true newbie ignition question

remmy1101 · New Member Joined: Oct 28, 2009 Posts: 6

I have a 82 Heritage Special that I have tore down and I'm prepping myself for the re wire. I know I don't have a points system but how does the ignition coil know when to fire? Under my points covers theres nothing.. Am i missing something? Shouldn't there be some type of timing system from the cam? How does this type of system work? everything I see on mikes XS seems to have a replacement part for the points housing.

yamaman

G'day Remmy & welcome aboard.

1980 on US models have Transistor Controlled Ignition (TCI)
The rotor on the alternator has a magnet in it & when it passes the pick up it triggers the coil, advance is built into the TCI box.

Have a look on this page at Mikes:

www.mikesxs.net/produc...l#products

Cheers

Here's a wiring diagram from Jayels gallery, might help:

www.650rider.com/index...fullsize=1

remmy1101 · New Member Joined: Oct 28, 2009 Posts: 6

quick response thanks! hopefully the system still works after all this time =) if i wanted to upgrade to a better ignition I would have to add the camshaft system correct?

yamaman

You wouldn't have to no. Plenty of different options, you could still have a crank triggered Boyer ignition & others make them also.

The Pamco is a very popular conversion though (that uses the advance rod ect) Pamcopete posts here & the 650garage. His service is first rate from what I've seen here. He will walk you through install & back his work to the hilt.

One of the biggest enemies of these bikes is the electrical connections, you need to pull ALL the connectors & clean the hell out of them.

Lots of info in the vault section to wade through on most of what you'll need to know. Cheers

climb_on

not to make a new thread and continue with the newbie questions...lol

i also have a tci ignition, a 83 to be exact.
i found several easy to follow simplified/chopper diagrams the only thing im having a hard time is identifying the 3 wire pickup coil.

only thing that im confused is that due to fading and years are dirt the wire colors are hard to make out.

a picture would be great

thanks in advance

yamaman

Coming out of the alternator on one connector should be 3 white wires that go to the rectifier, a green & a brown wire from the brushes, and a light blue wire for the neutral switch.

A yellow wire (single connector) to the headlight relay.

The ignition pick up should have its own connector with the 3 wires, black/white, green/white & red/white. Hope that helps! Cheers

climb_on

ah ok that makes sense. i was thinking thats what it was...and here i was looking for a seperate little box.

thanks alot man

one more thing that neutral switch wire. is it needed for the recifter or can it be ran straight to a bulb to be used as an indicator light?

yamaman

That's what the blue wire does, when the bikes in neutral the switch completes the earth, the blue wire runs to the neg side of the neutral globe.
Nothing to do with the rec/reg, just shares the same plug.

Did you see the wiring diagram I linked in my 1st post above? Cheers

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