Harley HEI conversion problems

[Freckles]

Originally Posted by 73eldo

Did you ever figure out what was going on? Key on should not be a problem for the Harley's because power goes from battery - circuit breaker - key - gas pedal switch - then spits to the coil and solenoid. So even if the key is on no power to the coil. I would except carts to all be more or less the same since they turn off when you take your foot off the gas. They shut off because its killing the power to the coil.

Now a lawnmower like the link talks about, that is a different story. Those could be more like a car where key on coil on and it doesn't matter if engine is running or not.

The one spark thing is interesting and does sound like you are not getting a pulsed trigger so you only get one signal as the power goes away. Is there a condenser still in place?

My setup I installed both a 'power' LED as well as one across the trigger so if I don't see it flashing during cranking I know something is up. Those 2 LED's have saved me hours of troubleshooting. I think I'm ahead that way over just doing a much nicer job of the conversion in the first place.

No i still have not figured this out. I am currently running on points. condenser was still in place with the hei setup.

[73eldo]

Which conversion guide did you use? The one I used doesn't keep the condenser. Even if the conversion can keep it it should not be required so if you still want to mess with it I would try removing the condenser and see what happens.

Just because the condenser in question works with the points doesn't mean its working correctly with the conversion since the voltages and currents are a lot different.

[Freckles]

Originally Posted by 73eldo

Which conversion guide did you use? The one I used doesn't keep the condenser. Even if the conversion can keep it it should not be required so if you still want to mess with it I would try removing the condenser and see what happens.

Just because the condenser in question works with the points doesn't mean its working correctly with the conversion since the voltages and currents are a lot different.

Problem with that theory is that it worked perfectly for about a month with condenser intact. i could certainly try unhooking it.

[Freckles]

I used Lochlin's conversion diagram from this site. don't remember that one saying to remove the condenser.

[73eldo]

I can't seem to find that, is it still here? I could just be blind or have a smudge on my screen and its right in front of me.

[Freckles]

https://buggiesgonewild.com/showthread.php?t=124530

[73eldo]

Ahh.... thats why certain bits of this were ringing a bell..... I was involved. That is the diagram I found somewhere and posted that I used on another cart forum that kinda imploded then a few of us moved over here.

You do not use a condenser with that system unless you did the 'figure 2' with the bypass switch which takes the condenser out when its in HEI mode. IIRC this conversion diagram came from some sort of offroad adventure motorcycle group that was spending days or weeks out on the trails so I would imagine the bypass made more sense for them than how a cart is typically used. I did figure 3 with the light but went one step further and added another LED on the 12v input so I can easily tell if I'm getting power to the system and then also see if I'm getting pulses from the points. Those have saved me hours of trouble shooting. At a glance I know I got dirty points or power not getting up there.

[Freckles]

Just to update, My problem did end up being my HEI. I bought two and must have got confused about which one i had tried and which one i hadn't. They are identical after all. anyway, had it out the other day and went to confirm that my new hei's made no difference, plugged one in and i have spark again! Hard to beleive one of those HEI's was bad right out of the box. They were elcheapo's off of ebay. I just ordered a better one to have on hand. I still have my condenser hooked up. If it fails again in short order i will unhook it. Thanks for your help.