Dyna Ignition or Points

[roachb]

I had a Dyna S in my '75 GL 1000 for years without any issues but a year and a half ago it failed. It was intermittent at first but finally one module failed. I purchased the reduced-cost replacement and today I lost two cylinders again. I'm sending it back to Dynatek for testing, but I wonder if I should not reinstall the points. Points are reliable. Randakk likes points. The Dyna is out of warranty, which is only one year.

[gltriker]

I won't make a recommendation either way, or C5 promotion, but would inquire what were the progression of intermittent symptoms as the first Dyna S was failing?

[RB]

MY .02..points require more maintenance but are a lot cheaper..and for most riders you can't tell the difference in performance.. Not worth 125 to me...and a lot easier to replace/fix on the side road..one can carry an extra set or some sand paper or nail file to fix them up...carry an extra condenser too...

[Whiskerfish]

My road bike has a dyna and my in town bike runs points. Both run very well and as far as I am concerned the very small amount of maintenance require to run points is not an issue. I personally have probably 200,000 miles on dyna's without an issue. Saw one failure and that was a customers bike and I think he played with the wiring and shot juice in the wrong way and fried it. They seem to be sensitive that way.

[Toehead]

I run Dyna on both of mine.

I've had 1 unit fail in 4 years, but that was after my regulator crapped out and it got hit with 16 volts for a few rides. It stopped working about a week later.

[CYBORG]

I used my first dyna for about 7 years. then lost one side. Replaced with complete new unit which ran for another 10 years until I replaced it with a C5 system. C5 is far better in a number of ways

[BlueThunder]

I had a Dyna S in my '75 GL 1000 for years without any issues but a year and a half ago it failed. It was intermittent at first but finally one module failed. I purchased the reduced-cost replacement and today I lost two cylinders again. I'm sending it back to Dynatek for testing, but I wonder if I should not reinstall the points. Points are reliable. Randakk likes points. The Dyna is out of warranty, which is only one year.

Unfortunately, you will be going back to electronic ignition. Honda no longer carries the Toyo points (the ones to use) and now supplies inferior Daiichi points. The Daiichi's wear faster, don't last as long, and are harder to time correctly. I'm not a big fan of Dyna's as there are far too many failures (not just with GW's but all makes and models). You can extend the life of points by using a transistorized ignition system (http://sohc4shop.com/catalog/product_in ... ce84153dab). This runs low voltage through the points where they will virtually last forever. Its the tabs that will wear. Of course, C5 ignition is an excellent alternative.

[ericheath]

The more I ride my C5 clone, the more I realize how remarkably better bottom end performance, probably torque, is. I would love to get the programmer wire and play with different curves. I can ride in traffic and be in fifth gear at 25mph, response with very little throttle still sets you back in the seat some. Plugs are slightly tan when I do this, maybe a bit sooty near the thread ring.

Dyna was once considered pretty bullet proof and for the money, not a bad buy. True Honda points were about $50, so a Dyna is paid for in a few years. I had a couple fail, (3) but like Toehead, at least one was hit with higher volts for a while, the others were used. I sent one in and Larry from Dyna told me it was 31 years old.

I bought all the parts to try and make a LouDudzik version, but it's sitting in a Baggie in the garage. If you stay with points, I would do this or the Hondaman version. The Dyna does slightly reduce your advance.

With the Dyna, I can carry a points assembly, rotor, and I'm not going to be down too long on the side of the road should the Dyna fail. With C5, you would need to carry the same and either some big ballast or another set of coils too. They are very low resistance coils. I'm pretty sure you'd burn them up on points.

[roachb]

Thanks for all the opinions and advice. To answer the one question, the first time the Dyna failed, two cylinders would drop out for a few seconds at first, and then longer and longer over a period of a couple weeks. This time the progression was much more rapid, like nearly all at once. It did cut in and out a few times but it happened while riding to work.

I will post the results from Dyna. My first one lasted only 7 years.

[ericheath]

Do you know if the second set is their latest version?

[wannabridin]

Check into Hondamans' transistorized ignition. Built in redundancies. They are rock solid for CB750's

[BlueThunder]

Check into Hondamans' transistorized ignition. Built in redundancies. They are rock solid for CB750's

The transistorized ignition has been around for decades - first used them on VW air cooled motors. Dyna makes this product under the name of "Ignition Booster". Given their reliability I would use a Hondaman unit.

[robin1731]

Check into Hondamans' transistorized ignition. Built in redundancies. They are rock solid for CB750's

The transistorized ignition has been around for decades - first used them on VW air cooled motors. Dyna makes this product under the name of "Ignition Booster". Given their reliability I would use a Hondaman unit.

I have several bikes of my own and customer bikes, along with bikes I've sold that have had Dyna ignitions for 2 and 3 decades. I think the "reliability issue" is with the people installing them.

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[Rat]

Don't wanna start a fight Robin .... but if it's an installation issue, how come they work for a while before they fail ?

Gord (sometimes years) Jones

[robin1731]

Don't wanna start a fight Robin .... but if it's an installation issue, how come they work for a while before they fail ?

Gord (sometimes years) Jones

There have been posts about that. Whiskerfish has talked about it. Something about voltage.

Sorry I seem to get on a soapbox about this but people just give out that impression that Dyna is a junk product. Some haven't even used one. You hear of a few that quit working out of thousands if not more that have been sold and installed around the world so they must be junk. In all the years I've been using them, since the 80's, I've had one that was bad. That was a new one that someone else borrowed, installed, and it quit. So I can't even say if that was installed wrong or anything else.

I am in no way affiliated with Dyna. I just use them. I wasn't even going to post on here but I get tired of certain statements.

I don't want to start a war either so I am done on this subject.

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