NC30/35 Power Loss with Ignitech Ignition - The Solution
Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 12:47 pm
The problem -
Dyno tests of NC30/35s fitted with Ignitech TCIP4 Ignition systems were showing high rpm power losses of up to 5bhp when compared to runs made using the stock Honda ignition - Honda vs Ignitech chart below.
I consulted Ignitech`s technical guys who suggested that the problem might be associated with the dwell time settings.
Fellow 400gb member and professional auto electrical diagnostician Keith Brown kindly shared the data he had collected while trying to solve an unconnected ignition problem of his own and this showed that at 9000rpm the stock ignition unit has a dwell time of around 1.9 milliseconds - the Ignitech units were coming from the factory with a setting of 5.0ms, so in simple terms the ignition coils were spending too much of their total working cycle charging and not enough time firing.
I reprogrammed a TCIP4 unit with a dwell time of 2.0ms and sent if over to Kev at Projex who had offered to do a back to back dyno test with the stock ignition system on his own NC35 - results on the dyno chart below, so I think we can safely say that we`ve fixed the problem...
How to fix -
If you want to reset your own TCIP4 V80 unit, plug it in to your PC, turn on the bike`s ignition, open up the programming software and go to this page -
Click the `read` tab at the top of the page so you are looking at the programming which is actually installed in your unit, then check `manual` in the `Dwell` box and change the setting in the circled box from 5000 to 2000.
Back at the top of the page, click the `program` box, then `verify`, then `read` - make sure that the `dwell time` box still shows a setting of 2000 and if so switch off, disconnect and the job`s done...
Many thanks to Keith and Kevin for their invaluable assistance - for anyone who doesn`t want to tackle this themselves just drop me a mail and I`ll send you a ready modified map to drop in or we can arrange for you to post your unit to me and I`ll do it for you.
Rick
Dyno tests of NC30/35s fitted with Ignitech TCIP4 Ignition systems were showing high rpm power losses of up to 5bhp when compared to runs made using the stock Honda ignition - Honda vs Ignitech chart below.
I consulted Ignitech`s technical guys who suggested that the problem might be associated with the dwell time settings.
Fellow 400gb member and professional auto electrical diagnostician Keith Brown kindly shared the data he had collected while trying to solve an unconnected ignition problem of his own and this showed that at 9000rpm the stock ignition unit has a dwell time of around 1.9 milliseconds - the Ignitech units were coming from the factory with a setting of 5.0ms, so in simple terms the ignition coils were spending too much of their total working cycle charging and not enough time firing.
I reprogrammed a TCIP4 unit with a dwell time of 2.0ms and sent if over to Kev at Projex who had offered to do a back to back dyno test with the stock ignition system on his own NC35 - results on the dyno chart below, so I think we can safely say that we`ve fixed the problem...
How to fix -
If you want to reset your own TCIP4 V80 unit, plug it in to your PC, turn on the bike`s ignition, open up the programming software and go to this page -
Click the `read` tab at the top of the page so you are looking at the programming which is actually installed in your unit, then check `manual` in the `Dwell` box and change the setting in the circled box from 5000 to 2000.
Back at the top of the page, click the `program` box, then `verify`, then `read` - make sure that the `dwell time` box still shows a setting of 2000 and if so switch off, disconnect and the job`s done...
Many thanks to Keith and Kevin for their invaluable assistance - for anyone who doesn`t want to tackle this themselves just drop me a mail and I`ll send you a ready modified map to drop in or we can arrange for you to post your unit to me and I`ll do it for you.
Rick