Transistorized points ignition

[WideAWAKE]

Maybe the best of both worlds?? The ol’ have your cake and still be able to drive home if you ignition craps out too..

http://sohc4shop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=32

These are made my Hondaman. He’s done some amazing things for the 750s.

Just kinda stumbled across these today when trying to sort out some stuff on the CB. Used by many Honda guys.

Seems the unit is a little bulky.

Don’t really know enough about the nitty gritty of electronics to take a side.

Anyone got thoughts? Anyone use one?

 

[JesseeS]

I'm not electrically savvy at all to chime in on this. What I will say is that it's priced at ~$90 shipped with a 5 year, 100% replace or repair warranty. Shit, I think that would be worth the gamble to check out. Ive spent more on worse crap

 

[Jim]

Transistor controlled ignitions have been around forever. Basically the points just control the base of a transistor. So, the transistor carries the current of the coil, which is triggered by the points. All the points ever see is the very low current passing through the base... meaning they'll last almost forever.
To be honest, 80 bucks seems a bit high for what you get.

 

[Jan_P]

The black box mystery ..
The problem is that the motorcycle electronics environment can be harsh Temperature / Vibrations / Fluids / Voltage spikes
and so on
The Electronics " Nerd " have no problem designing a setup that can look promising at the desk in the air conditioned office
And choose components solder it together and pack it in Epoxy.
These days with micro controllers that are small computers that operate with Physics a fraction of other things on a motorcycle

This one does not appear to have one of those which I believe is a good thing.

But even so that box contains electronics that can malfunction And if the ignition comes to advanced at higher rpm
It can be a quick scrapping of a motor.

If you have a running bike it is worth say $ 1000 ---can be much higher value..
You have the option use the Stock Yamaha points that is developed and tested and is a solution
Or you can buy from fex Boyer Bransden a Company that has the Know How and been around for a long time
paying ca $ 100 more

I am not saying this is bad :But personally the risk benefit analysis .tips over to Boyer Bransden. for me
With the information Known

 

[WideAWAKE]

The black box mystery ..
The problem is that the motorcycle electronics environment can be harsh Temperature / Vibrations / Fluids / Voltage spikes
and so on
The Electronics " Nerd " have no problem designing a setup that can look promising at the desk in the air conditioned office
And choose components solder it together and pack it in Epoxy.
These days with micro controllers that are small computers that operate with Physics a fraction of other things on a motorcycle

This one does not appear to have one of those which I believe is a good thing.

But even so that box contains electronics that can malfunction And if the ignition comes to advanced at higher rpm
It can be a quick scrapping of a motor.

If you have a running bike it is worth say $ 1000 ---can be much higher value..
You have the option use the Stock Yamaha points that is developed and tested and is a solution
Or you can buy from fex Boyer Bransden a Company that has the Know How and been around for a long time
paying ca $ 100 more

I am not saying this is bad :But personally the risk benefit analysis .tips over to Boyer Bransden. for me
With the information Known

You would keep your mechanical advance,

And if it crapped out, unplug it and you have standard points again.

This doesn’t replace your points. It works in conjunction with them.

Well if it took a guy an hour to build and a few bucks for parts… seems like 80 bucks worth??

I’m not for or against it.

80 bucks doesn’t get you much where I live haha.

 

[JesseeS]

To be honest, 80 bucks seems a bit high for what you get

I think it depends. For someone like yourself who knows electrical I'd agree. For someone like me who looks at the diagrams you posted like a caveman, it would be worth it

 

[Jan_P]

Yes those are good aspects having the points there
As I understand it the power at the points is much lesser when the box is used.
I believe it is used for the timing advance and retard.

And the Price $ 80 ---Who knows what is inside Can be Top quality components and protective loops.
It can be an experienced automotive designer that has done it and it appears to have been around a while
Top quality components from a well known supplier or at the other end E bay Chinese fake components on the cheap
with bigger spread on specs. We all know what happens if ordering at the low end from e -bay
Quite often you need them to send a replacement .. Which they often do without problems
Nowadays designers for home electronics tend to have minimum spec possible say 24 V Capacitor and it burns down 2 months after the warranty is over
Instead of using a 50 V capacitor that cost more but lasts longer

Perhaps it has a solid reputation in so called " Field Tests " having been used in the Thousands.

If I remember right that was one take on it but with different triggering

https://www.xs650.com/threads/piranha-ignition-help.57818/

Piranha ignition, now Newtronic, optical trigger without electronic advance. Can be adapted to fit most engines.
I have one on my Honda 400/4, been on there best part of 20+yrs works fine, has two circuits one for each coil, the one you have looks like a car one probably only one circuit but can be adapted to fit on XS650 fires one dual output coil. Hope it helps.

Again out of memory it would work unless the optical triggering got dirt or so on it

 

[650Skull]

Maybe the best of both worlds?? The ol’ have your cake and still be able to drive home if you ignition craps out too..

http://sohc4shop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=32

These are made my Hondaman. He’s done some amazing things for the 750s.

Just kinda stumbled across these today when trying to sort out some stuff on the CB. Used by many Honda guys.

Seems the unit is a little bulky.

Don’t really know enough about the nitty gritty of electronics to take a side.

Anyone got thoughts? Anyone use one?

Hondaman has good reviews on the SOHC/4 Forum for this ignition and he seems to be a genuine person.
https://sohc4shop.com/catalog/index.php?manufacturers_id=12&osCsid=a3a5b91d33d18b75d304f8509052e8a2

 

[toglhot]

Personally, I don't see the point, $90 so you can use the same points.

 

[ckahleer]

You get a hotter spark if you remove the condenser.
Back in the 70's, I made one for my 71 Pinto. As I recall, It was just a high voltage power transistor and a base resistor. Had the car for 4 more years after that without a problem.

 

[Hondaman]

Hi, I'm that Hondaman from the SOHC4 forums! Someone asked me to drop by with some explanation about the Transistorized Ignition.
It's an old design from the 1970s, updated in 2006 to use modern components. The box itself is 2" x 4" x 1" thick, normally with the wiring coming out the short side, but other custom configurations are available upon request, including a SPTT center-off toggle switch to kill it in case someone wants to hotwire your vintage bike for someone else's ride...

This box detects the temperature of the points baseplate to provide a stronger spark for cold-start, and then it backs off that mode as the engine warms up, and slightly extends the spark duration (as compared to stock) by more smoothly buffering the back_EMF from the coil(s). This helps with many vintage bikes as a too-short spark duration was very common in the older designs, particularly those where 2 sparkplugs are fired by one coil. The power to the points is less than 0.1 amp and the power transistors can handle up to 5 amps for coils like the Dyna 3-ohm units if you wish to run those. It is not a simple switch like the one shown above: instead this one will run in systems from 4.6 volts to almost 28 volts power situations. These have been in use on the Honda SOHC4 bikes since 2006, and apart from a batch of bad power transistors I received from Malaysia in 2011 (I think it was) when all 25 units built with them failed in less than 5 hours of operation, only 2 other units have ever died in normal use. Both of those were miswired first, which damaged the transistors inside, so then they failed shortly after being wired correctly. It is a very old and tested design.

If you're interested in one, drop me an e-mail at SOHC4shop@gmail.com. My website at SOHC4shoo has been 'down' along with some 10,000 other server users there, since last month: I'm working on getting a new website built. Something apparently happened to seriously damage the OS Commerce group in the computer farm in Ireland last month, where we all were hosted.

 

[jpdevol]

Hi, I'm that Hondaman from the SOHC4 forums! Someone asked me to drop by with some explanation about the Transistorized Ignition.
It's an old design from the 1970s, updated in 2006 to use modern components. The box itself is 2" x 4" x 1" thick, normally with the wiring coming out the short side, but other custom configurations are available upon request, including a SPTT center-off toggle switch to kill it in case someone wants to hotwire your vintage bike for someone else's ride...

This box detects the temperature of the points baseplate to provide a stronger spark for cold-start, and then it backs off that mode as the engine warms up, and slightly extends the spark duration (as compared to stock) by more smoothly buffering the back_EMF from the coil(s). This helps with many vintage bikes as a too-short spark duration was very common in the older designs, particularly those where 2 sparkplugs are fired by one coil. The power to the points is less than 0.1 amp and the power transistors can handle up to 5 amps for coils like the Dyna 3-ohm units if you wish to run those. It is not a simple switch like the one shown above: instead this one will run in systems from 4.6 volts to almost 28 volts power situations. These have been in use on the Honda SOHC4 bikes since 2006, and apart from a batch of bad power transistors I received from Malaysia in 2011 (I think it was) when all 25 units built with them failed in less than 5 hours of operation, only 2 other units have ever died in normal use. Both of those were miswired first, which damaged the transistors inside, so then they failed shortly after being wired correctly. It is a very old and tested design.

If you're interested in one, drop me an e-mail at SOHC4shop@gmail.com. My website at SOHC4shoo has been 'down' along with some 10,000 other server users there, since last month: I'm working on getting a new website built. Something apparently happened to seriously damage the OS Commerce group in the computer farm in Ireland last month, where we all were hosted.

Hi Mark,
Welcome to our little funny-farm

 

[Hondaman]

Hi Mark,
Welcome to our little funny-farm

Looks like a fun place! There's several of these Transistor Ignitions out there on the XS650s of old, already. Some have been running 10+ years.