Pamco wiring problems

[Milk_Jesus]

So I took my bike to my friends shop to wire it. First day found out my regulator was shot. Got a new one. Then found out I had the wrong coil. Got a new one. Third time around, when we wired the ignition to the coil to a battery on the ground and when we gave it power, the ignition blue box got smoking hot and seems to have melted. We had it wired the exact way we were told. My goal was to use the pamco, kick only, no battery, sparx capacitor, pma swap. We found out also that my stator is only outputting like 3 volts, so I'm going to be buying a new stator as well. My friend that's been helping me all along (had built dozens of custom harley builds over the years-knows what he's doing) suggests I just convert my bike (80 xs650 engine) to points. Anyone disagree? Hopefully I'll be able to get my money back from the ignition.

Here's some pictures:

 

[Milk_Jesus]

 

[jd750ace]

Points are great if you like working on your bike on the side of the road. Going back to points in today's world would be like a cop deciding to carry a cap and ball revolver because loading magazines hurts his thumb.
Did you remove all the tci stuff before you tried to wire up the Pamco? Short cuts lead to short circuits many times in my experience with wires.

 

[Milk_Jesus]

Points are great if you like working on your bike on the side of the road. Going back to points in today's world would be like a cop deciding to carry a cap and ball revolver because loading magazines hurts his thumb.
Did you remove all the tci stuff before you tried to wire up the Pamco? Short cuts lead to short circuits many times in my experience with wires.

Don't know why he'd be so adamant on points if they're so terrible.

What counts as "all tci stuff"?

 

[gggGary]

I have never run a capacitor only XS650 but sure have seen plenty of threads from guys who have; with what seems like near endless problems. IMHO a battery is a small price to pay for stable 12 volt DC. Many electronic parts get very grumpy ($$$$) when subjected to random high, low and AC voltages

 

[weaselbeak]

I went back to points, and I like them. I don't find myself working on them on the side of the road, but at least I could, instead of sitting there dead in the water. I know the benefits of electronic ignitions, don't like the down sides. Plenty of people have had lots of problems and they are expensive. To each his own, but I'm not comfy with aftermarket EI a couple hundred miles from home. It would be different if I were just hopping around locally like so many 650 riders seem to do. A relative just lost damn near his entire riding season this past summer because nobody could figure out his EI troubles on his 08 Kaw cruiser, and he ended up having to get a loan to cover the crap before it was over. Another buddy found out his (luckily under warranty) computer control cost 1100 dollars. I don't do that.

 

[Milk_Jesus]

I went back to points, and I like them. I don't find myself working on them on the side of the road, but at least I could, instead of sitting there dead in the water. I know the benefits of electronic ignitions, don't like the down sides. Plenty of people have had lots of problems and they are expensive. To each his own, but I'm not comfy with aftermarket EI a couple hundred miles from home. It would be different if I were just hopping around locally like so many 650 riders seem to do. A relative just lost damn near his entire riding season this past summer because nobody could figure out his EI troubles on his 08 Kaw cruiser, and he ended up having to get a loan to cover the crap before it was over. Another buddy found out his (luckily under warranty) computer control cost 1100 dollars. I don't do that.

Yeah this is a short version of the explanation my friend gave me. Points is more appealing for me personally. Thanks man!

 

[scabber]

Your friend can't wire a pamco I doubt he can set points. the pamco is missing parts no wonder the bike wont run. Is that how you had it wired. the blue box never saw one on a pamco before. Where did you buy it ? Cash Back I doubt it.

 

[gggGary]

Looks like a "new style" Pamco with e-advance to me.

I suppose this is snotty but he IS a Harley mechanic.............

 

[Milk_Jesus]

Your friend can't wire a pamco I doubt he can set points. the pamco is missing parts no wonder the bike wont run. Is that how you had it wired. the blue box never saw one on a pamco before. Where did you buy it ? Cash Back I doubt it.

It seems you're not very up to date on the subject, but I appreciate the advice!

 

[Milk_Jesus]

Looks like a "new style" Pamco with e-advance to me.

I suppose this is snotty but he IS a Harley mechanic.............

I made the same joke to him yesterday. He was thrilled. But it is wired the way the instructions say, so...

 

[gggGary]

I would like to see "the rest of the wiring" A battery off the bike opens up chances of a bunch of weird gremlins sneak'n in.

 

[XSLeo]

The only thing I can think of is on the e-advancer one set of wires goes to the coil, one set to the e-advancer. They are marked on the blue box which is which. It's possible you wired it backwards.
If your Pamco is still under warranty Pete will take it back and test it out. Fix what's wrong and send it back or replace it.
The system works very well. Most of the issues that crop up are improper installation.
Usually wired wrong.
When you first installed the Pamco. Did you have it wired to the PMA/cap and try to run it. If so and you had a bad regulator it could have sent a high voltage spike to the Pamco. This may have shorted the e-advancer. When you hooked it up to a battery this short smoked it.
Try contacting Pete.
Leo

 

[Milk_Jesus]

I would like to see "the rest of the wiring" A battery off the bike opens up chances of a bunch of weird gremlins sneak'n in.

We only went that route because we weren't getting a spark even after replacing the regulator and coil for BRAND NEW units. Pete himself suggested to wire the ignition and coil to a separate charged battery. Once we did that, it fried for sure. The blue eadvancer box was too hot to touch with your bare hands for a couple minutes and still no spark. It also looked like the board inside the blue box was just floating around in there. Id imagine (very likely incorrectly) it's supposed to be mounted down with screws of some sort?

 

[Milk_Jesus]

The only thing I can think of is on the e-advancer one set of wires goes to the coil, one set to the e-advancer. They are marked on the blue box which is which. It's possible you wired it backwards.
If your Pamco is still under warranty Pete will take it back and test it out. Fix what's wrong and send it back or replace it.
The system works very well. Most of the issues that crop up are improper installation.
Usually wired wrong.
When you first installed the Pamco. Did you have it wired to the PMA/cap and try to run it. If so and you had a bad regulator it could have sent a high voltage spike to the Pamco. This may have shorted the e-advancer. When you hooked it up to a battery this short smoked it.
Try contacting Pete.
Leo

Thanks Leo, I always look forward to your input. I emailed Pete last night and I know he's a busy dude, so hopefully this doesn't delay me TOO long. I'll look over the wiring again to see if I notice any issues, but with my limited knowledge, that's unlikely.

 

[gggGary]

Leo for testing NOT running will the new style pamco fire a coil without the e-advance in the circuit? If so don't attempt it with plugs in, I think it might be at full advance IE break your leg timing.

 

[XSLeo]

In my e-advancer the circuit board just floats around. I suppose Pete had a reason for this.
Leo

 

[Milk_Jesus]

In my e-advancer the circuit board just floats around. I suppose Pete had a reason for this.
Leo

I figured as much. Just figured Id mentioned it on the off chance.

 

[XSLeo]

gggGary, No, the circuit board that mounts where the points were has just the hall effect transistor on it. The e-advancer uses a signal from the sensor plate to know when to fire. The main power transistor that actually turns the current through the coil on/off is on the circuit board of the E-advancer.
The original had all the circuitry on one board. As in the first pic.
the second pic is of the new sensor plate, Notice how much less parts there are. All these parts that actually fire the coil were moved to the new e-advancer circuit board.
I collected these pics from Pete's ignition site.
Leo

 

[Milk_Jesus]

anybody know how long it'll usually take to hear back from pete? I'm hoping to get this figured out and moving along this week.