it is working, then turn it off,  insert the screw and tighten it down.  Repeat these steps for the other lamp and you’re done.

I consider the auxiliary lights to be a safety feature, and I flip them on in the daytime when I’m on a busy road that has a lot of cars turning in and out of places.  I also run them when I’m at busy 4-way traffic intersections.  By changing them over from 55 Watts to 35 Watts, I can now use them without worrying so much about the battery.  Of course, I’ll still not leave them on while idling for very long.

I’m not sure why the Moto Guzzi factory does not install 35 Watt bulbs in the California Vintage auxiliary lights instead of 55 Watts, other than for Wattage bragging rights, but this is something the factory should be doing.

If you own a Moto Guzzi California, but not one that came with factory driving lights, Hepco & Becker offers a nice looking kit for about $260 USD. Part number is 400.521 for the California, Jackal, Special and Stone.  Harper Moto Guzzi is one of the places that sells these.

Interestingly, the early publicity photos of the California Vintage seem to show this same round chrome tubing bracket like Hepco offers.  I would not be surprised if it was from them as they supplied factory Guzzi accessories for several years.  For some reason, Guzzi changed to the two aluminum brackets rather than keeping the much more attractive (my opinion) chrome tubing.  Since the Hepco & Becker lights come with 55W bulbs, you’ll need to do the same swap to 35W as I did.

If anyone has tried converting the stock lamps to LEDs or has tried other solutions, please leave a comment to share what you did.  Personally, I’d like to swap over my clear fog lenses to amber color lenses, but so far I have not found any that are a direct fit.  Does anyone know if there are amber lenses that are completely interchangeable with the clear factory auxiliary light lenses?