Topic: Anyone have experience with those $35-$40 electronic ignitions I see on eBay?

[PeWe]

I ordered 2 of these.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155231948547?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=5tYHHEJBQ9C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=XgCEg0CPSya&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Have not tested yet. Looks like my Dyna-S I use with Dyna 5ohm coils (black).
There is a thread about these. The Dyna 5 ohm coil knock offs too. Have not tested those either. Bike project goes slow.

Charging OK on both my CB750. I have a voltmeter installed between gauges so I see how it works and not while riding.
Many test rides and adjustments of 3  regulators to keep charging above 14V, not over 14.5 V which can happen.

 I got sudden wild charging over 16V when core gap was over 0.9mm.
I have tested 3 regulators. 0.8-0.85mm  core gap.
Too tight, low charge or almost nothing.
Over 0.85mm risk to cook battery and electronic ignition at risk.
1.5-2 hours ride needed. I have seen charging go wrong after +1 hour on country roads.

Honda manual say 0.6-1.0mm.

[willbird]

I ordered 2 of these.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155231948547?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=5tYHHEJBQ9C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=XgCEg0CPSya&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Have not tested yet. Looks like my Dyna-S I use with Dyna 5ohm coils (black).
There is a thread about these. The Dyna 5 ohm coil knock offs too. Have not tested those either. Bike project goes slow.

Charging OK on both my CB750. I have a voltmeter installed between gauges so I see how it works and not while riding.
Many test rides and adjustments of 3  regulators to keep charging above 14V, not over 14.5 V which can happen.

 I got sudden wild charging over 16V when core gap was over 0.9mm.
I have tested 3 regulators. 0.8-0.85mm  core gap.
Too tight, low charge or almost nothing.
Over 0.85mm risk to cook battery and electronic ignition at risk.
1.5-2 hours ride needed. I have seen charging go wrong after +1 hour on country roads.

Honda manual say 0.6-1.0mm.

Thinking about a really simple unobtrusive voltage monitor that would not detract in any way from the stock appearance that some are striving for. Braoin storming is good but one idea that popped up quickly was a way to hack the high beam indicator bulb to be multi function. Again quick brain storm but maybe it could slow blink for low voltage, fast blink for high. And make this happen even if you were riding on high beam :-). The wiring to do that with a simple microprocessor could easily hide inside the headlight shell :-).

Bill

[madmtnmotors]

I have some small, single bulb RGB leds that come with a bezel that change color based on voltage. I'll see if I can find some info on them.

[PeWe]

I started with a LED that change color if charge too high of low. Green when ok.
Slow flashing green when ignition is off. It sit behind the voltmeter, not visible on the photo.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/200826330214?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Z99PTdcuRNm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=XgCEg0CPSya&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Both my bikes have this.
But for best supervision when finding the best adjustment a voltmeter was needed. I measure voltage over the coils. I verify with a multimeter measure over battery in the garage up to 4000rpm. It can differ a little depending on connectors.
0.1-0.3V,  good to know.

That can be used when finding the perfect setting. Not reading 14.5V when revving 4000rpm and more in the garage. It does not matter if battery is just fully charged. It will increase a little during the ride.

Something like this between speedo and tacho
https://www.ebay.com/itm/195364346616?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=hakcor4nqm6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=XgCEg0CPSya&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I rounded off the corners with a file.


Edit:
My K6 has the LED visible just a little. It sitt rather loose, I can pull it up higher.
Orange when low, green in ok area which can be seen. The tip of led just over the voltmeter to the left.

[grcamna2]

That's a nice voltmeter;should come 'standard' on every bike.

[willbird]

Yes that looks pretty good :-).

Bill

[PeWe]

Very useful.
Easy to look at it a little bit too much when in the charge adjusting-validation mode

[That70sGuy]

Thanks. I’m going to give it a try and post the results after I run it for a while.

[grcamna2]

I have some small, single bulb RGB leds that come with a bezel that change color based on voltage. I'll see if I can find some info on them.

I'd like to know about it.

[HondaMan]

I ordered 2 of these.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155231948547?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=5tYHHEJBQ9C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=XgCEg0CPSya&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Have not tested yet. Looks like my Dyna-S I use with Dyna 5ohm coils (black).
There is a thread about these. The Dyna 5 ohm coil knock offs too. Have not tested those either. Bike project goes slow.

Charging OK on both my CB750. I have a voltmeter installed between gauges so I see how it works and not while riding.
Many test rides and adjustments of 3  regulators to keep charging above 14V, not over 14.5 V which can happen.

 I got sudden wild charging over 16V when core gap was over 0.9mm.
I have tested 3 regulators. 0.8-0.85mm  core gap.
Too tight, low charge or almost nothing.
Over 0.85mm risk to cook battery and electronic ignition at risk.
1.5-2 hours ride needed. I have seen charging go wrong after +1 hour on country roads.

Honda manual say 0.6-1.0mm.

Per: by chance, do you have an oscilloscope? It would be interesting to find out what the spark duration time is with those electronic units (at 3500+ RPM, in particular).
Honda's "gap range" for their regulator has long been a mystery to me: I suppose it reflects the different vendors they used for those parts from time to time?
I have gathered up 4 regulators and built a variable-voltage 3.1v-35v DC power supply (for other reasons) and will soon try to discover a more accurate adjustment gap for those regulators - if possible? The trial-and-error approach has long made them a little difficult to restore for 100% battery charge, 50 years later, with voltage outputs that more closely match things like the modern AGM battery. These batteries can last a decade or more if their charge level is kept within a certain range (which I'm trying to ascertain now), even sitting on the shelf somewhere with acid aboard. 'Tis a far cry from the old lead-acid plate battery of the 1970s!

...you sure have pretty instruments!

[PeWe]

Mark, I had an oscilloscope I got from my job when they reduced the number due to no longer needed.
A Philips 2 channel, think it was a 50MHz version. Maybe PM3215. Really easy to use.

I have not seen it the last decade. Might have thrown it during a clean up.
I know, you should never throw away tech stuff!!

I used it late 80's, early 90's when I had issues with a TV I made to work better. My colleague back then was a trained TV repair guy on that very model of Philips TV so he had the service manual

[Don R]

 A friend recently got an oscilloscope so time the pulses of his Dragster's electronic fuel injectors. He learned they were maxed out and added two more ahead of the turbocharger in addition to the eight in the ports to get enough fuel into the motor at max boost.

[willbird]

I ordered 2 of these.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/155231948547?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=5tYHHEJBQ9C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=XgCEg0CPSya&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Have not tested yet. Looks like my Dyna-S I use with Dyna 5ohm coils (black).
There is a thread about these. The Dyna 5 ohm coil knock offs too. Have not tested those either. Bike project goes slow.

Charging OK on both my CB750. I have a voltmeter installed between gauges so I see how it works and not while riding.
Many test rides and adjustments of 3  regulators to keep charging above 14V, not over 14.5 V which can happen.

 I got sudden wild charging over 16V when core gap was over 0.9mm.
I have tested 3 regulators. 0.8-0.85mm  core gap.
Too tight, low charge or almost nothing.
Over 0.85mm risk to cook battery and electronic ignition at risk.
1.5-2 hours ride needed. I have seen charging go wrong after +1 hour on country roads.

Honda manual say 0.6-1.0mm.

Per: by chance, do you have an oscilloscope? It would be interesting to find out what the spark duration time is with those electronic units (at 3500+ RPM, in particular).
Honda's "gap range" for their regulator has long been a mystery to me: I suppose it reflects the different vendors they used for those parts from time to time?
I have gathered up 4 regulators and built a variable-voltage 3.1v-35v DC power supply (for other reasons) and will soon try to discover a more accurate adjustment gap for those regulators - if possible? The trial-and-error approach has long made them a little difficult to restore for 100% battery charge, 50 years later, with voltage outputs that more closely match things like the modern AGM battery. These batteries can last a decade or more if their charge level is kept within a certain range (which I'm trying to ascertain now), even sitting on the shelf somewhere with acid aboard. 'Tis a far cry from the old lead-acid plate battery of the 1970s!

...you sure have pretty instruments!

I never really have had to adj any regulators but did read the Motors and other manual instructions many times. They all said that what the regulator did changes when you put the steel enclosure back onto it ?? So they said to adjust it, and then sit the lid back on and see what you got with the lid on vs with the lid off ??

Bill