Help with timing!

[LordHelmet]

I am finishing up my 1970 Honda CL450 build and have hit a roadblock. I installed a Charlie's Place electronic ignition and went to time it and can't get any timing light to go on. I'm stumped. My battery is good and I followed all directions I could find. Tried different timing lights. Nothing.
Pic attached - I grounded the light, attached positive in parallel to the yellow lead from coil to ignition, turned on the bike and tried turning over the engine with my wrench to get the light on/off. Nothing. I tried the blue lead as well for other cylinder - nothing. Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[irk miller]

Looks like you have a mixture of green and black wires going on there. What is hooked up to what? Have you tested the power connection on each coil with your ignition switch on?

 

[LordHelmet]

Everything works as the bike started right up.
I have the timing light holes up in parallel with the yellow lead from the coil with that green short alligator clip extension. The black are grounds

 

[irk miller]

Yeah, normally green is ground on Hondas, so wanted to make sure you were actually on a ground. Have you tried to hook your negative lead from the test light directly to your ground circuit in the harness, or better yet to the negative pole on your battery? If everything works as it should, as far as running and coil power, then you likely have a grounding issue in your testing circuit.

 

[LordHelmet]

Yea weird thing is when I touch the testing light directly to the battery it does not light up. So I made a homemade light tester with an unused turn signal and it worked across the battery so I tried to use that for timing and it didn’t work either...
Frustrating all I want to do is ride this thing

 

[irk miller]

Do you have a timing gun? You can always do it with a gun. It's a bit messy, since the cover is off, but a pan to catch oil and towels can manage. Some people use an extra cover with a drilled site hole or plexi face. The gun will give you more accurate timing anyway.

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

You are doing static timing, right? You could use a meter for that but you need a timing gun to test the advance, they are not that expensive.

 

[LordHelmet]

Yeah static timing - never done it with a meter what should I set it to? Same idea with the contact leads I’m guessing

 

[irk miller]

There are two ways to check it with a meter. One is check for power and the other continuity. The light coming on tells you it's sending power when the magnet crosses the sensor. So hooking everything back up like normal and pushing your red meter lead through the back of the connector so it makes contact, then hooking your black lead to ground, will show power when it hits the timing mark. You can use continuity the same way, and if your meter has the audible alarm, it's a good way to hear the mark.

 

[LordHelmet]

Got it I’ll give it a shot thanks all
Sorry for the stupid questions but this is my first go at building a bike

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

Got it I’ll give it a shot thanks all
Sorry for the stupid questions but this is my first go at building a bike

No such thing as stupid questions.

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

No such thing as stupid questions.

Why does it hurt when I pee?

 

[teazer]

I have no experience with that ignition system, but with some, it is necessary to disconnect the coil when testing with a test light. Try that and see if it works.