When i first looked at all this it was like rocket science to me and now i cant believe how simple these spark units really are.
To understand it you first need to understand how this ignition system works, IL try to make this simple.
It works just like the old points ignition, except the points are replaced by pulsar generators and the spark units/ignition amplifiers, Instead of the points closing and charging the coils the spark units keep a constant 12v fed to the coils, the capacitor inside these units keeps the current at 12v even if the feed to the units drops to a minimum of 6v they will still produce 12v, the pulsers are connected to the spark units also there job is to send a pulse to the spark units disrupting the circuit for .8ms causing the coils to discharge creating a spark at the plugs, I wont go right into it but this gives you some idea of how it works, Its relatively the same as the ignition systems on most modern cars where the points and distributor are replaced with a coil pack and crank sensor/ignition pick up.
What really makes me laugh is Honda fitted these transistorised ignition systems to bikes in the late 70s but car manufacturers didn't make use of this system till the early 90s and that was just a handfull, it wasn't till the late 90s/2000 that most cars made use of them and still to date some still use a distributor
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so to the important bit the spark units. They should last for the life of the bike but in my case and many a battery or bad connections causes an overload in the spark units making them heat up rapidly melting the black sealant, once this has all gone they will continue to get hotter until the solder joints start to melt causing a failure, Or being exposed to the air and moister they short circuit, If left like this they can also damage the coils and pulser generators, My first mistake was using a cheap battery, and my second was trying to re seal with silicon, i thought silicon would be the perfect sealant but as i later found out some types of silicon conduct electricity like the type i used.
So by now i bet your all thinking ffs get to the point so i will, The rest of the black sealent was easy to remove i used a small flat bladed screw driver to carefully scrap away what was left, I then un-soldered the green and black/white wire connected to the capacitor note that these wires are connected to the legs of the capacitor but also connected to 2 metal pins mounted insidethe unit itself, Try not to pull them out as it will ruin the units. The hardest part was removing the capacitors as there where stuck with some very strong glue.
Like mentioned before i found an old amplifier and took the capacitors from that, i had to try a few different ones before i got it rite but did in the end, As these units where made over 20 years ago the capacitors are no longer available to buy that's why the really old silver amplifier i found came in handy, the capacitors i used are marked 100 PF BUT and that's a really big but until i have a chance to go on a long ride and test the units properly trying this Ur self will be at your own risk i dint want to be held responsible for any f ups.
I can only wish id tried this sooner than spending £100 on a new set that the battery f***ed as well.
