Electronic ignition - worth fitting on a cb550

[Sderbyshire]

The title says it all really, is electronic ignition worth fitting to my cb550?

are there actual running / performance gains over well maintained points?

if so what units are best for the sohc 4s?

should i also replace coils? 5ohm or 3 ohm?

TIA !

steve

 

[Maritime]

I put the Dyna on my GL, with their coils. It removed the condenser and ballast resistor, simplified wiring and it did improve the bike. It runs better than a fresh set of points. But I did have a lose wire cause total failure and that sucked. Points never do that, they slowly go bad/out of adjustment as they wear and will never leave you stranded and the failed Dyna did. I still put a Dyna back in but have the points now stored in a small package I take on trips just in case. The middle road is the transistorized ign that keeps points but bypasses the spark part so they never wear and you set them once and done, I think a popular one of those is the Honda Man??

 

[irk miller]

I like running the Dyna ignition on the SOHC4's. Still uses the mechanical advance, but I've always been happy with the performance. I'll run the Dyna on my 550 engine and I always run them on my 750s.

 

[Sderbyshire]

Thanks guys

with the dyna should i go 3 or 5 ohm coils on the 550?

I am running led lights, and a modern regrec, so the electrical system is good and isn’t under as much load as with incandescent bulbs

 

[irk miller]

Thanks guys

with the dyna should i go 3 or 5 ohm coils on the 550?

I am running led lights, and a modern regrec, so the electrical system is good and isn’t under as much load as with incandescent bulbs

3 ohm

 

[middletons]

The Dyna taxes the charging system of the 550 which can affect battery charging, and lower resistance coils make it worse. Check over at SOHC4 forum for a better explanation.

As mentioned above, a decreased load via LEDs will help, but don't use the 3 ohm coils.

 

[irk miller]

Dyna power consumption is negligible. The CB550 charging system produces plenty of power to manage it. Any conversations questioning their viability are ridiculous. You'll draw about 1.5 amps max.

 

[Sderbyshire]

I have read the sohc4 forum posts , and just did so again.

i’ll think about what approach to take, just rebuilt a fresh points setup so might run with that for a while.
especially as i cant really ride the bike at the moment with lockdown!

thanks for the replies everyone

 

[middletons]

Dyna power consumption is negligible. The CB550 charging system produces plenty of power to manage it. Any conversations questioning their viability are ridiculous. You'll draw about 1.5 amps max.

so the MANY posts over at SOHC4 discussing the increased draw of the Dyna system and the meager output of the stock 550 charging are ridiculous? The numbers i've seen put the ADDITIONAL draw of the Dyna system at 1.5 amps over points. I'm not trying to be difficult, just looking for answers.

 

[irk miller]

so the MANY posts over at SOHC4 discussing the increased draw of the Dyna system and the meager output of the stock 550 charging are ridiculous? The numbers i've seen put the ADDITIONAL draw of the Dyna system at 1.5 amps over points. I'm not trying to be difficult, just looking for answers.

Not saying you’re trying to be difficult. I’ve seen the many posts. I followed up with saying 1.5 amps of draw. That’s not a lot if you run an upgraded reg/rec and fresh wiring, plus modern, upgraded battery tech. Many of those posts are old. I also rely on actual application and take forum posts with a grain of salt. I run Dyna on all of my SOHC4 bikes. I have run them on 550, 650 and 750 Honda’s. I have never had a charging issue because of a Dyna. I have had trouble when a field coil was bad, or wiring that caused too much voltage drop. The Dyna itself can run on as little as 9v. The 550 alternator produces 150watts. You can easily add up your individual parts to see what you’re using up. You should also bear in mind that people are basing their numbers @12v in those threads, but the bike is running closer to 13.4v with a modern reg/rec. that literally cuts the amps in half. Points and the Dyna also don’t work on constant draw, so the math is even less accurate in those threads. For so many reasons, I prefer to actually run them and make those judgements based on actual use.

 

[middletons]

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

I had to remove the Dyna from my 550 because I was having batt charging issues (which led me to read the posts mentioned above). I was running a modern reg/rec, but no other measures to reduce stock load.

 

[Sderbyshire]

This is quite a subject!

i think with my bike having modern regrec and led lights the Dyna will be fine.

i see that 4into1 offer a kit with Magna 5ohm coils at a good price, might go for that.

any thoughts on the kit ?

steve