Conventional Coils

I get a lot of questions as to what coils are suitable for use with the Rae-San  ignitions – and while some guidance in the form of 2.5 to 5 ohms coils are suitable – I decided to do some investgation or readily available coil choices .

As part of this exercise i was looking for a standard type of coil fitment that I could recommend  – and also  looking for some suitable Coil On Plug (Stick Coils) that migth provide a sensible option – as some of these can be had quite inexpensively.

This page documents the results of the Conventional Coil Tests

You can find the COP investigations on this page – Coil on Plug

Tested Coils

Single Fire Dual Coil

Harley Davidison style Coil Pack – these are very readily available – I just used a generic one from ebay – not one of the expensive ones.

Dyna Style Coils  3 Ohm Single Outout

These are clones of the Dyna 3 ohm DC3-1 coils – similar

These are fitted on one of CXPREAK’s bikes so bench testing was limited to what I could do in his garage

Similar to the 2fastMoto and others.

 Ricks Motorsport 23-103 Coil

EMGO 24-37812

As part of setting up some kits for the CX – Ricks kindly sent me a couple of coils to test for suitability for the 12V systems. These are there catalog no 23-103 also known as a FL601-AC3X  12V.  They measure just over 4 ohms and fit the statndard mounting location – 80mm mounting.

The EMGO 24-37812 is the manufacturers coil and is widely available aftermarket. It is usually listed as CB350 / 450 model  coils from the 60s up to about 1977

Forseti FIC-001B-H22 Coil

Australian Retailler Forseti – this is listed as a GL coil – and the price is about the best I can find – $AU 66 for a pair !
Note that these coils incorporate a  diode and have a + and – terminal –

AB7030 Coil

Ordered from wemoto and listed as a gl500 coil –

WRONG – CDI COIL

Note that while the coil has two lug terminals they are at 90 degress to each other – this might be a gereral indication on CDI coils

Mikes XS/ 4 ohm QC-0026 Coil

4 Ohm style coil with two mounting bolts.
Known to exhibit cross firing problems if mounted close together

Generic CDI Coil

Ebay generic CDI coil with single bolt mount

WPELC04120126
713858

In Australia this is a Whites coil – WPELC04120126.
As near as i can figure out it is listed as a 713858 coil on numerous other places such as amazon and is often listed as a CDI coils for KTM 620 LC4

OEM Honda CDI coil

Original CX CDI coil for reference

OEM HondaTAI coil

Original CX TAI 12V coil for reference

The parameters of interest are  resistance, charging time -in relation to the dwell time, spark strength and heat generated in both the Rae-San module and the coil itself.

Resistance

The resistance is a factor in that it determines the current drawn by the coil when it reaches saturation –
Once saturation is reached any additional dwell time is wasted as the coil is not storing any additional energy and must dissipate it as heat. As an example a 3 ohm coil will saturate at near 5Amps – and this is a power of nearly 75W into the coil – for no gain.

Dwell / Time to Charge

The time to charge the coils can vary greatly – as they have  widely varying inductance’s (L)/ As a result the L/R time constant – the time taken to roughtly reach 2/3 of the max for the coil – can vary as well. We want to aim for the dwell time to be about 1.5 – 2.0 times the L/R time constant so as to avoid wasting current and generating excessive heat.

Spark Voltage

Without a high voltage probe this is a bit hard to measure directly – but I will grab a spark tester to be able to measure the gap jumped.
Typically the coils run about  100:1 turn ratio – so an estimate of the spark voltage an be made from the amplitude and duration of the spike on the drive side.

Spark Duration

This can be observed from the trace – and is directly related to how much energy is stored in the coil – the more energy the longer it takes to dissipate – note that a factor in this is the amount of resistance in the spark plug and cap – as this determines the current. No resistance will shorten the spark – making the spark current higher  – I recommend always having a single resistor  – either in the plug or in the cap – this gives the intended spark duration and generates less electrical noise – both back into the bikes own electrical system and to vehicles that you might be next to.

Coil Heat

This is the single biggest factor in the lifetime of the coils. They get hot – and then they sit above a hot engine – so they get even hotter. Any excess dwell time results in excess current – which results in excess heat.
At low RPM we don’t care so much – as the coil isn’t firing as often so overall a longer dwell here doesn’t add up to much.
At higher RPM we care A LOT. if you are running sustained operation at 6000 rpm say – that’s 100 fires a second ( on a wasted spark system)- every mS of extra dwell time  once near saturation becomes 0.1S coil operation and another 7.5W of heat in the coil.

Module Heat

The MOSFETs used in the Rae-San Ignitions are good – but not perfect – they have a resistance om about 1/4 ohm – so at saturation of say a 5A coil – they each dissipate 6W for the short time -if we are driving say a COP coil of 1.2 ohm  – this rises to 25W for short peaks. Neither of these is a problem, but it is important to check whether additional heatsinking when mounting the module needs to be considered.

Testing Results

Summary

Single Fire Dual Coil

Conclusion

Excellent match for the RaeSan V4 module with Standard  4-6ms dwell –

Spark :  EXCELLENT
Cost    : $$
Mount: CUSTOM
Leads:  Purchase

Dyna Style Coils  3 Ohm Single

Conclusion

Excellent match for the RaeSan V4 module with Standard  4-6ms dwell –

Spark :  EXCELLENT
Cost    : $$$
Mount: Ok
Leads:  Purchase

Ricks Motorsport 23-103 Coil

EMGO 24-37812

Conclusion

RECOMMENDED STANDARD MOUNT – FOR TAI

Rae-San Module with  Standard 4-6ms Dwell  -.
THIS is another EXCELLENT Match tot he V4 module with the standard dwell – with the advantage of included leads and possibly easier accessibility.

The EMGO can be found at many suppliers from Amazon through to the usual bike suppliers.
It is often listed as CB/SL 350/450 coils up to about 1977.
Check if you can for the FL601-AC3X 12V number on the body.

Spark :  Good to Excellent
Cost    : $$
Mount: Stock
Leads:  Stock

Forseti FIC-001B-H22 Coil

Conclusion

Rae-San Module with 4-6ms Dwell  – not recommended for sustained high RPM operation as the coils will get HOT.
Rae-San Module with 3.5ms Dwell – Recommended –

Spark :  Good
Cost    : $
Mount: Stock
Leads:  Stock

AB7030 Coil

AB7030 as 12V coil

AB7030 as CDI Coil

Conclusion

NOT RECOMMENDED as  a 12V – this really seems to be a CDI coil although it works as a TAI style coil. If run at 3.5ms rather than the higher dwell time of 5ms – the heat in the coil is manageable  –

If run as a CDI coil – its quite GOOD.

Spark : 
Cost    : $$
Mount: Stock
Leads:  Stock

Mikes XS / QC-0026 4 Ohm Coil

Conclusion

Not Recommended – Crostalk and 20kv spark

Spark :  POOR TO AVERAGE
Cost    : $$
Mount: CUSTOM
Leads:  STOCK

Generic CDI Coil

Conclusion

30kV spark – excellent value for CDI systems but beware some generic coils are about 1.6 ohms – these are not uitable and will cause early failure of the GY6

Spark :  GOOD
Cost    : $
Mount: Ok
Leads:  STOCK

WPELC04120126_713858

RECOMENDED CDI COIL REPLACEMENT OPTION

Conclusion

30kV spark – excellent value for CDI systems

Spark :  GOOD
Cost    : $
Mount: Ok
Leads:  STOCK + GND

OEM Honda CDI Coil

Conclusion

Reference CDI Coil.
35kV spark

Spark :  Good
Cost    : Free or $$$
Mount: Stock
Leads:  Stock

OEM Honda TAI Coil

Conclusion

Reference Coil from a cx650 – 3.0 ohm. at 5ms dwell gets warm but not hot  from sustained 6600 Rpm and 28KV+ out. At 3.5 mS dwell run colloer with only a very slight drop in output – works with either dwell.

9 Comments

  1. Ray-San

    got a oem tai coil on the way from ebay – so results for that asap

    • Ray-San

      updated with the cx650 coil tests 🙂

      • Anthony Blatch

        Pardon my ignorance, but what drives the OEM CDI coils in this set up?
        Do they not need a CDI box to step up the voltage?

        • Ray-San

          cdi coils in the tests are driven from the GY6 cdi driver modules.

  2. Emma

    We supply Harley single and dual output ignition coils with competitive price. If you are interested, please contact us freely.

  3. Jennifer Damron

    This blog was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve found something which helped me. Thanks a lot!

  4. Doug Cook (D-fresh)

    First of all Ray, I want to say thank you for all your help with providing a product that helps keep these machines on the road, Kudos to you!

    I looked at all the conclusions for the different coils tested and their compatibility with the RaeSan V4, how do those results translate to the V3?

    Thanks

    • Ray-San

      v3 / V3.5 is CDI so you need to look at the CDI coils as compared to v4 which is using the 12V coils.

      so for CDI coils, oOEM, pit bike and AB7030 all work well – another nice option for cdi is the seedoo cop coil ( on the cop testing page)

  5. ‏ozark ending

    Major thankies for the article post. Want more.