ballbearian
Veteran Member
I really hope he is not a thief, just a goof. There is enough good folks, even in the groups that will shame and boycott someone of bad faith like that.
Comforting to know that someone else (the person who donated the CDIs to me to finish this project) has already taken my work and is attempting to possibly manufacture a competing model.
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Just a bit of background information on this project. I have been working on this off and on for the past 10 years, had a lot of notes, but mainly needed a few more broken CDIs to finish the last bit of this schematic. This guy was complaining about it on a facebook group, I showed him my notes, he had some additional ones that he got from someone else years ago. He sent me his broken CDIs, and from that I was able to complete the schematic, build and test it and so on. The further progress I made he started asking for things I thought were unnecessary for this project. Such as the removable connector. I asked why is this necessary, and he wanted to be able to quick change the CDI in case it fails. I was saying if you're at that point where you are constantly swapping out CDIs and need a quick connector for this then you have a deeper issue that needs solved. I am not doing that and modifying the case design for this purpose. If you want to do such a thing, buy a kit, and put some connector closer to the box or whatever. I added some mounting holes in the 5th revision mainly for him, though I think this is a bit silly.
He doesn't know much about his own bike, he asked a lot of questions, claimed to know somethings about electronics but he was usually wrong or confused when I gave answers to his questions. Maybe he was feeding for more information, I have no idea any more. At some point I mostly stopped answering him because he couldn't even figure out that 1N4002 was a diode. If you can't understand that, you shouldn't be attempting to make these circuits and should buy a pre-soldered kit or the completed unit, in my opinion.
I don't know who this guy is specifically. He has no idea of these forums, just fb groups and does not know how to use a computer very well. I just kind of chalked him up to being a goofy old timer.
But he did mention he was in touch with people from France and elsewhere over the years to try and make a CDI for him and people would ignore him (wonder why?) after a while and he really wanted to get his bike running again. Gave me a sob story about how he loved this bike, and it was a real shame there are no options out there for these bikes.
I don't know who made up this slightly modified board design (I also noticed it's been changed to be a true dual layer board, with a modified component layout, probably to make it dissimilar enough from my version); but I would suspect the guy in France as this guy can't figure it out himself. But I can assure you that if it does come down to a competing version (which I really hope this does not, it should not be like this in a small niche community) that I'm using the proper components and a lot of work has been poured into this to make it everything it should be and you expect it to be.
I'm a bit upset by this as I gave the guy a discounted completely assembled kit (cases are not made yet, he just wanted the pre-assembled kit to mount himself he claimed), even a blank PCB to experiment with (which was the older prototype PCB that was larger). He never used the CDI, I followed up with him as I was excited to hear about someone using my work and being happy that their bike finally runs again. Instead, he said his bike started one night, not the next and he was still playing around with old CDI. At that point, he began shotgunning parts and clipping wires and jumpering them based on bad advice on facebook groups. That's about when I got fed up with this guy. I originally made the detailed instruction thread on what to test for your stator, etc. BECAUSE of this guy. I gave him a word document in facebook and email directly and a link to the thread. He never read any of them, instead just started assuming it HAS to be this wrong with it or THAT is wrong with it and I'd follow up with "did you test the stator?", "did you test the relay?", "did you test the coil?", and so on and he never did. I asked if he needed help with that, but he didn't. He's soldered heath kits back in the day, did some ham radio he knows what's up. So, OK.
And yeah, I know that selling as a kit is a risk because anyone can just buy the kit one time then copy it with some effort. And it may be inevitable. But with something so oddly niche specific I figured it was mostly unlikely. It's not like a CB750 where everyone wants parts for it. If it happened, I figured it would be after I sold a few of these to make up the hundreds of dollars and my personal time on this project. I made the kits an option, at a risk to me, because I know what it's like. Having a bike and no money, it may actually be your only means of transportation. It was for me in my 20s. My wife at the time used my car and I rode that CM400A year round, even in the snow, because it's automatic you can drag your feet and blip the throttle at 3mph in a snow storm and not stall out. I have been there. The kits are mainly intended for people like that.
Sorry for the stream of consciousness story/rant here. Just a bit dissuading.
While I realize you were just trying to help and being an honest guy, in these times that rarely pays off. I've been more generous with help and information than most all my life and the old expression "nice guys finish last" isn't too far from true in many cases. Hopefully he's enough of a bungling amateur that the amount of help you gave him won't matter. And, sometimes shysters actually do get their "comeuppance" as grandma used to say.
For brevity, here's where it all started. The first two failed perfboard prototypes. I know it looks fairly easy, but soldering all that by hand while continuously looking at a schematic and the original CDI PCB was not easy to do. When I realized it was too much work to do it by hand is when I decided to learn the PCB software to make life much easier.
Wow… this thread. Glad to be here, and glad to stand on others shoulders, even if for just a short time.
Any options for non-hondamatic CDI’s in the future?
It looks good to me! I appreciate all of your efforts and attention to detail here.
Yeah, I don't think any cosmetic flaws are going to affect the way it runs... :lol:
I hear you about looking too over-commercialized but when you're also trying for the most professional look, the handwritten info on the back of the unit is both good and bad. If accompanied by a small sticker with your brand name on it then it would be like Honda putting little paint dots on important, finished parts as a QC check but if it's by itself and they're the only markings on any unit you make and sell, it just looks like they're coming out of your garage. We here at VHT know the work quality so it doesn't mean anything to us, but I'd think a small professionally-made sticker with your brand on it, on the front of the box, along with small handwritten notes on the back, would provide an image of a little more professionalism. Just my opinion.
I hear ya. If I get to a point where they would be sold on say 4into1 or a similar place I'd have to step it up a bit more for sure. Personally, I prefer a handmade part made out of someones house that looks as professional as it reasonably can be (i.e. what I'm trying to accomplish) when it comes to obscure and niche parts like these. But you do make a good point. These are the first 2 fully assembled units to go out, so it's still a learning curve for me. #1 is me of course, but I did sell two kits previously thus Ben is #4. I appreciate you taking a chance on me and the project Ben.
CDIs are officially shipped.
And it's a nice piece, I have one on my T1. The only issue I have with it is the mounting. You bolt a supplied piece of aluminum to the original holes and then zip tie the CDI to that plate.
I think everyone is rooting for success with this and the other pieces you've done.
It's a niche market that's been a wasteland for way to long.
You might contact Custom Rewind in Alabama and let them know you will have these for sale, they're a small mom & pop shop that does the stators and pickups. https://lomyu.com/en-view.php?seo=custom-rewind-193145
And it's a nice piece, I have one on my T1. The only issue I have with it is the mounting. You bolt a supplied piece of aluminum to the original holes and then zip tie the CDI to that plate.
Frank has gone to the trouble of getting replica cases made so they will look and mount just like the original.
I intend to take a comparison photo of the 2 units. Yeah, the plastic case is a cheap enclosure.Yeah, I don't agree with the looks. My guess is they found a large stock of some type of case cheap and did that instead of having one made up proper. The case does drive up the cost quite a bit. Easily $50 in the cases themselves.
I intend to take a comparison photo of the 2 units. Yeah, the plastic case is a cheap enclosure.
Received the CDI in the mail today. I'll follow up when I've got it installed; hopefully this weekend. Thanks Maraakate!
That makes 2 CDI's delivered today, MT version arrived on time. Looks great. Can't get any testing done until Wed but I'm going to set up and see how it does from dead cold start tomorrow.
I think I have a small plastic case it'll fit in but in any case it'll be insulated from any metal contact. Pictures I can do, I'll try for video.I know you know this, but just gotta say it anyways. Make sure you isolate the bottom of the board on a piece of wood or in a plastic case or something so it doesn't short out on the frame. If it touches the frame at all at any point the party is over. You can even put some wraps of electrical tape around the whole thing if you want to. And don't forget pictures/videos!
I got Maraakate's CDI installed today on my 78 Hondamatic.
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Ignore the temporary kludge factor on my rear mount, please. The bolt sheared off with very little force applied Fortunately I got the forward mounting bolt off without as much trouble. Installation was otherwise pretty easy. Sorry to say I had the bike started briefly with the dying CDI before I swapped them out, so you won't get to hear a true cold start with the new one, but here is the first test:
I did a 15 min road test after this. I've been having a lot of trouble holding speeds above 60 for the past year. Today I was easily cruising at 60 and picked it up to 70 without troubling the bike too much. I call this a success. Thanks Frank!
On a separate but related note... does anyone know the purpose of the green grounding wire that attaches to the CDI's rear mounting bolt? It comes off of the main harness, not the CDI. Not trying to hijack the thread, I just figured this would be relevant to anyone coming later who swaps out the CDI.
Glad to hear it works! Thanks so much for taking a chance on an unknown guy like myself and being the first to purchase a complete unit!
I know it won't be much help to you, but I bragged about your efforts on the ADVbikes.com site a couple days ago while discussing forum takeovers and how VS treated both us and you. I also made sure it was clear that you have both units available for those who need them. It's a site for all types and styles of bikes but mostly adv bikes, though many there have street bikes and wives/girlfriends who ride smaller versions so you never know.
Thanks! Yeah, you never know. If you got a link to that thread I'd love to see it.