Did Ya make a decision yet?

Noticed Jireh has the Ultima nosecone system on sale on eBay for $150.00 including plug wires and the coil. It's the same system as the Dyna 2000i.

 

Crane Hi 4 E plug and play under the seat module here for me.

 

 

I know they don't like us double-posting, consecutive-posting, but I wanted to thank everyone who participated in this poll.

My main objective was to try and get an idea of the failure rate of nosecone mounted ignition modules. With the Dyna2Ki and Crane being the most widely used, I assumed this poll would receive the most participation and hopefully give some clue as to the dependability of the design. Clearly this is somewhat less than a conclusive picture overall, but with an average failure rating of approx. 13% according to the votes, it looks like for the most part, they hold up reasonably well.

Again, many thanks to all.

 

Hard to draw any real conclusions from the numbers involved, Rufus. But if we could say a 10% failure rate with the two types involved, which may or may not be accurate, we'd need to compare that to the failure rate of the OEM systems, which might be 1%. There's a lot of them out there and they are still running, for the most part. Add in anecdotal stories such as wils5150 described and observations on these boards. You might try a search for "no spark" or something similar. Seems to me like 4/5 times it's a crane dual fire, and usually the one all in the cone. I would carry a spare in a saddle bag if I went that route. But then, I carried a spare OEM one too.

I think that if you can control the timing to the rear jug separately, that's a good thing. I think the racers retard the rear cylinder like 3 degrees or something. I am considering converting my bike to EFI and I'm debating whether to leave the SE ignition system on it or take over complete control of the ignition too. I can basically add a couple of chips and have ignition control, but it all adds complexity. On the Sportster, I just leave the OEM ignition alone and only control the fuel.

 

Excellent observations DrHess and I agree, the failure rate for the OEM ignitions is likely an immeasurably low percentage. (I replaced a module at 14,000 and a coil at 44,000 (with OEM) and the pickup was still original at 95,000).
And, the reason I specifically listed the H-4 in this was due to the very reasons you pointed out. I've seen a lot of threads and posts over my time visiting this forum where many ignition problems were directly related to nosecone modules, specifically the H-4. In all fairness, I suspect they outnumber all other brands in use by a large number, but reading about nearly new ones being killed by a spiked regulator or poor current feed, I would never buy an H-4 despite the fact their customer service was praised by the end users with failures.

Some of those type units require additional software and hardware to program for offsets, custom advance curves, dead cranking revs and other features, some do not. I read a good bit of literature and install sheets before I chose the Ultima Programmable (same as Dyna2Ki) and though they (Dyna) didn't mention it, most sheets advised leaving the offset as-is. But I can see how changing it might be desireable for racing with which way to go and how much depending upon the type of racing and require a dyno to tune.

One neat thing about the nosecone module, if it did fail and one did keep a spare - with pocket knife and black tape an ugly but effective roadside repair would be a few minutes job. (Of course tidy it all up later)

Partially for insurance, somewhat from being neurotic, and a good bit because I was meeting someone half way for a 2 week ride last fall who was having fuel and smoking problems with no mechanical experience at all, I carried enough tools and parts to basically be able to do anything in the nosecone including a cam bearing, wheel bearings, clutch and basic top-end rebuild, not to mention electrical stuff. So not to worry, when I travel, I'm as well prepared as I can get with 1 and 1/2 saddlebag worth of stuff. Yeah, I know - "why don't I set-up at bike rallies and fix peoples stuff to pay for my trip?" Cause I ain't pulling a trailer! That why

I only have about 8000 on my Ultima(2KI) since late last fall and most of that has been cooler weather. I think I'll order another kit for a road spare since it'd be more time effective than the OEM stuff if a roadside replacement is ever necessary. Damn, reckon I'll have to live out of the TourPak and a duffle on the next one - the 2 saddlebags will be full....

Have a good afternoon

 

Since you were asking for the pinout and if anybody else wants it, here's the circuit and made to program my ultima ignition. Costs about $2 in parts.

First, here's my disclaimer:Build this circuit:


most of the parts should be available at any electronics store. I actually ended up using a 2N3904 instead of the transistor I listed above. Any reasonable NPN BJT should work fine. And for the resisters, they don't need to be exact, either. Anything close should be fine. You also can see that you don't need a pull up resister on that final output that connects to voes line because the voes port on the programmer has its own built in pull up resister of 1k ohms. But you can add one if it gives you a warm and fuzzy or makes your circuit easier to test before clipping it on your bike.

It should end up looking like this:




And again, download the hd curvemaker software and manuals here:
http://www.dynaonline.com/skins/downloads/

Happy hacking.

Thanks to my friend anton, pajoe, and t150vej for helping me get the information I needed to put this together.

 

Installed a Dyna 2000i on a 113 S&S 16K miles and still going

 

I have installed many Dyna 2Ki systems, and have run one on my FXD since 2003. I have had and seen no issues with this system, all having the small (single) single fire coil.

I have seen some issues with the Hi-4, and have replaced a few. I would not recommend the Hi-4, though it appears to be a decent system when it is functioning properly.

I have installed a couple of Daytona Twin-Tec systems w/o issue, though I don't really have much long-term experience with their systems.

IMO, the Dyna is a more reliable system than the factory HD stuff, but I'm sure plenty of people would be willing to argue about that.