TCI box - a successful repair, electronic ignition, ignitor

Bruceifer said:
One of these days you might want to consider this !!!, check out this url !
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10739&highlight=hei
Click to expand...
Intriguing. If you read post #7, above the diagram of the home-made XS1100 ignition module, the author says:
"Wouldnt take much to build one for my 650 twin."
I agree. It looks really, really simple, but I'm not smart enough to figure it out. Someone please figure it out. If someone can diagram it, I'll buy the parts, make it, and report back.

Upon further thought, I now see that I think that this requires the mechanical advance (?). So, you are going to have to install an advance rod. If you do that, you may as well just buy a Pamco... This IS NOT a TCI substitute.
 
^If anybody wants a plug and play TCI substitute I'll give them a sample and a bill of materials for $7000...for real.
 
i have an 83 650 heritage and after rebuilding the motor and carbs and new reg/rec and replaced all the charging system stuff im starting to think the issue i am having is in the tci box. bike will idle all day just fine and for about 30 minutes or so it hauls ass on the road then it just up and dies. after weeks of checking carbs and fuel it all comes down to what seems like something getting hot and failing. the ignition coil was replaced and new plugs and wires and same damn result. i pulled the tci box out and not really sure the next step I should take in testing this thing out since i lack the skill and the time really to figure it all out. i will take some high resolution pics of the front and back side and see if any of you could possibly tell me if something looks worth popping out and testing. my father in law will be doing all the work for me because i have a very demanding job to get my high bills paid off.
 
^Does it die like somebody flipped the switch and then can you just start it back up with no problem?
 
yeah its like it loses all spark and you wait a couple minutes it kicks right back over then after 30 minutes or so of doing that you gotta let it sit for about 30 more minutes to get it to start up again. i took the box off and i see 3 2 zd's and a regular diod that have a black mark on the component side.
 
^You're saying you have to wait some time before you can start it again. That's not typical of a bad TCI.

Once I had a plug wire work partly out of the coil, which killed the engine, and the engine quitting got more and more frequent and it got harder and harder to start. When I decided I needed to do something about it I discovered a cracked screw cap, letting the wire come out.


BTW, at the beginning of this thread I talked about diodes, but the real fix I'm convinced is re-soldering bad connections, which I mention later on. I jumped the gun on the diodes and am not ashamed to admit it :) Although those diodes are fragile crap. By this time. Probably started out fine.
 
hmm he did jujst order new wires, and i notice the caps are loose as well and not really seating that good if that is the entire problem i will be slightly angry, but during the 3 weeks of trouble shooting symptoms we found a lot of other issues and fixed those.
 
Im getting power from my battery into the "black box" but im not getting any current back out of the box. Id like to repair but time wont allow it, where can i get a new unit for my 81xs650?
 
Boles44 said:
Im getting power from my battery into the "black box" but im not getting any current back out of the box. Id like to repair but time wont allow it, where can i get a new unit for my 81xs650?
Click to expand...

Can't buy new anymore. Post a "Wanted" ad in the Classifieds or ..............................ebay if you want to go bankrupt
 
pumps said:
xsjohn-rest his soul, used to be a great believer that the stock tci box was the best ignition for these bikes. Good advance curve I think he said and crank triggered is good.:thumbsup:You guys out to sell your repair services!
Click to expand...

What happened 2 john, i knew him from the original 650 rider, he sent me piolets and neddles?

Posted via Mobile
 
Ya omg, i.always looked forward 2 corosponding w him and looked forward 2 the day we would again. Im.bummed now. He was so level and straight. Man........

Posted via Mobile
 
Hey all,

Jumping in on this old thread here. Regarding 'black box' repair, I'm just wondering if anyone has had any further progress with their efforts? I just posted a WTB for another unit, as mine has apparently given up the ghost. But, in reading this thread it has me thinking. I know next to nothing about solid-state circuitry......but I do a LOT of point-to-point type wiring building old 'Vacuum Tube' amplifiers. I can 'fix' a PC board.....as long as I know what to replace. But, in my limited experience with something like this...... my first thought would have been that it would have been a 'logic' problem as a result of a failure in the IC chip. I guess I have an 'early' module......as it's off my '81 Special and seems to be the 'less complicated' version. My board appears to have 4 transistors, the IC chip, and what looks to be a regulator (the 3-legged 'big' transistor with the heat-sink attached)? I guess at this point I'm wondering if anyone has 'reverse-engineered' one of these, come up with some currently available replacement chips, transistors, or that regulator? Even a schematic would be REALLY helpful. I'm going to replace my 4 diodes..... just cuz it's an 'easy' job. Do I think it will 'fix' my unit?.......'hmmmm....not really sure about that.' But, we'll see. In the mean time, if anyone has any updates on this, I'd like to know about 'em. BTW, my unit would start the bike....and allow it to idle, but as soon as any attempt was made to increase RPM the engine would start to break up badly, back-fire out the carbs.....and even shut down altogether. If the throttle was backed off, it would start to smooth out and idle again. But, it fouled out a new set of plugs in about 3 minutes of run-time. Replacing the box with a known good unit made the engine run like the proverbial 'raped-ape' (has anyone ever seen a raped ape run I wonder????). Anyway.... I'd LOVE to fix my old module.....or even do something creative like apply an old automotive ignition module to the bike. Thanks for the comments guys!! GREAT thread!! Tom D.
 
 
Your TCI box may be ok. The TCI uses a magnet embedded in the rotor to trigger the pickups. These pickups send a signal to the TCI box. This signal is engine position. This tells the TCI when to fire the coils.
On some old bikes this magnet gets weak.
The rotor is an electro magnet that is controlled by the regulator. hen this electromagnet is "on" it can over power the magnet. This prevents the pick ups from reading the magnet. One easy test for this is to unplug the reg/rec. This stops the rotor from turning on. If the bike runs fine with the reg/rec unplugged then you have a weak magnet.
Good thing there is an easy fix for this. Radio Shack sells a 4 mm/3/16 inch rare earth magnet. A two pack for around $3. Just use a bit of your favorite epoxy to glue the new magnet on top of the old one. I use JB Weld.
This gives a very strong magnetic field for the pick ups to read.
Leo
 

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