Dyna Ignition or Points

[Rat]

Jeez .... I was only talkin' about a fight .... not a WAR !

Gord

[ericheath]

I tend to agree with Robin and there are several of us who know they failed shortly after voltage issues, a regulator that goes crazy. By the time you notice your battery is boiling out too fast, you've already been feeding the Dyna 15?16?17? volts for a while. We all know this happens pretty regularly on these old bikes due to simple resistance in the connections.

Dyna has no way of knowing this or testing them for this. A separate voltage/current limiter might protect them better. We have read/heard/ speculated that it's quality control from Dyna with a seeming spike in failures, but this spike is coming when all the wiring is getting -well----old.

[gltriker]

I tend to agree with Robin and there are several of us who know they failed shortly after voltage issues, a regulator that goes crazy. By the time you notice your battery is boiling out too fast, you've already been feeding the Dyna 15?16?17? volts for a while. We all know this happens pretty regularly on these old bikes due to simple resistance in the connections.

Dyna has no way of knowing this or testing them for this. A separate voltage/current limiter might protect them better. We have read/heard/ speculated that it's quality control from Dyna with a seeming spike in failures, but this spike is coming when all the wiring is getting -well----old.

AND/OR the charging system's rectifier assembly case is poorly grounded to its mounting surface on the, very susceptible to battery acid corrosion, battery frame.

http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=61000

[salukispeed]

(Just my thoughts ) I too have used several Dynas over the years with very good luck. I did have one failure but when I really looked carefully it turned out that the Primary side of my 1-4 coil was failing and shorted and less than 1.5 ohm and yet it would run fine. but this lead to over current and eventual failure of a second but "used" unit. ultimately My fault . Even something as a bad plug cap can cause high secondary voltage spikes that damage the electronics over time. this along with excessive charging voltage or misuse of a large battery charger that runs the voltage much above 16 volts can damage electronics. I too like points and my 1966 305 runs great with the original points from new. Points do not suffer so much from things that kill electronics but they require maintenance. Each is good and has its fans. I have not had the privilege to try the C5

[ericheath]

I am thinking it's wise to keep track of the overall electrical charge for the C5 or any other system for them to run well also. It's pretty amazing how much is packed into it.

[Toehead]

Dyna does seem to be pretty sensitive to overvoltage (given my own experience). I added a voltage gauge and hopefully I never need to worry about cooking either of my dynas again.

That being said, I come from an automotive electronics background. Most of our 12 volt products are designed to survive 36 applied volts at the maximum operating temperature. If Dyna took a similar approach, it would be a non-issue.

[AussieGold]

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.

this is an all too familiar story. voltage spikes ? poor fitting ? quality control issues ? whatever the reason , it happens quite regularly.a very common topic on this forum alone.i'm willing to bet there are a whole lot more not posted . best solution ? get some points and become familiar with setting them . it's not too hard.
or fit another Dyna and carry the points plate as a back up. i did that for a good while.

[roachb]

I thought I would install the old points again since I am waiting on the Dyna test results. I like the mechanical-ness of the points and sort of miss the ritual of gapping and timing. But when I hooked up the timing light I found no light on the left side points. No voltage where the points plug it to the connector with the condenser either. So the Dyna is probably good and I jumped to a conclusion without doing the basic troubleshooting. That's as far as I got today. The bike is at work so I can only work a little at a time. Next I'll check the power to the coil and the coil.

[roachb]

Must have been a loose connection. I found 12v at the black wires to the coils and the primary winding tested 3.1 ohms. When I hooked it back up, power was back at the points. I set the timing and it is running again.