dan williams

Yup. Cap to stop the lights from flickering. Would also provide starting current for the fan if the lights are all on. The fan needs an instantaneous startup current of about 10 Amps but only for a very brief time. It drops to about an amp when it is in constant operation.

Thank Konrad. Better presentation than what I had.😃

The spark plug operates off of a pulse generated when a triac trigger dumps the stored charge from a capacitor through the primary side of the ignition coil. Hence the term Capacitor Discharge Ignition. The voltage used to charge that cap is rectified by high voltage diodes in the CDI unit. The timing curve is programmed into a microcontroller in the CDI.module. These are typically run on 5V which will be derived from the 14.9V signal out of the rectifier. So the high voltage side of the CDI that fires the spark plug is isolated from the low voltage side of the CDI.that controls the trigger sense and the firing of the triac. This can be done in several ways but the cheapest and easiest is a transformer. The secondary side of the ignition coil is its own circuit which has to have a complete path back to the common of the ignition coil. As I said in older engines the engine case usually had a hard ground connection. The EVO doesn't and relies on the ground wire at the back of the frame through the engine cases to the cylinder. In my bike with titanium screws and magnesium cases that connection may not be as "hard" as necessary for the spark current. High rise time signals don't always behave the same as dc As for the diagram it's straight from the Beta manual with things not on my bike removed and annotated with my measurements. If your buddy crushed a capacitor on his bike he must be a European spec bike as the cap is used to smooth out the voltage for the lighting system. The US spec bikes don't have that cap. From a purely mechanical perspective what the diagram shows as three stator coils is actually 10 coils for lighting which are probably connected in parallel to supply low voltage high current and two coils for the CDI charge voltage which are likely wired in series to provide the high voltage needed to charge the capacitor in the CDI. The third coil shown on the schematic is the reluctance sensor that triggers the CDI. The face of the trigger sensor looks like it has had contact but I think this is just how it was adjusted at the ignition manufacturer since there are no witness marks on the flywheel to indicate contact. I suspect the construction of the sensor isn't just a magnet and coil but includes a pole piece that allows some flexibility in manufacturing as the pole piece can be ground down to proper clearance after the sensor is encapsulated. If you tried to do that with a rare earth magnet it would shatter. They are notoriously brittle. I plan to get a much better look at all the signals once I have a breakout board and can sniff them while the bike is running. I have several oscilloscopes here but I'll not risk the benchtop equipment playing with unknown voltages. That's why I bought some "sacrificial" cheapo portable scopes. But for now the bike is running as it did without sending the stator for a rewind. Or a $300 replacement. And I learned some stuff. So win-win. I'm just trying to share my learning with my EVO peeps who might not have the experience in electronics I have. I'd love to tear into the CDI module but that would be an expensive exploration. So for now it remains the classic electrical engineering "Black Box Problem" where you can see the goesintas and goesoutas but what happens in the box can only be guessed at.

Hmmm looking at closeups of the other connector and I noticed the water seal on the back of the high voltage wire (Red/White) to the coil looks less than perfect.

Back with learndings about the electrical system on my EVO after it glitched and cracked some ribs. Thought it was carb but seems it was electric. One interesting insight was how the electrical system finds ground for the spark plug. The other was the revelation that the 300 Ohms called out in the owners manual for the trigger coil might be a wrong value so if you're diagnosing your Stator and the trigger reads 185 Ohms you're probably OK. EDIT, fixed some typos Beta debug.pdf

Yeah but if negligence can be proved a liability waiver isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. But that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish. Landowners might be somewhat shielded by “hold harmless” laws but organizers are very exposed. The word from the insurance company is they had to pay out a large claim for a drowning so now all water is verboten.🫤

So this showed up on our event insurance (along with the wrong additional insureds). Trialsmaster clarified with Birdsong insurance if someone falls in a puddle we are not covered without additional insurance. 🫤 So if it rains and you don’t get the additional coverage you are not insured.

Sad news from California. Lane Leavitt passed away on May 16th. Lane was a multi-time U.S. national champion who went on to a career in films and television as a professional stunt man and coordinator improving and inventing systems in common use in the film industry. A larger than life presence. He will be missed.

The S3 website shows the 250 and 280 head inserts have the short plug neck and the 300 head insert has the longer neck. If that is different than the stock head insert than I guess try a longer plug of the same type/heat range and go from there.

Interesting the plate is still 3mm thick but the friction material is semi-metallic and the plate width is thinner. Something I didn’t notice about the kevlar plates is they are slightly wider than the stock plates.🤔

I noticed some of the bikes that use the 3mm Barnet plates also call out 1 plate with a different number. I ordered one just to see if it’s the same form factor with a different thickness. I’ll let you all know what I find.

Not sure what difference this may make but just adding to the general knowledge I notice the Beta fiber plates are now noted as being Ferodo rather than Adige. I personally haven't seen any but I do see Beta wants a lot more money per plate.

Anybody try the TL01s yet? Opinions?

The stock brake lines are 1/8” J. Juan lines but I haven’t found any specs for the hose. There are ultra-low expansion hydraulic hoses but finding specs is proving difficult.

Yeah I remember that. There were always custom goodies on Ron’s bikes. Including a few Ron specific mods. Always amazed me the stuff Ron Jr. could do especially since he could barely flex his throttle wrist. He’d turn the throttle on by rolling it under his fingers and control power with clutch technique.