B+ ignition and lighting questions

[relic]

Stator plate on the bench, no points installed - the blue wire from the condenser that connects to the points has continuity to ground.
Does this mean the condenser is shorted to ground?


AND: green and yellow coming from the lighting coil have continuity to ground. Is this ok or is the lighting coil shorted to ground?

Thanks in advance. (pun intended )

Ken

[Dale]

I suspect that the continuity to ground is actually the small resistance of the windings of the coils. Use a good digital meter to measure the resistance and you should see a low ohm reading to ground rather than a short. To get a good readings of the components, they need to be isolated from each other.

[relic]

Thanks for the reply. I had everything installed, set my point gap to .014" and thought I'd check the timing using my dial indicator and self powered test light. This is my usual method for timing bikes with points. In this case the engine is still on the bench so I thought its a good time to do this, easier to see etc.
But with the points open my light never goes out or dims noticeably? So I removed the points and found I still had a light on (blue to black wire). I thought I'd better check if a wire was chafed or somehow touching ground so I removed the entire stator plate and can't see anything amiss.
But I think the points should not be grounded when they are open?
Or is the fact this is an energy transfer system throwing me off?

I've done lots of points systems work over the years but admittedly its not often that I need to diagnose (usually just replace and go) and more years since trade school. And these days everything at my work is CDIs, ECU's etc. I spend lots of time with the laptop connected to everything from bikes to atv's, snowmobiles to outboards. We even have chainsaws that are computer controlled.

Old and confused, (most of the time)
Ken

[Dale]

With the parts all in place, you will always have continuity to ground via the coils in the circuit. The amount of resistance will change with the points open versus closed which would typically result in your test light changing in brightness as you mentioned. If it is not, then the best way to isolate the problem is to remove each coil and test them individually for both resistance through the windings and to the coil frame. You can check the capacitor for a short and also check its capacitance.

I would try the same test with either a buzz box or an ohm meter across the blue/black pair and see if you don't detect a difference when the points open.

[relic]

Thanks again Dale. I'm sorted out now. The "energy transfer" system has the points in parallel so as you say, the light will never go out. But it should have dimmed and mine doesn't. This morning I borrowed my friend's old Yamaha Points Checker. It was factory supplied dealer tool many years ago and is just a very sensitive analog ohm meter marked "closed" and "open" for this purpose.
I reassembled and all is working. Case timing and TDC marks are off but not by enough to make a difference. I've got the points breaking right at .114" BTDC.
The last bike I used the dial indicator and my continuity light on was my Suzuki T250 last summer and that not being energy transfer but rather a battery ignition system the light goes out when the points open. I guess my old light is not sensitive enough for this type.



thanks for the help,

Ken

[Dale]

Nice work. I am glad that you got it sorted out.

As for the case marks being slightly off from actual, that is fairly common. I have made new marks on several, using a dial indicator and then painted them with finger nail polish. I then use a timing light to check the final result. The end result? Well, I think it is mostly peace of mind. I had always set my bikes with a feeler gauge to .012 and then used a buzz box to confirm that the points were breaking at (or as close to possible to) the factory provided mark. Both methods work for me...