Topic: condensers ?

[smpls70]

2/3 are not werking on my 72' 750 , was thinking it was the condensers , so I swapped them out with new ones and new plugs , still no go ?
Been a long time since I have been on here , the search function does not seam to be werking as well
Wanted to look fer away to do a bench test , whatch got ??

[flybox1]

Points and condensers either control1&4 or 2&3.  If 3&4 are not working, i wouldnt be looking at ignition.
when wa the last time you did a full tuneup?

[smpls70]

2/3 , fixed/ edited that , my bad 

[flybox1]

Ok then....check points gap, plug cap resistance, hold plug against head to see if youre getting spark.....carbs clean? 

[smpls70]

went through carbs , reset the points ( 1/4 are pitted way more then 2/3 ) , ill try the plug on the engine block test to see if there is spark !?
But , I still would like to know if there is a way to " bench test " the condensers , I have a few of them laying around ?

[Deltarider]

You could look for possible arcing at the points. At the breakerpoints a tiny bit of sparking is normal, excessive sparking is not good and indicates a bad condenser. See

Left condensor (1+4) is bad, right condensor (2+3) is good.
Another thing to be aware of is that the spadeconnectors at the back of the breakerpoints are not intermittently (because of vibrations) grounding. When installing make sure these spade connectors do not touch the baseplate (especially 2+3 can touch easily!).

[strynboen]

some multimeters can do kondensators..they must be araund 0,22 mikrofarad( MF)

[Stev-o]

some multimeters can do kondensators..they must be araund 0,22 mikrofarad( MF)

I've read no way to test condensers.  Can you post a pic of your meter?

[RAFster122s]

Take your condensors into a electronics supply house, if you have one, and they may have a bench model/display model of a multimeter or capacitance meter to give yours a test. You will have to ask very nicely. That way you can toss those that are bad and keep the good ones.
A good multimeter you take care of is a worthy investment, because when you need it...it is an excellent tool for car, bike, house wiring, etc.  There are YouTube vids of how to use them to test things in the circuit and out of the circuit so you learn to use them properly.  Also, be safe when taking measurements of high voltage AC as it does not take much to kill you in the wrong conditions.  Keep your fingers off the meter contacts as they can change the reading if you have your mitts on the probes when taking a reading.  A set of small alligator clips soldered to a wire with a brass tube with a slit down the side that is a friction fit on the probes works well to have hands free on at least one probe. Or buy a set of probes with the spring loaded ends that have a little wire clamp.
This works when you can hook the probe onto what you are measuring... sometimes you cannot.

[Kevin D]

I had to put my CB away last fall after finding a suspected bad condenser. I put an old one in its place and the bike ran better, but I haven't been able to give it a significant test ride, like a 100 miler. I have new ones on hand to install at the spring once-over.

The giveaway was the excessive sparking on the 2-3 point, and the odd thing is that the bad condenser tested ok with the Fluke 87 meter. Also odd is that the condenser isn't too old and was on the $100 Tek Genuine Honda points plate. I put a 500vdc megger on it and it didn't break down. Only thing I haven't done is warm it up in the oven and test it. But the big blue spark on 2-3 point is gone and my last ride in November with the replacement was a good 20 miles.

I have never had one go bad before but I won't be leaving home without spares.

Genuine part $24-$32.   Aftermarket $4-$7     30250-300-005

[RAFster122s]

The Daichi condensers many have found are junk. So, even the made in Japan stuff from that vendor I don't trust. I had a set of Daichi I had bought before I ran across the thread. I dumped them back on ebay at a loss and bought a good pair of Tec points and found some new condensers.

[ekpent]

 Doesn't Hondaman's ignition pretty much eliminate condensers ?   I sold a 1975 750F to a friend once and it would fall on its face over 4,000 rpm. Told my friend the carbs were squeaky clean but he fiddled with them, then put in a 42 slow and different main etc. He finally reported back that when he swapped out the old condensers all was golden with original carb setting. End of boring story------ 

[Deltarider]

End of boring story

Thanks for posting. Always check and doublecheck ignition (all aspects) first. Unless your bike has been inactive for a long period of time, a carb problem is not very likely.

[strynboen]

some multimeters can do kondensators..they must be araund 0,22 mikrofarad( MF)

I've read no way to test condensers.  Can you post a pic of your meter?

i have used a thepy one at Work for 8 years..they all are presise..so no need to bay a fluke or any expensive for condensator testing..often the ohm scale is not so presise on low cost meters...so for prof use ve use expensive meters for test of vindings and magenet coils..and stuff like that..

the killer of meteres is if yoù take a amps messuring..and then take a heigh volt messuring...and forget to thange the probes from the amp setting to volt set....them you blow it up the build inn amp shunt vill short aut..

[PeWe]

Doesn't Hondaman's ignition pretty much eliminate condensers ?   I sold a 1975 750F to a friend once and it would fall on its face over 4,000 rpm. Told my friend the carbs were squeaky clean but he fiddled with them, then put in a 42 slow and different main etc. He finally reported back that when he swapped out the old condensers all was golden with original carb setting. End of boring story------ 

I have ran the Hondaman ignition without condensers (capacitors). Worked fine.
I have puth them back in now since Hondaman wrote that the condensers will make good. Something about avoiding a double spark, bouncing, jitter or similar.
I had a transparent ign cover back in the 80's so I saw direct when the capacitors went bad by the arcs. Really short life....I do not know if it was the Daichii stuff I used....Now with Hondaman ign module no arcing anyway

[smpls70]

Got some time to look at this thing , pulled the plugs and put em to the headers and no spark ? Gotta be a loose wire somewhere ?Hoping not bad coils ?

[smpls70]

also tried static timing with a test light  , lights up for 1,4 not 2,3

[smpls70]

Fixed it


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[Keith]

Leaving your ignition switch in the "on" position will fry your condensers.

[Stev-o]

Fixed it

Whay was it??

[smpls70]

Fixed it

Whay was it??

When I swapped out the condenser I had the wires wrong , who would have thought that they needed to go back exactly in the same spot

[Duke McDukiedook]

some multimeters can do kondensators..they must be araund 0,22 mikrofarad( MF)

The only problem with multimeter testing of caps is they will only give you a value at a very low voltage. It would not give you ESR values or insulation resistance at real voltage values. You would need something like a later model Sprague Tel-o-mike or a Sencore LC 53 or later model cap checker to test a cap at real operating voltages.