Are Boyers really that bad? (2015)

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acotrel said:
I


I have thought of that. However if I fit a connector to the battery and my bike, and a similar connector to my battery charger, doesn't that introduce four more ways of getting it wrong ? .
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Eh? It's only two wires, how hard can it be ? You don't need a connector on the battery charger, croc clips will still work for charging.
 
pommie john said:
Eh? It's only two wires, how hard can it be ? You don't need a connector on the battery charger, croc clips will still work for charging.
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Remember Alan is old he might be losing the plot, sorry Al.
 
You dont have to be old to have a fry up or let the smoke out... Pazon recommend the fitting of an inline fuse toprotect their electronic gubbins... 5amps or so .
ashman said:
Remember Alan is old he might be losing the plot, sorry Al.
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Bet he would show you the way round a race track...
 
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Those standard two prong connectors work well for a battery charging line.
Most new battery chargers or tenders have a matching two prong with removable alligator clips.
Once the charging wire is installed correctly you can't F up the battery charger hook up, as long as you use the two prong, remove the alligator clips and store in a drawer. ( Croc clips in OZ, they hurt more !)

Glen
 
oldmikew said:
You dont have to be old to have a fry up or let the smoke out... Pazon recommend the fitting of an inline fuse toprotect their electronic gubbins... 5amps or so .


Bet he would show you the way round a race track...
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Its all good we all make mistakes and you don't have to be old we all lose the plot sometimes including myself, and maybe Al could show me around a race track but I could show him a few things as well, anyway I had a good run out of my old Boyer 35 years without a problem with it, hear a lot about other EIs failing, my first experience with EIs was a Lucas Rita which failed within 12 months way back in the late 70s.

Ashley
 
Yes you did . I had one of the very first Boyers .. bought it in 1972 . And it was an excellent piece of kit. Changed it in the 1990s for a later one , my experience with this was not so happy. What I feel about Boyer is that the build quality is poor . For instance the stator plate would not fit and then it turned out there was a break in one of the wires from the PU.. intermittent missfire no fire back fire . True it ususally settled down but it made me neurotic about going out on the bike. So I invested in a Pazon smartfire. The electricals are broadly similar to later Boyer but the build quality is superb , the connectors and so on. So too was the price but you get what you pay for.

I would have to say though that none of the aftermarket kit for Nortons and British approaches what
the Japanese fit at least in terms of performance. But then their CDI units do fail and breakers in the uk were asked for them all the time..
 
I don't know about showing someone around a race track. Winton Motor Raceway is only ONE race track. I am so familiar with it, I could almost get around there blind-folded. My problem is I get absent-minded. A simple thing such as getting the battery leads around the wrong way becomes a problem when you are an addled old idiot. There is a saying 'if you think how things were when they were good, they will that be good again' - however as you get older, your recollection of the past changes. With Winton, the whole thing is automatic because I raced there so often years ago, however getting there sensibly has become a problem. I stay away from Broadford because I don't know the circuit and I'm too lazy to do the work needed to learn it. And Phillip Island is economically out of reach.
 
I never had any problems with broken wires in the pick up, the only thing I did was to insulate the pick up wires better that go through the hole in the timing case, maybe doing that stopped the breakage of the wire, my first Boyer did fail but it wasn't the Boyers's fault major fire caused it from heat damage and failed a week later after fixing the fire damage and a 100 miles from home.
Al we all get absent minded at some point in our lives, one of my biggest problems is remembering peoples names, I have had that problem all my life or putting things down and forget where I put it not long after putting it there, so much time wasted looking for them lol.

Ashley
 
All you have to do is use a male and female connector on the battery side... and a male and female connector on the bike side.

Unlike the modern political world, in the mechanical and electrical world female to female and male to male don’t go.

So it’s error proofed.

Simples.
 
The problem is my Boyer has two power leads, one red and one white. In Australia, the standard is red for positive, black for negative and green for earth. Also Boyers can be either positive or negative earth. I'm fairly certain the red is the positive on my Boyer because if it had been the white, I'm sure I would remember. However it is 40 years since I installed the unit. I've had the battery in and out a large number of times without getting it wrong. But the post about Boyers getting killed when the polarity is reversed cast doubt in my mind. These days we don't manufacture much in Australia, so most of our electrics come from China. A whole range of coloured leads are involved. In the old days before neoliberalism, electrics were subjected to testing and authorisation by our states' electricity commissions. It seems the Chinese stuff is not intended to be repaired.
 
Fast Eddie said:
All you have to do is use a male and female connector on the battery side... and a male and female connector on the bike side.

Unlike the modern political world, in the mechanical and electrical world female to female and male to male don’t go.

So it’s error proofed.

Simples.[/QUOTE

Which ever way I go I run the risk of getting it wrong once and it only takes once to kill the Boyer. But you are correct, if I do what you say and get it right, it will be right forever. I've seen dual lead connectors - I might buy a couple and fit one pair to the battery and the Boyer leads, and the other half of one pair to the battery charger.
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If you’ve wired your bike with three wire colours, to Australian household standard and earthed it to a water pipe, you’re on your own.
 
Al,
Is the battery currently on the bike?
If so, fit a male / female connector to ONE WIRE at a time. Then you cannot go wrong and it’s error proofed for ever.

If the battery is not fitted, a quick conductivity test will ascertain whichever is the Earth wire.

If you fitted the Boyer 40 years ago I think it highly unlikely it would be negative earth. It was very much the norm then to keep positive earth.

If you get it wrong and toast the Boyer, just view it as a good excuse to upgrade... after 40 years, it doesn’t owe you much !!
 
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