Boyer Ignition Question

Hello All,

I have a 75 commando MKIII. I recently installed a Boyer Mark IV ignition. No problems initially, but after about 1/2 hour of idling while tuning the Amals, it just quit. No spark.
If I short the two wires at the stator I get a nice spark from the coil. With the stator hooked up nothing. If I wave a magnet near the posts on the stator I get on weak spark only once in a while. I tried a new stator, no difference. Every connector has been redone,wires rung out, grounds all good. Why the good spark upon shorting the wires, but not with the stator? Is my black box fried? If I had any hair I would be pulling it out. It is the warmest day yet here in New Hampshire, lots of bikes emerging from garages, but not mine.......

Thanks, Terry

I can't get at my Boyer notes right now, but if you Google Boyer Electronics you should find all the help you'll need to check out your ignition on their site.

Best of luck,

Cash

If you get a good spark at the plugs when you 'flash' the wires at the stator it proves that the box, coils and leads are ok, it must be a faulty coil on the stator i'd say, or maybe poor connections where the wires connect to the stator coils,
Dave

This probably sounds dumb, but is it possible that prolonged idling which is not a high enough RPM to
charge the battery, has drained the battery enough to not sustain the motor.

I would ensure, if you have no so already, that the battery is in good shape, and fully charged.

A less than optimum charged battery would still allow enough juice for the sparking test, but
would not be enough keep the motor actually firing.
I think we need somewhere over 2000rpm or so to actually send current from the alternator to
the battery to trickle charge it.

Brand new battery, fully charged. I got a brand new stator from my local shop. no luck...

Well Terry, reluctantly I suppose we must assume something has gone wrong with the box, seems very strange that you get good sparks when you flash the leads though? Logically it can only be the box, or the stator or bad connections somewhere!

Terry
check here http://britishcycle.com/help.htm
Scroll down till you see the Boyer troubleshoot list
Have a better one.
Regards,
CNN

http://www.tioc.org/boyertest.htm

http://www.boyerbransden.com/faultfinding.html

1/2 hr idling whilst setting carbs ........ Are you sure this isn't simply an overheating problem?

Hello again,

Just to update.. After trying just about everything, including a new stator plate with no luck, this morning I pulled out the magnetic rotor. Each magnet is supposed to support the entire weight of the rotor when held against a flat metal surface. Neither does. I never would have suspected that the magnets would be bad. What can happen to a magnet?? They are only about a month old. Has anyone ever encountered this? Well tomorrow I will try to get my hands on a new rotor. I will post the results. Thanks for all the feedback! Terry

I have developed an Aluminum rotor that uses two barrel shaped neodymium 1/4X1/4 magnets. It is made to replace the rotor that has seen some years. Screwing and gluing to conductive steel with heat in the mix just seems like a cost cutter option. Given the circumstance it would normally lose the North Pole sending needed. The stronger and shorter pulse is said to improve torque. I have not tested it yet as the cost produced it over a stock replacement. And then the Tri Spark came out and I had to try that and well I lost interest in the project. I would need about fifty interested parties to do a run of them at a reasonable cost. One of the many fine ideas that popped up talking to Kelly Cork in Australia he has done some testing. So yes it is not unheard of.

Terry

The rotors I've seen just barely support their weight clinging to a flat iron-rich surface--no more than that.

If you want to borrow a Boyer rotor to check your system let me have your address and I'll put it in the mail.



Tim Kraakevik
kraakevik@voyager.net
630 474-9164
'72 Combat
750 and 850 E-Bay choppers collected in Minnesota yesterday