duraspark on atv

[03ranger4x4]

hey, the CDI box on my kawasaki lakota 300 went bad, and im installing a durapsark box in its place (the one from an 83 ranger if that matters)

My question is, will you burn out the duraspark if you wire everything up, but accidently put +12 volts to the green lead directly? I mis understood how they ran the wiring harness in my atv, and relized the yellow/red stripe wire i connected to the green "coil" wire on the duraspark was a hot 12 volt lead, and not a lead for the coil on the bike. I noticed the duraspark box got a little warm, but its hard to tell if it did damage.


Anyways, i wired the duraspark up correctly (red-12volt blk- ground purple and orange wires to the two leads from the ignition stator on the engine (which would be equal to the sensor in a distributor it would normal be wired to) and lastly the green wire to the Ground side on the coil (NOT the 12v side lol) and im not getting a danm thing. SOOOO i would like to know if i burnt out the duraspark, or if not, then it just isnt compatable with my atvs ignition system.


Im about to go buy another duraspark and try it and if i get no results, i suppose it can simply return the 2nd one (the first one i cut the connectors off, so cant really return it)


ALSO, one more thing, is a "ballast resistor" required for the coil lead or not? I saw a wiring diagram with one in it, however the atv did not orignally have one.

here is a diagram i looked up on how to wire the duraspark to the atv, for those who have trouble understanding what im talking about if you are unfamilar with atvs.
http://rthompson.us/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/atv-wiring.gif

 

[Shran]

The green wire is your coil negative... could definitely have burnt it up if you did that. Try another box.

Your ATV may have had a ballast resistor, sometimes they are just a really fat wire somewhere that necks down to a smaller wire. I would imagine that you would need it since you only need like 9v at the coil in a car, probably is the same with the ATV. You can get them at some parts stores.

 

[03ranger4x4]

ok, so i took a leap of faith in my judgement that i had burnt up the first box, and i was right. It fired right up the first time.

i also have a car coil with the box on it now, figured if i were to upgrade the box might aswell put a better coil in thats ment to work with the box aswell. As of now it runs with the car coil with NO ballast resistor (probably makes a ****ton of spark lol)


HOWEVER the timing is way off, just like the guys writeup on how to do this said it would, which is cured by placing resistors in the stator wiring (aka the orange and purple wires on the duraspark box) so another day im going to try and get some resistors or perhaps a POT and a timing gun and get the timing where it should be becuase its knocking pretty bad as it stand now. Still happy the repair cost me only 60 bucks including the 1st box i fried, instead of over 200 for the correct part, which in reality is the same thing, but in a crappier version lol.

 

[03ranger4x4]

looked up the purpose of a ballast resistor and its just there to protect the coil from overheating since some coils use 9v like you said. I didnt run the quad too too long with it without the resistor, and i felt the coil and it wasnt barely luke warm. but once i fix the timing/other issues with the quad and i take it for a long ride and i notice the coil is getting too hot i will put on in. unless i come across one in the junkyard then ill just slap it in anyways


its a shame though, even in junkyards, around here anyways even coming across the old cansistor type coil i got now was a search and a half. too many newer (well not new, but mid 90's-up pretty much) cars there have coil packs and bullcrap like that

 

[OilPatch197]

IMO, the duraspark ignition is the best, most modifiable, adaptable ignition system ever made, since all the components are independent from each other, you can really adapt the system to anything.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Maybe try a TFI coil they run on battery voltage and pack a punch you may need to gap the plugs alot wider plus you are working with aluminum if you get the spark too hot it could damage the engine. If you get a brite blue spark with the stock plugs is all you really need.

 

[03ranger4x4]

Ill have to take a look at what the spark is like with the car coil. With the stock coil however, the spark looked the same as stock (no surprise) and i could always go back to the stock coil if i wanted too.

Thats really something i never understood, was how the hell the type of spark matters as far as possibly damaging the engine. You mean if theres more spark the fuel somehow burns hotter? I figured if you have enough spark to correctly run an engine, adding too much more spark wouldnt do anything (except maybe make it a little better) i couldnt see how it would damge it considering there isnt any more air or fuel being added, eccentally the same amount of fuel is getting burned.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

I think it has alot to do with the pistons and valves the only thing that cools them is the fuel going thru and how hot the combustion chamber gets. Every engine is designed for a specific heat range for the spark and compression has alot to do with it flat or dome`d pistons. Different plug manufactures also measure heat range different I did some research and it is pretty confusing. sparkplugs.com I believe has a good cross reference for any kind of engine but I have been using autolite plugs for 30+ yrs and the only plugs that have fouled were for 2 stroke outboard idleing for long periods.