troubles with ignition 123, Dead dizzy got me dizzy Options

[wbgoggans]

I purchased a 123 Tune-4-R-V-V distributor after hearing all the ranting and raving about it here (and on a few other forums). Using some of the detailed posts on this site, I was able to get my motor fired up on the stand with the 123 — but after less than five minutes of run time, while I was tweaking a fuel line, I suddenly heard the Bluetooth disconnect.

When I checked the distributor, there was no blue light and no green light under the rotor. I reached out to Ed at 123 Ignition, who was very helpful and suggested I send the distributor in for warranty repair.

Once Ed received it, he found that the board inside the distributor was completely dead. He replaced the board and shipped it back to me. I reinstalled it Sunday night and began statically timing the motor — and then after 10 minutes or so this time without even getting to hear my motor run my dizzy is dead with the same symptoms as before.

Ed has kindly offered to replace the board again, but after already spending $50 in shipping to and from Ohio and waiting two weeks, I’m not eager to repeat the process without knowing why this keeps happening. At this point, I have a $600 paperweight and no clear explanation and no hope that replacing the board again will give me a different result.

So, I’m hoping to tap into the collective brainpower of 914World to figure this out. I’ve already tested my coil and will be sending Ed photos of my run setup tomorrow.

If anyone has suggestions or ideas on what could be frying the dizzy, please let me know — I’m happy to provide any details or photos that might help diagnose the issue.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[123ignitionusa]

Hey guys, I am wondering, if the grounds are not solid what could happen?
He mentions using jumper cables for connections.

I feel if it were me I would make those connections after I bared the metal, with a wire wheel or equivalent, and using nuts and bolts make it as secure as possible.

It might be similar to a car but there are no cars I am aware of that run with jumper cables. The cables are fixed solidly to the battery with a proper connection that is bolted to the terminals, and the other end is bolted to the frame and then the engine. Making for solid ground connections.

So I guess the question for the electrical engineers is what happens when the grounds are questionable?

Thanks, we really want to help our young brother understand the mechanics of this installation. I'm just old school and know bad grounds are often the cause of many problems.

[Superhawk996]

So I guess the question for the electrical engineers is what happens when the grounds are questionable?

We really want to understand the mechanics of this installation.

Not an electrical engineer but mechanical with background in electronics.

My theory:

Ignition coils and their respective transformer windings are basically an inductor.

Inductors are capable of generating some hella large voltage spikes governed by the equation: v = L dI/dt

Instantaneous interruptions of current flow create high values of dI/dt.

If the coil current flow is being interrupted by a vibrating ground clamp those induced voltage spikes are going to try to go somewhere. Where do they go? Well, that is very hard to predict but I wouldn’t be surprised if they could whack a semiconductor somewhere in an unprotected circuit.

Same would pertain to any inductors or chokes that may be within the 123 distributor circuit board itself.

Will be interesting to see if we can get an EE to chime in.

Good experiment and opportunity for development testing: replace dizzy again. Bolt up ground. I’d bet a lunch that it lasts this time.

Edit: doesn’t fully explain OP’s second failure on a non-running engine but could be that if ground clamp is attached and then wiggled one way or another, it’s triggering the same failure mode of induced voltage spikes as a vibrating ground. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) Maybe . (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)