Honda CB125S2

Converting a 1975 Honda CB125S2 from 6 Volt to 12 Volt

Overview
This article describes the electrical conversion from an old 6V system to a 12V system in a 1975 Honda
CB125S2. The conversion described herein may find utility in a number of other smaller Honda models
that use the internal rotor, six-pole alternator. This conversion allows the original headlamp (6V, sealed
beam, 25W/25W) to be replaced with a standard halogen H-4 bulb (12V, bulb, 55W/60W). This conversion also made use of LED replacement bulbs in both the instrument and taillights. The use of the LED
bulbs reduced current draw compared to their standard 12V incandescent counterparts and dropped the
engine speed needed to supply normal electrical load (i.e., headlamp switched on lowbeam) from approximately 4500 rpm to 1800 rpm.
The last two pages of this document are wiring diagrams. The first is the original wiring diagram of the
1975 Honda CB125S2, the second is the wiring diagram of the modified 12V system.
It is recommended to read though this entire document prior to jumping into the project. Assuming that
all parts are made available prior to starting the project, the conversion can likely be accomplished in
two to three days if a person makes a dedicated effort: this includes time for epoxy curing of the stator.
The cost of the conversion in this example may be a deterrent factor for some. Parts in this example cost
$245 USD in 2009. If the cost of the conversion is considered too expensive, the next best thing is to
keep the bike at 6V and to simply replace the old selenium rectifier with a modern silicon rectifier. More
details are supplied below. Finally, a couple of strategies to reduce the installation cost are discussed at
the end of the article.
Magnet wire (the wire used in winding stators) is readily available from numerous suppliers. Perform
a Google search on magnet wire. The wire used to rewind the stator in this project was 18 AWG.
Spools are usually sold in 1 lb amounts. A 1 lb spool of 18 AWG is very close to 200 feet. The stator in
this project required slightly less than 100 feet. The parts and their associated cost are provided immediately below:
Magnet wire (18 AWG)
Battery
Resistors (for ignition)
Headlamp Conversion
Turn signal lamps
LED lamps:
Turn signal winker
Voltage Regulator/Rectifier
Fasteners and gaskets:
Electrical Connectors, solder, wire
Total

$25
$42
$2
$61
$5
$27
$13
$40
$20
$ 10
$245

Two costs were not included in the list above: capacitor and slave relay. A 4700 F electrolytic capacitor was purchased from RadioShack and installed across the rectifier/regulator output. The purpose of
capacitor was to reduce alternator-supplied voltage pulses with the intent of increasing battery life. This
capacitor is probably not necessary to the conversion. Also, a simple automotive relay was purchased
from RadioShack with the intent of installing it to replace either the headlamp switch or ignition switch.
This relay has not been installed and is also likely unnecessary to the project.
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The conversion from 6V to 12 V entails the following tasks:

Rewind the alternator stator.
Install a 12V rectifier/regulator.
Install a 12V Battery.
Replace all lighting bulbs.
Install ignition system resistors (to keep ignition coil current at ~3.3 Amp).

Each of these tasks is described in some detail below. The most labor intensive task is the stator rewind:
approximately 50% of the entire projects labor is taken up with the stator rewind.
Change the Rectifier if Converting to 12V is Too Expensive
If the cost of converting from 6V to 12V is too high, the next best thing is to change out the bikes old
selenium rectifier for a modern silicon rectifier. The cost is around $5, including new electrical connectors. A suitable new rectifier can be purchased
from RadioShack, part number: 276-1185
The original rectifier used in the Hondas of the
mid-1970s used selenium as its semi-conductor.
It worked but was quite inefficient compared to
modern silicon-based designs. Thats why the
old ones required cooling fins: they lost energy
internally and required cooling. By comparison,
a modern rectifier is so efficient that it basically
is just a solid block and does not lose any significant amount of electricity internally. Although I
havent measured the energy loss in the old rectifiers, it is probable that a good 20W was consumed
internally. Thats quite a lot of power compared to
the gross generation coming from the alternator.
And thats when theyre good! When they go bad,
they get worse. Modern silicon rectifiers likely lose
less than one Watt of power.

New Rectifier Installed in Place of Old One.

RadioShack 276-1185

My suggestion is to run down to your local Radio Shack and pick up a new one. The new one will have
four stub terminations for spade-type connectors. Each one is marked. Youll terminate the red-white
(thats the DC positive lead) on
the stub marked +. And youll terminate the green (ground DC lead) on the stub marked -. Then there
are two stubs with wavey lines next to them, and they are for the two alternator outputs: pink and yellow.
It does not matter which one
you connect to which. The photo at the right shows a new rectifier hooked up in place of the old one.
Note: A point to make here is that if you are going to convert to a 12V system, do not purchase a RadioShack 276-1185 rectifier. Although it will work just fine as a rectifier (converting AC to DC), the
new 12V system uses not only a rectifier, but a voltage regulator as well. After I purchased the rectifier
shown in the photo and installed it, I made the decision to convert to 12V, and removed the rectifier in
order to replace it with a combination rectifier/regulator as explained in the text below.

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Tools Required for the 12V Conversion Project

Tools required for the job are mostly common: screwdrivers, pliers (needle-nosed and regular), and
metric wrenches. A table vise is very useful for holding parts such as the stator during de-winding and
re-winding. In addition, one should have a soldering gun and electrical solder, and a propane torch
for removing the old wiring. Electrical tools include crimp and wire stripper/cutters. Finally, a rotary
grinder like a dremel is needed to remove material from the headlamp bezel: the new H-4 lamp doesnt
quite fit into the old sealed beam headlamp bezel and needs to be enlarged by about 2 mm.
Tools/Materials Required
Removal and Dewind of Old Stator
Propane torch (preferred is a trigger operated type with pencil flame)
Pliers (regular and needle-nose)
Phillips Screwdrivers
Vise, to hold the stator
Stator Winding
Vise, with curved holders (described below)
Work gloves (sheer, e.g. golf gloves)
Golf tees (for prodding windings)
Thin cable ties
Side-cutter (or similar, to remove cable-ties after use)
Soldering gun (to reconnect to old output wires)
Voltage Regulator
Electrical pliers (crimp/stripper/cutter)
Metric wrenches
Ignition Resistors
Electrical pliers
Materials
Magnet wire (18 AWG, 100 feet needed, usually purchased in 200 ft lots)
Electrical solder
Cable ties, small ones.
Epoxy, automotive
Electrical Insulating Paint (e.g., Liquid Electrical Tape), and/or shrink tubing, and/or electrical tape.
Wire (preferably color coded 16 AWG Green, Black, Pink, Yellow, Red/White)
Electrical connectors: spades, bullets, splice
Aluminum angle, inch (for regulator brackets and headlamp stanchions)
Metric bolts and nuts (6mm x 1.00mm x 10mm) for regulator and headlamp stanchions)

CB125S Stator Rewind

The 1970s era smaller Honda bikes often used an alternator with two separate stator windings: an
ignition winding (that also generated sufficient power to drive occasional use of the ancillary electrical
equipment (turn-signals, etc.)), and a separate lighting winding that generated additional electrical power
when the lights were turned on. This lighting coil was switched in simultaneously when the headlamp
was turned on. A review of the wiring diagram shows that the headlamp switch is actually a doublepole, double-throw (DPDT) type switch that switches both the lighting coil (an alternating current (AC)
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source), and the headlamp itself (a direct current (DC) source). Use of this method avoided the need for
a voltage regulator, as the generated power was somewhat matched to its load by switching in additional
generation as the headlamp & taillight were turned on. The system worked OK but over the years it
has become harder to find 6V equipment. It is desirable to modify these old bikes electrical system to
generate a full 12V so that contemporary equipment, such as 12V winker relays and halogen lamps may
be installed.

The instructions contained in this article enable a person to modify the old 6V system to 12V. This
particularly involves removing the old alternator stator, de-winding it, and re-winding the stator so that a
full 12V are output from the new stator. Further, some instructions on installing a voltage regulator are
given. The amount of time required in installing
the new winding depends on the individual, but the
author wound his stator in approximately 6 hours
with 2 hours taken up for breaks: about 4 hours
were spent in the actual stator winding.
Removing the old stator
Drain the oil from the engine. Refer to the schematic drawings at right to reference parts. Remove
the left side engine cover (1). Remove the countershaft sprocket cover (2). Disconnect the exit
Remove the left side engine case and countershaft
cable (9) from the rectifier. Remove the exit cable
sprocket cover.
hold-down in the countershaft sprocket housing
(18). Disconnect the neutral switch wire (light-green/red) by depressing its spring retainer. Loosen the
three Phillips head machine screws holding the stator (6) to the engine and then pull the stator free from
the engine. Leave the rotor in the engine: there is no need to remove the rotor in this project.
Note: when you remove the stator, pay careful
attention to its position. When finished with the
rewinding, you will need to put it back in exactly
the same way. Also note the tang on the back side
of the stator at the 3 oclock position. Note how it
indexes into the engine near the cam-chain tensioner.
Removing the old windings
Take a soldering gun and de-solder the connections
The alternators stator and rotator from a Honda
between the stator windings and the 3-wire cable
CB125S2
comprised of the pink, white and yellow wires.
This cable is referred to in this article as the exit
cable. Set the exit cable aside: it will be used later when the re-wound stator is ready to be hooked up
again. Make sure the de-soldered butt splice connections remain attached to the wires of the exit cable:
not the old stator wires. Before you remove the old windings note that the beginning and ending of the
wiring are at the poles at the 12 oclock and 2 oclock positions: you will need to replicate this with the
new windings.
Removing the old windings is surprisingly easy. There is a plastic material cementing the wires in place.
This material behaves similarly to hot glue in that when heated, it softens. Clamp the stator in a vise so
that it is vertical Hold one end of a stator wire with a plier and using a propane torch, heat this covering
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plastic directly with a flame. The plastic material

softens quickly and the wire can be pulled through
it readily. Continue heating and de-winding. As
the first row of windings is pulled free and unwound, most of the plastic material comes off with
the windings. Eventually the windings beneath the
plastic material are exposed and most of these can
simply be unwound. Only occasional use of the
torch is needed for the interior windings. The entire
stator can be unwound in this manner. Unwind the
stator until all windings are removed and the six
stator poles are completely barren of wire. Discard
the old wire: it is not reused in this project. For the
curious, my stator had 52 turns of 17.5 gauge wire
on each pole of the four poles used for lighting coil.
The ignition coil (two poles) each had 190 turns of
22 gauge or 24 gauge wire.

Honda CB125S2

Stator being de-wound.

The above described method of de-winding a stator
should not damage the epoxy coating protecting the
stator core iron. However, it is prudent to take the opportunity of a winding-free stator to re-coat the
surfaces with an additional epoxy coating. You will want to coat the stator poles and also the crossover section of the stators rim between the poles. The cross-over is where the stator wire runs from
one pole to the next pole. Do so at this time and wait for the epoxy to cure reasonably hard: often twelve
hours. While the epoxy is curing, one could work on some of the other tasks, such as installing the voltage regulator, the ignition resistors, and/or the headlamp.

Winding the stator.

The stator winding used in this project is a single, continuous wire that starts at the first pole and then
alternates winding direction every adjacent pole until the wire concludes the final winding on the final
pole. That is, if you start winding the first pole in the clockwise (CW) direction, then the pole next to it
must be wound counter-clockwise (CCW). This pattern runs throughout the entire stator. The reason for
it is that the rotor has six magnets in it, and each magnet alternates its polarity compared to the magnet
next to it: North, South, North, South, North, and South. In order for the voltage induced in each pole in
the stator to be additive, the winding direction in each stator pole must also alternate. It does not matter if you start winding in the clockwise direction or the counter-clockwise direction. The only thing
that matters is that each pole must have its winding direction opposite from the pole adjacent to it: e.g.,
CW, CCW, CW, CCW, CW, and CCW. For each pole, you will attempt to wind twelve turns within each
layer for six layers. In practice, it is hard to achieve twelve turns for each layer; some layers end up with
only eleven turns. Ideally, each pole would have seventy-two turns, but in practice sixty-nine or seventy
turns result for a well-wound pole.
The photo on the next page shows that changing winding direction for each pole causes the wire to
cross-over when proceeding from one pole to the next. When you understand this, the general concept
of the stator winding becomes simple. Another necessary feature is that the number of layers of winding on each pole must be an even number, because the winding wrapping needs to climb up the pole, and
then back down the pole to end in a suitable position to proceed to the next pole. Ergo, the number of
winding layers on each pole in this project totals six (6) layers.
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Note crossover of wire between
poles.

When winding the stator, every

pole must have its winding in the
opposite direction of the two poles
adjacent to it. This means that the
wire crosses-over between poles.

A major goal of good winding practice is to get the

winding wraps as tight and uniform as possible. A
perfectly wound pole will have the highest density and greatest number of wraps possible in the available space. Conversely: a messy winding ultimately means fewer wraps and this translates into weak
alternator output.
The target number of wraps (a synonymous term for wraps is turns) per layer is twelve. Thus, a very
carefully wound pole will have a total number of 72 turns: twelve turns per layer, times six layers equals
72 turns. In practice, you will find that it is very challenging to get a full 72 turns per pole. Even carefully and tightly placed turns sometimes results in only eleven turns per layer. Youll see when you get
into doing the actual winding that sometimes you just cannot get that twelfth turn packed in there before it starts to lift up into the next layer. Not to worry, if you can get a total of 69 to 70 turns per pole,
youll be doing just fine. Youll also notice that the first three or four layers can be wrapped with nearly
machine-like precision, whereas the fifth and sixth layers are hard to keep very orderly: its just the way
it goes. Luckily there is not a seventh and eighth layer: it would turn into a real mess. Also, it is not of
critical importance if one pole has 69 turns and
the next pole has 70 turns. Since all these turns
are monotonously voltage-additive, there is no
great concern for deleterious effects like inducing
circulating currents. The only real penalty is that
reducing the total number of turns in the stator
below what can be considered a practical maximum number of turns simply reduces the stators
output. Again, a poorly wound stator results in a
poorly functioning stator. If you can get 420 turns
total (6 x 70) on your stator, award yourself a job
well done.
Winding station with stator held in vise,
and wire spool held in stand clamped to

Youll want to set up a simple winding station. See

workbench.
the photo at the right. It does not need to be anything fancy. In this example, the stator was held horizontally in a vise that had a couple of wooden slats
with a crudely cut circumference shape to better hold the stator. The winding spool was placed a couple
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feet to the right and was held in place with an available stand that is fixed in place with a C-clamp.
Thats all thats needed.

The wooden stator holders I used were simply some scrap wood of the approximate size for the jaws
in my vise. With the two pieces of wood sitting
on my work bench and spread apart to support
the stator, I placed the stator on top of them with
about inch of wood sticking out below the
stator. Then I inked a line around the stator onto
the wood, and used a jig-saw to cut out some of
the wood to approximate the stators circumference for a couple inches of the wood slats. Next
I glued the wood slats into the vise with some
Household Goop (a wonderfully useful adhesive). The wood slats adequately held the stator
without damaging it. And after the job was done,
the slats pulled right off the vise jaws.
Empty stator held in vise with radiused wood slats.

The only other tools needed are a pair of

closely fitting gloves and a prodder to get problem
windings prodded into correct placement. Being
a golfer I found that golf gloves and a golf tee were nearly ideal for these purposes. I started working
on my winding wearing some work gloves but
quickly found that bulky gloves are a liability.
You want something that does not interfere as you
get into tight spaces. Also, it had been suggested
to me that a wooden Popsicle stick worked well
as a prodder, but I found that a golf tee was really
hard to beat for utility: you can use either end of it
depending on what you are trying to do.
Finally, a very useful technique is to use small nylon cable-ties for holding the wire tightly against
the stator rim when you finish winding one pole
and proceed to start the next pole. You can see
this in the photo to the right. At first I tried using
the bolt holes in the stators rim to hold the wire,
but quickly found that to get the wire really tightly
held against the rim, you want to use the cable-tie
around the rim itself. You can leave these cableties in place until you finish the entire stator, or snip
them off with a side-cutter as you proceed with the
winding. The cable-ties should be removed before
you coat the finished stator with epoxy.

Note small cable-ties holding wire tightly against

rim. Also note that second pole is more neatly
wound than first pole.

The first pole and the last pole to be wound should be the ones at the 12 oclock and 2 oclock positions.
This is near where the exit cable comes into the stator from outside the bike. It does not matter which of
the two poles (12 oclock or 2 oclock) you start with at as long as the second pole you wind is away
from the other pole. That is, if you start at the 12 oclock pole, your second pole must be the 10 oclock
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pole. Conversely, if you start at the 2 oclock pole, your second pole must be the 4 oclock pole. In this
way, you insure that the last pole ends up back where it is needed: the two wire ends of the stator winding need to be in the gap between the 12 oclock and 2 oclock poles.
Position the first pole to be wound in the vise in a comfortable location. In my case, I chose the pole
closest to me as I was looking down at the stator clamped in my vise: i.e. the pole nearest to my stomach.

Start winding the first pole

Take about six inches of excess wire in one hand and simply start winding the wire around the pole
beginning at the base of the pole near the rim. Make sure you have a good six inches of excess wire beyond the first wrap: it would be a disaster to not have enough wire extending out to make the connection
to the exit cable. Hold the wire firmly and get the wire wrapped around the pole as neatly and tightly as
possible. You dont have to go overboard with the wiring tension: youll soon see what works. Tight
is tight and putting an additional 100 lbs of tension on it wont make any difference. Use your golf tee
prodder to nudge any turns that need to get pushed firmly against the winding that preceded it. Make
sure you get 12 turns in on the first layer and then
let the 13th turn lift up on top of the first layer and
then wrap your way back down the pole: the turns
will naturally fit into the tops of the first layer
if you are diligent keeping them pushed tightly
together. Keep winding the pole in this way until
there are six full layers and youre ready to move
onto the second pole.
Continue winding the poles
Take a small cable tie and use it to pull the wire
tightly against the stator rim (see picture at right).
Use a second cable tie on the opposite side of the
bolt hole in the stator rim. Make sure you have
crossed-over so that the winding of the second
pole is in the opposite rotation of the first. If you
Last pole coming into the home-stretch.
wound the first pole clock-wise, you must wind the
second pole counter-clockwise. Just before you begin winding the second pole, shift the position of the
stator in your vise to make winding easier.
Winding the second pole is just like the first, but in the opposite direction. It actually gets to be a bit of
a game to see how good you can get the winding job done. My second pole was better than the first. I
got a really good third pole in, and then the fourth wasnt quite as neat as the third as I lost focus. Thats
when I took a break to let my hands and mind rest. It was dinner time anyway.
It took me roughly 40 minutes to completely wind a pole. All told, including breaks, it took me six
hours to wind my stator. Your winding time will vary but probably not be too greatly different. My
hands were sore the next day from both the exercise and skin compression. One definitely needs to wear
some hand protection, and even then the hands definitely get a workout.
Wind the stator to completion with all six poles wound and a six inch tail left hanging for connecting to
the exit cable. The end job should look like the stator in the photo at right. Note the two wire tails coming out from adjacent poles.
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Coat the windings with epoxy when finished winding

Although it is probably not necessary to coat all the poles and windings with epoxy, youll soon realize
that the final pole you wound has its wire tail hanging out in the breeze. The other wire tail coming
from the initial pole has its wire tail buried in the windings and cannot unwind. As a result, you will
definitely want to coat the final pole with epoxy to fix the windings in place. It most certainly would
not be a good idea to have those windings coming loose during operation. In my case, mixing up even
a small batch (about an ounce?) of epoxy left so much after I coated the necessary final pole that I just
continued on and coated all of them. And then I still had some left over and coated the wire cross-over
points: holding them in place. Probably not the best logic for doing it that way, but there it is.
As before, set the stator aside to allow the epoxy to cure. Continue to work on other tasks. When the
epoxy has cured, the exit wiring cable can be connected to the two stator wire tails.
Connect the stator wires to the exit cable
You have probably already noticed that the old wiring cable had three wires: Pink, Yellow, and White.
The White wire was the output from the old lighting coil. When the headlamp was switched on, the
White wire was switched into the AC system parallel with the Yellow wire. It did not change system
voltage, but added additional current into the rectifier. This White wire is no longer needed and is not
connected with the new system.

Take the wires coming from the stator and trim them down to three inches. Abrade off about inch of
insulation coating the stator wires from their ends: use sandpaper or steel wool to get a clean surface
suitable for soldering. Using the old butt splice solder connections still attached to the exit cable; solder
onto the Yellow and Pink wires the two wires coming from the stator. It does not matter which one is
connected to which. Just do not connect anything to the White wire. Trim the White wire flush with the
rubber cable holder: if you get it really short you probably dont need to insulate it. But painting it with
a splash of insulating paint is still a good idea.
Next, insulate the stator wire connections (the Yellow and Pink wires). I used both shrink tube and insulating paint. No idea if it will hold up long term,
but thats what Ive got on my stator.
The new stator is ready to go back into the bike.
Install the new stator in the engine
Installation is the reverse of removal. Carefully
insert the new stator back into the engine case
paying attention to inserting the tang on the back
right-hand of the stator correctly into the camchain adjusting area. Then fasten it in with its
three fasteners. I replaced the old Phillips head
machine screws with Allen head drives. Fasten the
exit cable in place with the little metal guide and
re-install both the countershaft sprocket cover and
the left-side engine cover. Re-connect the neutralswitch wire. Dont forget to refill the engine with motor oil.

New stator installed in the engine.

Once the new stator is installed in the bike, the remaining tasks focus on getting the new 12V system
wired up correctly and working correctly.
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Install a Voltage Regulator

The new stator generates enough power to require a voltage regulator. If you just hook up the alternator
to a rectifier only, the battery will likely experience short life from overcharging.

Combined rectifiers/voltage regulators are commonly available and I understand that they can be purchased through a number of sources, particularly dirt bike part suppliers. These are single phase rectifiers/regulators and should work just fine as long as they are designed for 12V systems. I had a spare
3-phase rectifier/regulator available from a Honda CM-400, so it is used in this project description.
These are also readily available and can be purchased through ebay.com. Search on CM-400 voltage
regulator. They can vary in price anywhere from $10 to $70: it is entirely market dependent. The CM400 voltage regulator also contains a rectifier, so the parts more correct description is a rectifier/regulator. As such, the existing rectifier can be removed/bypassed. It turns out that bypassing the original
rectifier makes for simple and easy wiring. This is explained in more detail below.
One key point is that a three-phase rectifier/regulator has three wires leading into it (the three Yellow
wires) from its intended three-phase alternator. However, a single-phase AC source can be used as well.
Simply connect the two wires from the single phase alternator to any two of the three wire input: one
wire on the rectifier/regulator is left unconnected. It does not matter which two Yellow wires you connect to.
The output wires from the rectifier/regulator are essentially the same as the old rectifier: the Green wire
connects to frame ground (or battery negative -- same thing), and the Red/White wire connects directly
to the batterys positive pole. There is a third wire, however, coming from the regulators output that
needs to be connected. This is the voltage sensing wire (Black) and in my project I connected it to the
Black wire coming from the ignition switch because it was nearby and made for a simple connection.
For the Black wire I used a splice connector commonly available at auto and/or hardware stores that
carry electrical supplies.
A very nice feature of this wiring scheme is that
the mini-connector that plugs into the old rectifier mini-plug can be re-used. Notice that this
plug contains the four essential wires: Green, Red,
Yellow, and Pink. As mentioned above, the Black
wire coming from the regulator is spliced into the
Black wire exiting the ignition switch. More detail
is provided below, along with photos.
Mounting the voltage regulator
A good place to mount the voltage regulator is
below the headlamp on the lower triple clamp.
Look at the photo to the right to see the CM-400
voltage regulator mounted. It just so happens that
there are two threaded holes in the triple clamp that
are located nearly ideally for mounting the CM400 voltage regulator. The threads are for standard
6mm x 1.0mm bolts (the ubiquitous 10mm wrench
size so common on these bikes). If you dont have
a couple spare bolts sitting around from a previous
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project, they can be purchased anywhere there are metric fasteners for sale. Many hardware stores have
them in bins. I used two bolts with a 10 mm shank length. The threaded hole on the left fork leg already
has a fastener threaded into it from the bottom:
the bracket for holding the brake line. But there is
enough thread in the top of this threaded hole to do
double-duty. As long as you dont use too long of
a bolt, itll thread right in and tighten up.

A pair of brackets must be fabricated to facilitate

the regulators mounting. The brackets pictured
were made from inch aluminum angle stock. A
three foot long section was purchased at Menards:
i.e. it is readily available from most hardware
stores. Each bracket was formed from a 3 inch
long segment and then holes were drilled for the
voltage regulator and lower triple clamp. A boxend was made out of the bottom by cutting a
Back side of voltage regulator. Mounted with 3/4
inch section out of one side of the angle and bendinch aluminum angle.
ing the remaining tab over and soldering the joint.
I used an aluminum solder. Its possible that common solder might wet the aluminum enough to work.
Finally, a radius was put on the protruding lip to reduce the tendency for things to snag on it. Once installed, the voltage regulator looks like it was an original design.
Wiring the Voltage Regulator
General: The regulator is inserted into the bikes normal wiring. This is surprisingly easy to do. I
wanted to be technically correct, so I purchased four feet of Yellow, Pink, Red/White, Green, and Black
multi-strand 16 AWG wire. The connectors used were eight male spade terminals for inserting into the

Voltage regulator wired in with four colored wires and one black wire (not shown). Note flex-conduit behind the
illustrated wires where actual wires are contained.
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existing mini-plug connectors, and one splice connector. Since the location for the new voltage regulator is in the front of the motorcycle, I also used two feet of spiral flexible conduit available at Menards.
This flex conduit was used to house the four wires running from the front of the bike to the batterys
location. The regulator has seven wires coming out of it: grouped into input and output mini-plugs. Six
wires of the seven coming out of the regulator are used in the wiring connection. The connectors used
were primarily male spade terminals. I took the extra precaution, after crimping the connector, of soldering the wire end onto the spade. There are two wiring connector locations: near the voltage regulator,
and in the vicinity of the battery. A four-wire cable can be run from the voltage regulators mini-plugs
to the mini-plug used to hook up the existing rectifier, the old rectifier now being removed. In short,
you make up a four-wire cable with Green, Red/White, Yellow, and Pink wires of the correct length with
male spade terminals at both ends: i.e. eight male spade terminals are used. The Black wire has slightly
different wiring: a male spade terminal at one end, and a splice connector at the other end. If there is
any confusion, look at the wiring diagram at the end of this document.
Regulator Input: The CM-400 voltage regulator is designed for a 3-phase alternator output. However, a single-phase alternator can be hooked up to it. The input wires to the CM-400 voltage regulator
are three yellow wires contained in a single mini-plug. The electrical hookup is simple: connect the
CB125s alternator output wires (Yellow and Pink) to any two of the three yellow wires going into the
voltage regulator. It can be any two of the three. The Yellow and Pink wires leading up from the alternator should have male spade terminals crimped on them.

Regulator Output: The regulators output consists of three wires grouped into a mini-plug connector:
Green, Black, and Red/White. Following normal Honda practice, the Green is the ground wire, the
Red/White is an unswitched hot (leading directly to the battery for charging, i.e. the business end of the
regulator), and the Black is a switched hot that is used as a reference voltage to control the output of the
regulator. Since we are connecting the voltage regulators output to the existing system, the Green and
Red/White wires can be run in the flex conduit to the mini-plug used to hook up the old rectifier near the
battery. The Black wire has a male spade terminal attached at one end and is inserted into the regulators
mini-plug. The Black wires other end is spliced into the Black wire coming out of the ignition switch.
Since the ignition switch is close by to the end of the regulators mini-plugs, the Black wire length is
short: only about six inches.
Ignition Resistors
The original 6V system uses an ignition coil that
has 1.8 Ohm resistance. This limits the current
through the ignition to approximately 3.3 Amp.
Doubling the voltage to 12V would double the
current. Now, this might at first seem like a good
idea: a very hot spark would result. But the downside of it is twofold: the ignition points would
have sharply accelerated wear (probably last only
25% as long as the old system), and the current
drain from the system will be excessive and the
new alternator probably could not supply it along
with an H-4 headlamp (one of the primary goals
of the project). As a result, it is necessary to add
resistance to the ignition circuit to keep the ignition current the same as before. Since the voltage
is being doubled, keeping the ignition current the
Convert 75 CB125S2 to 12V

Page 12

Ignition resistors wired in, but not folded in to fit

within the gas tank enclosure.
Rev. 2 GRN200910

Honda CB125S2

same requires approximately doubling the resistance. In this case nearly ideal resistors can be purchased
from RadioShack. Their part number is: 271-131. Two one ohm resistors come in the package and you
use both of them. The cost is $2.

These two resistors need to be wired into the ignition circuit in series. That is, they need to be connected
end-to-end. If you connect them in parallel, you reduce the effective resistance to half an ohm, which
is definitely not what is needed. I crimped (and then soldered) a male bullet connector onto one end of
a resistor, and a female bullet connector onto the end of the second resistor. Then I joined the two free
ends together with another set of bullet connectors (male/female) and soldered them.
This allows the two series-connected resistors to be inserted into the existing ignition circuit by unplugging the wire leading to the coils primary and inserting the new series-connected resistors. This bullet
connector is located next to the coil itself. One wire leading into the bullet connector is Black/White,
and the wire leaving the bullet connector is Black. Disconnect the bullet connector and insert the resistors and that is almost all that is required. The only other requirements are insulation and physical location. The wires on the resistors are bare: it wont do to leave them electrically un-insulated. You can
insulate them in any of several ways: electrical tape, heat-shrink tube, paint-on insulation. I happened to
have a bottle of liquid electrical tape handy and just painted them. Next, one needs to carefully fold
the wires and new components out of the way so that the gas tank can still fit over the ignition coil area.
The resistors should not be thermally insulated.
The end result is an ignition system that uses the same amount of current as originally. One downside of
this is the unavoidable inefficiency it puts into the system: the heat dissipated by the resistors is simply a
loss, and its right about 20 W. The entire ignition system consumes an egregious 40W. This is a large
amount considering the alternator system might produce all of 120W @ 5000 rpm. It would be nice to
get rid of the ignition points-based system and go to a CDI system, but that will have to wait for another
project. As it is the new system with the additional two ohms of resistance functions well: the bike runs
fine with it as built.
Battery
The old 6V battery can be recycled and a new 12V
battery purchased and installed. The only 12V
battery I was able to find that would fit in the same
space was a 12V gel-cell and this was turned on its
side to allow installation. The battery used was an
Extreme, model XTAX4L-BS gel-cell.
Headlamp
Much of the reason for making the conversion
from 6V to 12V is to access modern lighting equipment. A 12V H-4 lamp 5.75 round fixture was purchased from Candlepower.com (Model H402212).
It was also necessary to order a three-prong socket
from the same supplier. The standard H-4 bulb is
rated at 55W/60W.
The new H-4 fixture almost fit into the old head- Headlamp with H-4 fixture installed. Note the two alumilamp shell. As it turned out, the chrome bezel was num stanchions bolted into the bezels old pivot stanjust a little too small in diameter for the new H-4 chions. Also note the socket wiring arrangement.
Convert 75 CB125S2 to 12V

Page 13

Rev. 2 GRN200910

Honda CB125S2
fixture to slide in properly. It took me nearly an hour of concerted grinding with a dremel and rotary
stone to open the bezel up by approximately 2mm for the new H-4 lamp to fit inside properly.
The next problem overcome was the method of mounting the new fixture into the shell. A simple solution was to use the two lateral movement pivot stanchions for the old headlamp (located at 12 oclock
and 6 oclock) as fixing points. Using the same inch aluminum angle stock as used in mounting the
voltage regulator as a starting point, two short, flat sections of the proper length were cut off. A hole
was drilled in the end of each. This created two small, flat brackets for holding the H-4 fixture in place.
Finally, the entire H-4 fixture was first glued in place with Household Goop, and then the little aluminum
brackets were bolted in place on the pivot stanchions with small machine bolts and nuts. The new H-4
fixture is very solidly mounted in place. The lateral movement adjustment was obviously abandoned
with this mounting.
Next, the new H-4 plug was wired in. I used the supplied crimp connectors, but also soldered the wires
to the connectors for the best possible connection. See photo on previous page for the finished product.
Make sure you locate the green, white and blue wires as follows: the blue wire is for the high beam. If
you look at the prongs coming out of the H-4 bulb, they form a horseshoe pattern with the open end of
the horseshoe on the bottom. The top prong is horizontal and this is the low-beam (White). The leftside vertical prong is the ground (Green). The right-side vertical prong is the high-beam and this is the
Blue wire.
Instrument lights
The old instrument lights (there are five total) are designed for 6V application. The first time the bike
was started up with the 12V system, they did not burn out, but illuminated extremely brightly. While
this may seem like a benefit, the current required to run them is four times the current with a 6V system.
This is an unacceptable current draw on the system. White LED replacement bulbs were purchased
from superbrightleds.com. They are style BA9s-W4. In practice, it has been found that these bulbs
are too bright for instrument lights. They work OK for the gauge illumination lights, but for the neutral,
high-beam, and turn signal lights they are annoyingly bright. Dimmer LED bulbs would be preferred,
but have not been selected at the time of this writing.
Taillight
Originally, the old 6V taillight bulb was replaced with a standard 1157 bulb. The current draw from this
bulb was considered too large and was replaced with an LED replacement bulb from the same source as
above. It is model BA15 12-LED bulb White 1157-W12 2.00 Narrow.
In practice, it has been found that this LED bulb is marginal for illumination on the CB125S2. It closely
matches the standard 1157 incandescent bulb, and the standard bulb should be considered marginal
illumination for current usage. Taillight bulbs with more than twelve LEDs can be purchased, and it
is highly recommended to go this route. The additional current draw for a super LED taillight will
be insignificant in regards to the overall electrical load, and the improved illumination could well be a
life-saver. As with the instrument bulbs above, however, a replacement bulb has not at this time been
selected.
Blinkers
The old 6V turn signal bulbs were replaced with common 1156 incandescent bulbs. Although electrically inefficient, they were considered to be acceptable due to the fact that they are used very little. The
old 6V blinker relay was discarded and a new 12V electronic unit was purchased. The 12V electronic
is superior to conventional thermal units in that it operates off a resonant circuit and does not change
Convert 75 CB125S2 to 12V

Page 14

Rev. 2 GRN200910

Honda CB125S2
blinker pace with system voltage (as in sitting at a stop light while idling). The data on the winker relay
is: Tridon Stant, EL12, Variable Load, Electronic 2 terminal Flasher. The base of the relay has two
spade terminals. One is labeled L (for Load, I assume). The Gray wire gets hooked to the L terminal,
the Black wire to the other terminal. The turn signals now operate as well as any automobile: bright and
metronomically pure in their cadence.
Results
The new 12V system works correctly. With
the electrical system setup as described above,
the system voltage is at 13.0 V at an indicated
1800 rpm with the headlamp switched to lowbeam. System voltage increases to 13.5 V @
~3500 rpm and further increases to 13.9 @
~6000 rpm. With the headlamp switched off,
system voltage is essentially constant at 14.6
V for all engine speeds (i.e., the voltage regulator is working). Turning on the high-beam
raises the 13.0 V benchmark to around 2000
rpm. The turn signals flash at a metronomic
rate: this is due to the electronic winker relay.
All instrument lights function correctly (albeit
too brightly). In conclusion, the motorcycle
is fully functional and the H-4 headlamp can
be used at all times during normal motorcycle
operation without concern regarding discharging the battery.
The voltage regulator performs the important
function of limiting system voltage. Voltage
regulators limit system voltage excursions,
but they do not completely eliminate voltage
variations. Without a voltage regulator in
place, the battery would be forced to perform
voltage regulation; a task it is not designed for.
Without a voltage regulator, system voltage
excursions into the 17V to 20V range could
be expected under either high engine rpm and/
or with the headlamp load switched out. This
would undoubtably lead to a short battery life.

It works! With H-4 headlamp on low-beam, system

voltage achieves 13.0 V at 1800 indicated rpm.

With the new 12V H-4 lamp in place but before installing the LEDs, a voltage check showed the system
voltage to be at 12.3V with the headlamp switched in and the engine running at 2500 rpm. The system
voltage increased to 13.0V at around 4500 rpm according to the stock tachometer on the bike. Although
marginally acceptable, this was a bit high of an engine speed for comfort. As a result, the LEDs were
purchased and installed. Installing the LEDs in place of the standard bulbs resulted in the 13.0 V benchmark being achieved at an 1800 indicated rpm. This was an unexpectedly large drop in engine rpm
required to achieve the 13.0 V benchmark, but it has been verified by repeating the test several times.

Convert 75 CB125S2 to 12V

Page 15

Rev. 2 GRN200910

Honda CB125S2

Reducing the Cost of Installation

The cost of converting from 6V to 12V in this example is fairly high. Originally the thought was that,
for the cost of magnet wire ($25) and a few tidbits the old 75 CB125S2 would get converted to modern
electrics. However, as can be seen with the resulting project, all the ancillary equipment pushed the total
cost up out of the range from cheap to what am I doing?
Several options are possible to reduce the total cost of the project for those who are interested in economically converting one of these old Hondas from 6V to 12V. First consider the essentials: the magnet
wire, ignition resistors, and the battery are unavoidable. One should consider that at an absolute minimum, about $70 will be required just to provide the 12V structure. Adding in lights and $100 is very
likely a practical minimum. The cost of parts used in this project was $245. However there are means
of reducing the cost to below $200. One possible lower cost system is described below.
Consider three of the higher priced cost elements: H-4 lamp fixture, voltage regulator, and LED bulbs.
These are possibly not needed with careful system design. For my own purpose, I undertook the project
with the specific intent of installing a standard H-4 bulb, and this more-or-less forceably directed the
project to a voltage regulator and LED bulbs.

However, if a standard incandescent 35W/35W 5.75 inch sealed beam round lamp is used instead of an
H-4 bulb, the system has the appearance of electrically balancing out without either a voltage regulator
or LED taillight (the instrument lights would still have to be replaced with 12V lamps, and one might as
well put LEDs in: they can be purchased for $2 ea.). One would have to test this system to see if it does
work out as hoped-for. But if it does work, then nearly $100 could be shaved from the total project cost.
Instead of the H-4, voltage regulator, and all the LEDs one would have the cost of a cheap sealed beam
(~$10), a standard 1157 taillight, and a few LED instrument bulbs (~$10). This system would not have
the benefit of a good 55W H-4, but it might be a reasonable compromise. Without a voltage regulator in,
one should pay close attention to having the headlamp switched-on at all times that the motorcycle is in
operation to avoid seriously overcharging the battery.
One could also consider obtaining used parts from salvage yards. In the above example, all parts with
the exception of the voltage regulator were purchased new. As a result, it may be possible to convert the
old 6V system to 12V in the $100 to $200 range.

Convert 75 CB125S2 to 12V

Page 16

Rev. 2 GRN200910

Convert 75 CB125S2 to 12V

Page 17

FREE

PUSH

ON

IG

BAT2 MG

STARTER SWITCH

OFF

BAT

IGNITION SWITCH

SWITCH CONTINUITY

Gr

HL1

SPEEDOMETER

G Br

O Lb

OFF

RUN

OFF

KB KW

ENGINE STOP SWITCH

B G

Hi

Lo

Lb Gr O
HO

Lg

Bk

L H HL R WL L E

W B

B/W

B/W

Br

HL

PUSH

FREE

HO

HORN SWITCH
E

Y Y/W

WL

TURN SIGNAL SWITCH

HEADLIGHT DIMMER TURN SIGNAL HORN SWITCH

Bk

DIMMER SWITCH

Lg/R

NEUTRAL INDICATOR 6V1cp(1.7W)

TURN SIGNAL INDICATOR 6V1cp(1.7W)

METER ILLUMINATINGLIGHT 6V1cp(1.7W)

HIGH BEAM INDICATOR 6V1cp(1.7W)

LEFT FRONT TURN SIGNAL 6V21cp(18W)

HEADLIGHT 6V35/25W

G Br

METER ILLUMINATINGLIGHT 6V1cp(1.7W)

TACHOMETER

Gr

RIGHT FRONT TURN SIGNAL 6V21cp(18W)

OFF

ON

HEADLIGHT CONTROL SWITCH

Lg/R

O-tube

LB-tube

Bk

KB

G/Y

D C HORN

Bk/W

KW

ENGINE STOP SWITCH

Lg

Lg

O
Gr
O

Gr
Lb
Lb
Gr

Y/W

Br
Br

Bk
Bk
Bk

G
G

FRONT STOP SWITCH

Lg

Lg/R

Gr

Lb

Br

Bk/W

Bk

Bk

Bk Tube

SPARK PLUG

Bk/W

G/Y

Bk

Bk

CONTACT
BREAKER

CONDENSER

IGNITION COIL

BAT

IG

IGNITION SWITCH

G/Y

G/Y

WIRE HARNESS
6P COUPLER

Bk

Bk

REAR STOP SWITCH

ALTERNATOR

Y W P

Y W P Lg/R

Gr

Lg/R

Bk

Bk

WIRE HARNESS
4P COUPLER

R-tube

R/W

NEUTRAL SWITCH

BATTERY
6V6AH

FUSE 15A

Lb

Br

G/Y

WINKER RELAY

R/W

Y G P R/W

SILICON RECTIFIER

Gr

Gr

Gr

Gr

Br

G/Y

BLUE

Gr

Lg

Lb

Br

GRAY

PINK

LIGHT GREEN

LIGHT BLUE

ORANGE

BROWN

LEFT REAR TURN SIGNAL 6V21cp(18W)

Gr

Gr

TAIL & STOP LIGHT

6V3/32cp(5.3/25W)

GRN Rev 0 Jun 09

WHITE

RED

GREEN

YELLOW

BLACK

Bk

O-tube

LB-tube

Br

G/Y

G-tube

Gr

RIGHT REAR TURN SIGNAL 6V21cp(18W)

Honda CB125S2

Rev. 2 GRN200910

Convert 75 CB125S2 to 12V

Page 18

FREE

PUSH

ON

IG

BAT2 MG

STARTER SWITCH

OFF

BAT

IGNITION SWITCH

SWITCH CONTINUITY

Gr

HL1

LEFT FRONT TURN SIGNAL 12V 1156

HEADLIGHT 12V H-4 55W/60W

G Br

METER ILLUMINATINGLIGHT LED

TACHOMETER

Gr

SPEEDOMETER

G Br

O Lb

OFF

RUN

OFF

KB KW

ENGINE STOP SWITCH

B G

Hi

Lo

Lb Gr O
HO

Lg

Bk

L H HL R WL L E

W B

B/W

B/W

Br

HL

PUSH

FREE

HO

HORN SWITCH
E

Y Y/W

WL

TURN SIGNAL SWITCH

HEADLIGHT DIMMER TURN SIGNAL HORN SWITCH

Bk

DIMMER SWITCH

Lg/R

NEUTRAL INDICATOR LED)

TURN SIGNAL INDICATOR LED

METER ILLUMINATINGLIGHT LED

HIGH BEAM INDICATOR LED

RIGHT FRONT TURN SIGNAL12V 1156

OFF

ON

HEADLIGHT CONTROL SWITCH

Lg/R

O-tube

LB-tube

Bk

KB

G/Y

D C HORN

Bk/W

KW

ENGINE STOP SWITCH

Lg

Lg

O
Gr
O

Gr
Lb
Lb
Gr

Y/W

Br
Br

Bk
Bk
Bk

G
G

FRONT STOP SWITCH

Lg

Lg/R

Gr

Lb

Br

Bk/W

Bk

SPARK PLUG

Bk

Bk/W

G/Y

Bk

Bk

CONTACT
BREAKER

CONDENSER

IGNITION COIL

OneOhm Resistors 10W

BAT

IG

IGNITION SWITCH

G/Y

G/Y

WIRE HARNESS
6P COUPLER

Bk

Bk

REAR STOP SWITCH

ALTERNATOR

Y W P

Y W P Lg/R

Gr

Lg/R

Bk

Bk

WIRE HARNESS
4P COUPLER

G R/W

R-tube

Bk

NEUTRAL SWITCH

BATTERY
12V6AH

FUSE 15A

Lb

Br

G/Y

WINKER RELAY
12V Electronic

R/W

Y P G R/W

REGULATOR
/ RECTIFIER

Gr

Gr

Gr

Gr

Br

G/Y

LEFT REAR TURN SIGNAL 12V 1156

Gr

Gr

TAIL & STOP LIGHT

12V LED 1157

BLUE

Gr

Lg

Lb

Br

GRAY

PINK

LIGHT GREEN

LIGHT BLUE

ORANGE

BROWN

GRN Rev 0 Jun 09

WHITE

RED

GREEN

YELLOW

BLACK

Bk

Note: Rectifier/Regulator is
from a Honda CM-400

O-tube

LB-tube

Br

G/Y

G-tube

Gr

RIGHT REAR TURN SIGNAL 12V 1156

Honda CB125S2

Rev. 2 GRN200910