Topic: Hondaman Ignition

[jeanhank]

Hondaman,

Do you have another round of your ignitions ready for sale?  Any modifications you've made since the first batch besides 3 ohm coil compatibility?  Thanks!

[OldSchool_IsCool]

+1

[Terry in Australia]

Hondaman is continually improving the original design, I've got two new ones in a box fitted with a toggle switch to switch between "points only", "ignition off" (anti theft) and "ignition amplifier on", and soon he's gonna have a new one with a built in blue LED timing light! I wanty!

[Roach Carver]

i would like to request one with either a small strobe light or a mini disco ball hanging off of it in case i am out riding and i want to dance.

[MRieck]

You guy's and your love of points....... Not goofing.....just.....I can't figure it out? You want points on your car too? You want want tube tires back too?....and spokes. ....and crappy chains... and drum brakes. I'm throughly confused dudes. I'm sure I can invent the best buggy whip too ( as I have 3 heirloom whips from N Zealand (S Davis). I don't know...I read these threads and scratch me head. There are DIGITAL ignitions available!

[amemoryoncelost]

 I've been wondering the same thing as well. I'll be rebuilding my 400f this winter(hopefully, as I may be rebuilding my chevy S10 and that comes first unfortunately.) Anyways, I was reading about these and to me, the dyna makes perfect sense.

 Is there any reason I should go this route rather than the dyna? I'm not looking for performance. I want a reliable 400f that will take me on long rides throughout washington next summer... Cheesy huh. So I can skip out on the disco ball, but the whip sounds nice..??

[MRieck]

I've been wondering the same thing as well. I'll be rebuilding my 400f this winter(hopefully, as I may be rebuilding my chevy S10 and that comes first unfortunately.) Anyways, I was reading about these and to me, the dyna makes perfect sense.

 Is there any reason I should go this route rather than the dyna? I'm not looking for performance. I want a reliable 400f that will take me on long rides throughout washington next summer... Cheesy huh. So I can skip out on the disco ball, but the whip sounds nice..??

The first man made tool to break the sound barrier. I have 2,12 foot 16 plaits and an 8 foot 10 plait. They are not toys.

[MRieck]

I've been wondering the same thing as well. I'll be rebuilding my 400f this winter(hopefully, as I may be rebuilding my chevy S10 and that comes first unfortunately.) Anyways, I was reading about these and to me, the dyna makes perfect sense.

 Is there any reason I should go this route rather than the dyna? I'm not looking for performance. I want a reliable 400f that will take me on long rides throughout washington next summer... Cheesy huh. So I can skip out on the disco ball, but the whip sounds nice..??

I sent a Dyna 2000 to ttr400( it was for a 750K) in S Africa to use on his racer. He said it worked perfect. I sent him a lot of pics with measurments etc. I believe he appreciated my effort all around and would do any favor for me.

[OldSchool_IsCool]

SHHHHHH! don't say DIGITAL!!  You want Bill Gates to acquire Dyna and load Vista on the damn things??

For me, it's a lot a matter of self sufficiency.  If I have points go sour on me while I'm on the road, I stand a good chance of fixing them with not much more then a screw driver and the striker strip off a book of matches.  The Hondaman Module holds the promise of 3 or 4 shots at getting home.

Sure, Dynas have a GREAT track record for reliability, but they are too expensive to carry a spare under the seat.  So when one does fail, you go from bad azz biker to pedestrian with a funny hat pretty quickly.

[GammaFlat]

You guy's and your love of points....... Not goofing.....just.....I can't figure it out? You want points on your car too? You want want tube tires back too?....and spokes. ....and crappy chains... and drum brakes. I'm throughly confused dudes. I'm sure I can invent the best buggy whip too ( as I have 3 heirloom whips from N Zealand (S Davis). I don't know...I read these threads and scratch me head. There are DIGITAL ignitions available!

Some like straight ahead and some like twisties.... some like both.  Some like points (TwoTired) and some like solid state (MRieck)....  some like the hybrid solution  

[mattcb350f]

You guy's and your love of points....... Not goofing.....just.....I can't figure it out? You want points on your car too? You want want tube tires back too?....and spokes. ....and crappy chains... and drum brakes. I'm throughly confused dudes. I'm sure I can invent the best buggy whip too ( as I have 3 heirloom whips from N Zealand (S Davis). I don't know...I read these threads and scratch me head. There are DIGITAL ignitions available!

They've also build wonderful fast new bikes with fancy bodywork and engines that are way over one hundred horsepower....stock.. why piss around with old bikes at all.

 wait a minute... thats what this forum is all about, old bikes...

Go digital if you want, but I say it's cheating  Points are part of the fun of these old bikes and I bet thats why most people still run them

[754]

Some of us want to be on an old bike..

 cuz we like it...

 MReick, you sure you dont have a new motor under that CB valvecover??

There is no end to things we COULD GET that are BETTER... but that does not mean we cant live without them... some folks will NEVER be happy...


 No electronic ignition will ever look better to me than a magneto on a bike... jmo..

 There is some things we just dont need on our old bikes.. like more plastic!


 All that aside I suppose I might try one someday, but I wont buy one before I try the mag I have sitting here, already paid for..

[mattcb350f]

You guy's and your love of points....... Not goofing.....just.....I can't figure it out? You want points on your car too? You want want tube tires back too?....and spokes. ....and crappy chains... and drum brakes. I'm throughly confused dudes. I'm sure I can invent the best buggy whip too ( as I have 3 heirloom whips from N Zealand (S Davis). I don't know...I read these threads and scratch me head. There are DIGITAL ignitions available!

They've also build wonderful fast new bikes with fancy bodywork and engines that are way over one hundred horsepower....stock.. why piss around with old bikes at all.

 wait a minute... thats what this forum is all about, old bikes...

Go digital if you want, but I say it's cheating  Points are part of the fun of these old bikes and I bet thats why most people still run them

I was a bit harsh, I get the "point" you're making Mike, I aggree 100% that pound for pound digital is way better than points. It boggles my mind how points still function at all at 10,000 rpm.
Just sayin' is all....

 Matt.

[MoTo-BunnY]

SHHHHHH! don't say DIGITAL!!  You want Bill Gates to acquire Dyna and load Vista on the damn things??

For me, it's a lot a matter of self sufficiency.  If I have points go sour on me while I'm on the road, I stand a good chance of fixing them with not much more then a screw driver and the striker strip off a book of matches.  The Hondaman Module holds the promise of 3 or 4 shots at getting home.

Sure, Dynas have a GREAT track record for reliability, but they are too expensive to carry a spare under the seat.  So when one does fail, you go from bad azz biker to pedestrian with a funny hat pretty quickly.

Ditto here. Being a chica on a motorcycle totally stranded in the middle of nowhere would kinda suck AND be potentially dangerous with some of the psychos that are out there. It already happened once when my main fuse suddenly blew. However, due to my on-board toolkit with flashlight and spare fuses, I got rolling again within minutes. (and the only 'psycho' to show up was Mr Blasty. .. .  lol)

Dynas I am sure rock but I like the idea of being able to switch back to points, if needed.

I am going to try to get HondaMan to put LED lights and a makeup mirror on mine! 

[USN20]

Archaic as they may be compared to modern ignition systems ... Points get the job done and plenty of folks are comfortable with using them, myself included. 

Reminds me of this story:

Astronauts in the Apollo program did begin using a specially-designed zero-gravity pen in 1968 called the Fisher AG-7 Space Pen. Nitrogen-pressurized, the pen worked in "freezing cold, desert heat, underwater and upside down," as well as the weightlessness of outer space. It was developed not by NASA but by an enterprising individual, Paul Fisher, owner of the Fisher Space Pen Company. By his own account, Fisher spent "thousands of hours and millions of dollars" of his own in research and development.

The Russians used a pencil.



Space pens: http://www.spacepen.com/Public/Products/AstronautPen/

[HondaMan]

Hondaman,

Do you have another round of your ignitions ready for sale?  Any modifications you've made since the first batch besides 3 ohm coil compatibility?  Thanks!

I sure do, Jeanhawk: both normal and Dyna-capable ones.
Drop me a PM at my house e-mail:  mgparis@concentric.net  for details. They have the 5-year warranty, and beat the tar out of Dyna's price! 

I've recently discovered several things about the various ignition types, and will be making a collective post about it, soon. As it turns out, the Dyna S and Dyna III ignitions use considerably more power than the stock points-and-coils, even more if the 3 ohm Dyna coils are used: bad news for the 500/550/400F/350F riders who are a little sort on amps to begin with. The lowest power consumption is stock points, next lowest is my box, with the points (.24 amps more than points alone), and both of these give the best coil voltages with stock coils. The Dyna S lowers the spark voltage more than I knew: it was a surprise to find out how much (watch for that post!).

BTW: does anyone have a 5-ohm Dyna coil that I could borrow for a while? That's the only item I don't have for this comprehensive test program. I'm curious if those could help out our "middle bike" SOHC-ers.

[754]

my bike is a pencil..

[HondaMan]

It boggles my mind how points still function at all at 10,000 rpm.

I roadraced them at 14,000 RPM for years. Even built some 16,000 RPM CB750K engines for 1/4 midget racers, running on points!

Don't forget: your typical 6500 RPM V-8 engines (like my 1967 Ford FE 390 HP) ran the points at an equivalent (6500 x 2)=13000 bike RPM, all day, every day, by the millions, for many years (even still!). And they often lasted 20,000 miles doing it.

[Terry in Australia]

Damn! Now I want one of those fancy astronaut pens!

My Hondaman "test" ignition has now clocked up 180 trouble-free miles, and it feels really good, the thing I like about it over a Dyna ignition is that the Dyna won't work with less than 12 volts and a healthy battery, but Hondaman's will work with a lot less juice than that, so once again, if you don't have "perfect world" conditions, and you're miles from home with a knackered alternator and battery power only, you'll get a lot closer to home with this system. Horses for courses, I guess? Cheers, Terry.

[kpier883]

Hondaman,

I already have the Dyna S.  Can one use the Dyna S pickups but use your ignition?  Particularly since you stated that the dyna draws more power?  If so, what are the results?  That is, will I still have a good system with that combination.  I can't see up close worth a crap anymore so not adjusting points is a good thing.

[Terry in Australia]

Hondaman,

 I can't see up close worth a crap anymore so not adjusting points is a good thing.

Here ya go mate, this will save you some loot: 

http://zennioptical.com/cart/home.php

[MoTo-BunnY]

Hondaman,

 I can't see up close worth a crap anymore so not adjusting points is a good thing.

Here ya go mate, this will save you some loot: 

http://zennioptical.com/cart/home.php

LOL.  . .. you're not playing. . I have used Zenni optical to get glasses now several times at like 1/10 the price of the local optometrists!   top notch all around - get some glasses and adjust those points   

[HondaMan]

Hondaman,

I already have the Dyna S.  Can one use the Dyna S pickups but use your ignition?  Particularly since you stated that the dyna draws more power?  If so, what are the results?  That is, will I still have a good system with that combination.  I can't see up close worth a crap anymore so not adjusting points is a good thing.

Me, too, on the "eyes don't have it" part: I now have 4 pairs of different glasses!

Well, uh....even if it does work OK, but it won't really give you the "backup" option of switching back to points if you managed to somehow kill my little box. The voltage that goes from this box to the points is approximately 1/2 battery voltage, so I'm not 100% sure if the Dyna S will still "fire" under those conditions (see Terry's comment above). Those systems are biased "on" all the time, until the magnet swings by, which turns that pickup "off" for a short time to fire the coil(s). I don't know if 6 or 7 volts will be enough for them to fully turn "on".    I know my old Dyna S trigger quits working at 8 or 9 volts, but it's been more than abused...    ..so, I can't use that one for comparison.

Using stock Honda coils, the Dyna S uses about 1.85 times the normal coil currents (averaged over a whole engine cycle) of normal points-coils setups. In the case of the SOHC4 bikes, this is about 1.8 amps extra "lost" power (at 12 volts) when using the Dyna S. The Dyna III is a little better, at about 1.6 times the normal current-over-time (about 1.45 amps extra) because it stretches the coil "off" time a little. My unit uses a flat 0.24 amps extra current over points at 14 volts, about 0.11 amps extra at 6 volts, so it will still start a bike with low battery (kinda like a Ford system, my heroes...). This will allow those with 500/550/400/350F systems to have electronic ignition with halogen headlights and not suffer low battery syndrome all the time. The 750 has a stronger alternator, not quite so prone to these issues.

My personal test unit has around 6,000 miles on it, and Hcritz ran another tester for about 2,000 miles in Mississippi heat this year for me, no troubles. I've got some that have run for months on end (test bench) with no issues. Terry's running one for me "down under" this season (just in case electrons spin the other way, like toilets, down under.).   

[jeanhank]

email sent...

there's many of us who have stock motors and don't ever spin up to 10,000rpm!   if you have a hot motor, of course you can feel free to spend as much money as you want for a dyna or boyer bransden.  but remember the dyna s does not send any extra juice to the coils, and they get less dwell at high rpms too... if you want to spend, might as well get top of the line, and low resistance coils, but that would be $$quadruple$$ hondaman's ignition.  could it really be 4x better?... on a stock bike?... you have to admit that hondaman's homemade invention has a lot more soul than anything you can buy off of old bike barn dot com!

[CB750F2]

Jeanhank, thanks for bringing this thread to life again. Hondaman I am also keen to purchase one of your units. What documantation do you supply? Do you provide a circuit diagram of the unit? What do they cost? How do I order and pay you? I will be using the unit with either stock 750 coils or coils from a 1975 GL1000.
I have had some experience with electronic ignitions. Back in the late 60s early 70s I built a number of CDI units. They ran quite well but reliability was not as good as the kettering system so they weren't for everybody. Pat from Australia.