Testing of the Tr-Spark ignition

O.K. guys I have decided to do some testing, I'm going to take the bike to the proving grounds. I am taking two days off of work to do this and have chosen a few locations to do this testing, I have decided to leave first thing in the morning and am bringing a witness (wife) so you don't think this is phony, She don't lie. I think? LOL Anyways I will take pictures so you will know I am really doing the testing. Both my bikes have the Tri-Spark ignitions and as I have said before they have never giving me any problems so far, But that being said these test will be the most extreme tests that I can think of, And the locations should also be of the most demanding ever done with these systems. I will test in heat, High altitude, Lots of weight on the bike (me and the wife) And anything else that I can think of. I will report back, Ride safe, Chuck.

Just don't be testing that Tri-Spark for high impact failures! Take care out there.

Hortons Norton said:

O.K. guys I have decided to do some testing, I'm going to take the bike to the proving grounds. I am taking two days off of work to do this and have chosen a few locations to do this testing, I have decided to leave first thing in the morning and am bringing a witness (wife) so you don't think this is phony, She don't lie. I think? LOL Anyways I will take pictures so you will know I am really doing the testing. Both my bikes have the Tri-Spark ignitions and as I have said before they have never giving me any problems so far, But that being said these test will be the most extreme tests that I can think of, And the locations should also be of the most demanding ever done with these systems. I will test in heat, High altitude, Lots of weight on the bike (me and the wife) And anything else that I can think of. I will report back, Ride safe, Chuck.

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I am starting to regret mentioning my TRi-Spark failure now I have an image of Chuck and his wife doing 100mph in the Painted Desert whilst hanging on to a laptop watching out for the Arizona state police helicopters!!!! and I am not sure if 'lots of weight on the bike (me and the wife)' is going to be appreciated by Chucks other half. It would be easier to look at the standard equations used to relate electrical component failure to elevated operating temperatures. I believe it is based on The Arrhenius formula and is used in the MIL-HDBK-217 (US Department of Defense) electrical component stress modelling to name just one standard. This dependance on temperature can be simply shown in the diagram below.






Without going into extreme detail a simple statement can be made in that, if it is not neccasary to place the electrical components in a high temperature environment then it is quite clearly best not to since the failure rate is dependant on temperature. I am not going into the two curves presented as they are based on different assumptions and data but both exhibit a similar trend. Anyone interested (Ludwig.. ) can go to this page as one of many..

http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0189_mfr/

I am not an electrical engineer and have just gleaned this from the Internet...so comments, corrections and discussions appreciated

When Military grade equipment meets it's reliability prediction I'll be out of a job!

B+Bogus said:

When Military grade equipment meets it's reliability prediction I'll be out of a job!

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Oh dear that means things look pretty bleak for any other electrical system operating at elevated temperatures then .... :roll: :roll:

Oh come on plj850! This is on the road testing, LOL LOL This whole thing is meant to be funny. With all the talk of reading how hot it gets and how much heat the components can take I just thought since we are going away (me and the old lady), I could make some fun with this. We have only seen one fail that I know of and to me that's kinda funny that all this talk centers around that. Someone mentioned that the heat in OZ is much higher than here and they are just coming out of summer, Maybe we need to look at the situation down under to see if they had any failures? All of this is more serious to some than I guess I may feel, For those I'm sorry. I just wanted to make a little fun with this, But I shall report back. LOL LOL LOL. Oh by the way the wife does like to go fast.

Hortons Norton said:

Oh come on plj850! This is on the road testing, LOL LOL This whole thing is meant to be funny. With all the talk of reading how hot it gets and how much heat the components can take I just thought since we are going away (me and the old lady), I could make some fun with this. We have only seen one fail that I know of and to me that's kinda funny that all this talk centers around that. Someone mentioned that the heat in OZ is much higher than here and they are just coming out of summer, Maybe we need to look at the situation down under to see if they had any failures? All of this is more serious to some than I guess I may feel, For those I'm sorry. I just wanted to make a little fun with this, But I shall report back. LOL LOL LOL. Oh by the way the wife does like to go fast.

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I know it was meant to be funny my post is a cross between funny and semi-serious hoping to get some of the big guns in on the discussion based on 1! failure of an ignition system (maybe a semi-serious discussion).... :wink: nice to know you have a good pillion on board...... 8) Shiny Side Up...

That's a great idea as some of the minds here know more than I could ever dream of. :wink:

Good luck with your field testing Chuck! I think we will need some photographic documentation in order to consider these tests as official. :wink:

Debby

debby said:

Good luck with your field testing Chuck! I think we will need some photographic documentation in order to consider these tests as official. :wink:

Debby

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I think we'll have better luck asking him for a picture with a pint in his hand. :mrgreen:

swooshdave said:

debby said:

Good luck with your field testing Chuck! I think we will need some photographic documentation in order to consider these tests as official. :wink:

Debby

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I think we'll have better luck asking him for a picture with a pint in his hand. :mrgreen:

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And some scenic shots to prove the location of the test's ..................

My old '71 Commando dealt with extreme heat (desert in summer) high alt (Mtns in summer) with heavy loads. It also was campaigned as an amateur road racer on weekends. Never had an issue with ignition or advance due to heat or anything else.

Oh, right...it was points, not electronic!

Sorry, couldn't resist. I just recently switched from points to the trispark and really like the Trispark - points/aau advance curve plus not having to maintain it! I'll be interested in the test.

I'm a big fan of magnetos, and a whole range of them have condensors inside and later capacitance discharge. All this stuff including later electronics systems are fitted inside and the maggie bolts onto the back of the timing case (as Lucas K2F) behind the barrells. Gets pretty hot in there and they rarely brakedown.
I reckon Norbsa and TriSpark are doing the right thing.

Mick

O.K. Back from the BIG test, We started with heat as this is the big concern here.

It was close to 100 degrees and very dry, I wish it would have been hotter.

The bike ran just as always, Perfect!
Then we then we decided to go higher.

The bike runs the same at over 9,000 ft. as it does below sea level. LOL Although up high you do notice a bit less power, In the morning the temp was 33 degrees and starting was just as easy as any other time. In the afternoon we rode down the mountain and up the Owens Valley to Crowely Lake, Up here the wind was blowing 35 mph and it seemed the ignition was allowing the bike to be blown all over the place. So we headed back down the Valley and had lunch and waited for the wind to die down before heading back up the mountain and to our camp site. So as I see it the only thing that needs to be looked at is why can't it deal with 35mph cross winds?????? I guess we need to go back to Death Valley in the middle of summer, Not!!
Here's a picture of the BOSS, She just loves to ride. I guess I'm a lucky guy. This concludes my testing of the Tri_Spark Ignition, I hope others can add to this, LOL LOL. Ride safe guys, Chuck.

Thanks for the report, Chuck! I love the eastern Sierra. I've been to Crowley Lake but not to Death Valley. Would like to go there some time.

Sounds like the bike (and Tri Spark) did great, and your wife is a real trooper!

Debby

Hortons Norton said:

O.K. Back from the BIG test, We started with heat as this is the big concern here.

It was close to 100 degrees and very dry, I wish it would have been hotter.

The bike ran just as always, Perfect!
.

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OK now I am jealous.......

Hortons Norton said:

O.K. Back from the BIG test, We started with heat as this is the big concern here.
It was close to 100 degrees and very dry, I wish it would have been hotter.
The bike ran just as always, Perfect!
Then we then we decided to go higher.
The bike runs the same at over 9,000 ft. as it does below sea level. LOL Although up high you do notice a bit less power, In the morning the temp was 33 degrees and starting was just as easy as any other time. In the afternoon we rode down the mountain and up the Owens Valley to Crowely Lake, Up here the wind was blowing 35 mph and it seemed the ignition was allowing the bike to be blown all over the place. So we headed back down the Valley and had lunch and waited for the wind to die down before heading back up the mountain and to our camp site. So as I see it the only thing that needs to be looked at is why can't it deal with 35mph cross winds?????? I guess we need to go back to Death Valley in the middle of summer, Not!!
Here's a picture of the BOSS, She just loves to ride.

I guess I'm a lucky guy. This concludes my testing of the Tri_Spark Ignition, I hope others can add to this, LOL LOL. Ride safe guys, Chuck.

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VERY UN-scientific if you ask me, no mention of any instruments, let alone calibrated instruments, and what are the credentials of the pillion rider :?:

and NO, I am not jealous, I am extremely jealous :wink:

Jean