My cdi saga

[Rebornsol]

So I purchased one of those keyed "performance" cdi and coil ignition (like the huffydavidson or jaguar sets) units from an online motorized bike site hoping to improve over my spotty stock integrated cdi unit. I installed it and got no spark, contacted the site who was unable to provide me any diagnostic information and so sent me another in hopes that the first was bad, I installed and still no spark. I ended up re-installing the stock unit and ran on that a little over a year, but it has just finally spent itself (tested out of spec as listed on the "so your China girl won't run" Google doc). I've ordered a new stock style replacement and am waiting, but that I'm doing so with a theoretically good performance set just sitting here is sort of a kick in the pants. Does anyone on here happen to have a way to properly test the performance cdi and/or coil or perhaps why it wouldn't fire in the case that it is good? I'm really not a fan of open ended mysteries, especially when they cost money and frustration lol

 

[crassius]

no way to test one reliably with a meter, as timing is controlled by a transistor circuit in there - I built a tester with timing marks out of an old motor just for this reason, but I'm a repair shop for these bikes rather than a builder or hobbyist

 

[Deleted member 12676]

I doubt that any of the aftermarket CDIs, other than the Jaguar, is actually tested. The profit is too low for them to spend their time connecting it to a bike and taking it for a test run.
The Jaguar CDI, on the other hand, is bench tested using a CDI tester that displays the timing throughout the whole RPM range.

 

[45u]

Are you sure you do not have any spark? How are you testing? Are you sure the stator is not bad? They do not have a very bright or wide spark.

 

[45u]

I doubt that any of the aftermarket CDIs, other than the Jaguar, is actually tested. The profit is too low for them to spend their time connecting it to a bike and taking it for a test run.
The Jaguar CDI, on the other hand, is bench tested using a CDI tester that displays the timing throughout the whole RPM range.

This is the one I am going to order when the founds are livable.