ARC ignition module

[kw]

Hi there, I'm e newbie here, just bought my first RE5 couple of weeks ago. Bike was originally sold in Florida, exported to france in the 90's.
Spent a lot of years at a collector in his barn. The collector passed away, and his wife sold all the bikes without papers.
A guy in france bought the bike, and wanted to get it on the road again. Unfortunately he had to sell his house, and went to an appartment.
So, no room anymore for the RE5. I bought the bike from him, so it's now in the Netherlands, and I want it on the road again.
First I want to start up the engine again, I took the carburettor off, and dismantled it. Cleaned , and ordered something from Stuart Knox.
But now my problem. I saw the original Suzuki CDI unit has been removed, and there's now an ARC ignition unit mounted. Also the ignition coil is missing.
does anyone know if I can use an original Suzuki coil with this ARC unit, or does it have to be a coil matching with the ARC unit?
I cannot find any info about this ARC unit on the internet...

[wayne]

Welcome Kw. Electronics are all voodoo to me. I contacted a board member who's very comfortable with this and here's his reply. Note his final comments about whether your ARC unit has a Hi tension lead:

Yes, all CDI units I've seen for RE5 use a coil as well (either the original coil or a replacement coil like Jess's unit) which generates the high tension voltage for the spark plug.

CDI units usually generate around 300 volts internally through an inverter/transformer arrangement to charge a capacitor which then discharges through the ignition coil primary winding to step up to the 15-30KV high tension in the secondary winding to fire the plug.

The ignition coil is basically a transformer with around 100:1 step up ratio. The 300 volts to the coil can be accommodated by standard wiring and insulation as you see in wiring harnesses. The HT From the secondary winding output to the plug is around 20-30KV so needs extra high strength insulation.


If the CDI has an ignition coil (high tension coil) inside it it may not be visible immediately but the thick HT lead to the spark plug should be noticeable.

High Tension and solid state electronics don't mix very well so the HT coil is usually separated from the electronics. If the CDI unit doesn't have a recognisable high tension lead with a plug cap on it, it will need a separate coil...

Hope this helps,

[kw]

Thanks Wayne for your reply. Last weekend I found out that the ARC CDI is defect, so I need another CDI. I found a new RE5 coil. so that's step one.
The original CDI's are hard to find, and very expensive. Maybe there's some sort of universal CDI which can do the job, or will that be a problem with a
Wankel engine? I also saw that the outer contact breaker points are disconnected. There's no wire anymore, and some sort of plastic cap is preventing that it will touch the cam. Was this done through a service call from Suzuki , why and when ?

[wayne]

The outers are the B points. You don't need them. The A models from the factory didn't have them and Suzuki had dealers disconnect them on the M's already out.

They make a small difference to engine braking and smooth the engine on over run at low rpm. Officially the disconnect was to stop the popping on overrun (which someone somewhere may have had on occasion, or so they say).

B points: a project for the future when you're bike is fully sorted. There's a spiel about them and a video of their performance somewhere on the board but, as an advocate for B points, even I'm telling you don't worry about them.

The plastic clip is almost certainly a stock item and just meant to protect the points from oil and dirt. They just pull off and once in your hand you'll see how they're shaped to fit over the fixed part of the point. They don't affect the movement of the cam follower.

As for CDI, as mentioned, not my thing. If you know electronics, it seems no big deal. A member on here did one up virtually overnight and sent it to me for testing. Worked a treat, was tiny and light. The wiring diagram for his one is on the board if you know someone who can build it for you. I suspect there are several off-the-shelf items that would work but that's as far as I can go. I'll post links to the CDI and B points (the latter for interest only) when I get a minute.

Read this one. Scroll down past the repairs and upgrade for the existing CDI and see the alternatives.

re5rotary.proboards.com/thread/2442/cdi-repair-alternatives


Just for interest, B points:

re5rotary.proboards.com/thread/3016/second-set-points-ignition