Volts going to coils

[psycoreefer]

I want to suggest you try "wiggling" the plug in question while the bike is running. I was having a strange issue with mine and the solder joints looked good but wiggling the plug made the problem come and go. Turned out the metal connectors inside the plug had loosened up over time and all I did was stick a little screw driver down there and bend them a bit tighter = problem solved.

[randy]

Dave,

In my experience, solder connections may look pretty, but still be bad, especially 30 year old solder joints. I think you'll find success if you just re-solder, but hey, what do I know?

[DavesXS]

Did solder fix and successfully killed my bike.
Now waiting for another TCI and hope to God I don't have to solder anything

[DavesXS]

Figured I can't mess it up any worse so I tried again. This time just worked on the pin for the gray wire. Now it runs like before. At first 1 coil, then the other kicks in shortly.
I have another tci coming with only 7k miles on it. I'll seal the box and send it to some one if it ever need a solder fix in the future.

[randy]

Dave, don't give up yet, are you using the right type of solder? (rosin core) for electronics work. Other types (like plumbing type or acid core are no good. Try again and clean off the old, melt it and scrub with a wire brush, then re-solder with new solder.

These TCI's are very robust, the one weak point is those pins!

[Bigfoot]

I have been fighting a problem with my TCI as well. Took it apart and resoldered everything. Installed it back on the bike and seemed to run fine. Went for a ride and after about 10 miles lost spark on one and 4 again. Thanks to Vincer I was able to borrow his TCI. Plugged his in and immediately had spark on all four. I did that because I didn't want to troubleshoot all the wires, coils, and connectors again. It seemed an easy way to tell where the problem was. So back to the TCI. On the TCI board is there any components that I should check that would possibly be going bad? Going to tear it apart and try again this week.

[boyat68]

Bigfoot:

If you are able to look at the pins of the two transistors where they are soldered to the board and ensure a good solder joint. Those two transistors in Randy's photo are the ones that do the switching job for the TCI. In my experience, those large transistors give off a lot of heat that is absorbed by the metal case that surrounds them, but often some of that heat is transmitted to the pins where they are connected to the board, and if those solder joints are not good, then the thermal shock will loosen them from the connecting points.

Note: I have not yet had to do anything to my TCI, so this is a shot in the dark.

[randy]

Note: I have not yet had to do anything to my TCI, so this is a shot in the dark.

Not a shot in the dark at all, I have found the same trouble in quite a few TCI's. I don't write about everything that can be done in the TCI, 'cause those with little experience with electronics can potentially do more damage poking around with a soldering iron. Semiconductors are not happy when mistreated with heat!

[DavesXS]

I am not really sure what kind of solder it is. Its some thin solder I had laying around that I used to solder the connections on my apexi boost controller in the Z. I put a touch of flux on the tip of the solder.
I just got done trying again before reading your reminder of rosin core.
I have another one on the way. Hope it gets here soon.
I just thought of it, but theres a TV repair place 2 miles away. I'll let him look at it and see if it can be salvaged.

[LegendJet]

DavesXS:

As egsols said 12V on both. I read you the manual:

Remove the seat
Turn the ignition switch to "ON"
Check for the voltage at the unit terminals. Use a pocket tester with DC 20V scale
Grey to ground - 12volts
White/Red to ground - 12volts
Black/White to ground - 6volts
Orange to ground - 12volts
Red/White to ground - 12volts

I thought i was having a problem with mine also. I was having trouble with it charging and i ran all around the problem and i stared right at it all the time. Stator plug was melted but it didnt look like it. i fixed that. so I have accel coils on it and I have bypassed the ballast resistor. I am getting 11V on one side of each coil, and 8V on the other side of the coil wiht ignition in the ON position, not running. Measurements taken between ground and coil primary side terminal. With the bike running I get the same signal. Do these sound right. I also have pod filters on it, so ive been messing with the carbs too. I have 4 into 2 after market exhaust, pod filters and 147.5 main jets in the carb with floats raised 1 mm over stock. Im just wondering does the voltage signal sound right? The prob is the bike sounds like it has a rev limiter at about 5K-6K rpm. In neutral i can rev it alittle higher...any thoughts?

[boyat68]

LegendJet:

The pictures show my checking of the ignition module. Notice that the multi-meter check shows 10.95 volts. Taking in consideration the battery may be down plus the error in the cheap meter, it falls in line with being near enough to 12V as indicated in the test procedure. If you notice, I insert the probe into the plug end and the other end is grounded.