Pertronix Ignitor Electronic Ignition
I know this has been discussed previously, but I wanted to see what the current impressions are.....has Pertronix improved the reliability/durability of their Ignitor Electronic Ignition systems for the Bosch distributor, or do the new units still have a 50% chance of surviving a race weekend? The last one I had lasted 2 months and less then 3 race weekends. I do not have any new sets of points left and the one in the car is getting somewhat bouncy. TIA.
FAST/Crane XR-700 Systems Fail, too
Hi All,
Since there was a request for update, I used the points from Rock Auto with good results, and toward the end of the 2022 season tried a Crane XR-700 system, which failed after almost a season of use. I am currently back to points, but plan to try another XR-700 system.
After a long discussion with Cameron at Ivey, apparently one of the weak links in the electronic ignition triggering system is the consistency of the feed voltage from the car. They have found that older and worn ignition switches and master kill switches can cause some feed voltage buzzing that could lead to unhappy electronics and possible failure. I have replaced both the ignition and kill switches on the 36 year old Reynard and will hopefully try another new XR-700 system this weekend, assuming I have time to install it. As for now, the points systems are still working reliably in the car.
Funny thing is, I am heading to Ohio tomorrow to help a friend who failed a combination XR-3000/MSD ignition system on an FF. We will try to get it running on just the XR-3000 system, but may ultimately need to go back to points on that car as well. The issue with that is that the car will not have a rev limiter until we can obtain a working rev limiting rotor, or some other rev limiting device.
I am still curious what other people are finding on their ignition systems. Ivey claims that the Euro distributor that they are selling is still basically a Pertronix unit, but is using a sharp edged trigger which, he claims, has much less ignition timing scatter up to 7000 rpm. While that sounds promising, I have not heard any reports on the reliability of this unit. For $350, it better be reliable. Does anyone have any experience with the Euro distributor?
AiM System Drop-out while Cranking
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rick Kirchner
This is what I have on the AIM. IIRC, the AIM tach amp blows up if the battery voltage drops below 10V while cranking. I didn't even Zener clamp it. On power up, the cap charges to the max battery voltage less the drop across the diode. Its then held there, bumped whenever the supply rises above the caps voltage, and that cap just levels everything out. Because the amps (and presumably the points devices) don't draw a lot of current, the cap functions as a short-term battery. It's big though - bigger than a D-cell.
Attachment 111094
Rick,
Would this also prevent AiM display drop-out while cranking? My AiM Evo4 system reinitializes when cranking, which also tends to screw up the SmartyCam recording. Is there a need for a large capacitor on the voltage feed for the AiM to prevent this from occurring?
Also, for those of us who are not Electrical Engineers (mechanical engineer here), what are the exact diodes and capacitors you are using? I do not know how to search or source these components. Help, please. Thank you.