I installed a Boyer Brandsen Micro Digital a few years ago only to have it fail about 1500 miles later. The bike started missing like hell, and luckily I was able to keep the machine from stalling out by keeping the revs up til I got it home. I did all kinds of trouble shooting before re installing the points to see if it ran ok that way which it did. It turned out to be a problem with the advance in the computer. That was confirmed when I sent it back to Boyer (through my vendor) for testing. They then sent me a new unit which I installed about 4 K ago and its running fine. No charge then for the test
The installation was pretty easy overall. Set the timing at 4000 rpm as per the instructions. My old points parts were looking worn so I thought I'd go with the Boyer. Since then I replaced my timing chain and gears as well so my timing is right on. I'm loving how well tuned my old R60/6 is now after all that work and tuning.
So I"m happy with the electronic ignition installation. But just in case keep the old points parts under the seat for re installation on the side of the road if necessary like a lot of other owners.
hi cat , out of curiosity when you purchased the boyer where you informed of the OE coils has the wrong resistance to suit the boyer ? i was always lead to believe that you can use the standard coils. recently was told that using the wrong coils can make the boyer unit run hotter than normal ?
I have never heard that Boyers in a single plug installation require non stock coils. Resistor plug caps are needed for the micro digitals, but I don't think are needed for the standard mk3 and 4. My norton has a MLB 3 and fires standard coils
Both silent Hektik and Sachse specify coils of a certain resistance.
I think that it would've worthwhile to takes look attheBoyer website
Charles
Replica 1070 R90/S (based on 82 RT)
1975 R90/6
hi chasbmw, yes mate they sell coils to suit there micro didgital system ( bought two of them ), the coils that they sell are a lot smaller in size and has the right resistance to suit, the OE coil clamps are way to big to suit the new coils but i did find a classic shop that sell them to suit so i passed the info onto boyer so they can assist anyone else in OZ if they buy there coils. opps nearly forget to answer your question , yes this is for the single plug installation !
hi mal, wonder if they had some issues with the new style of the micro digital (old version is wired slightly different, which is what i have ), the new version that i purchased was faulty on install so was returned. Also have had the older boyer hooked up for around eighten years but then again the bike sat for many years in the back of the shed in hibernation !
2valve wrote:hi cat , out of curiosity when you purchased the boyer where you informed of the OE coils has the wrong resistance to suit the boyer ? i was always lead to believe that you can use the standard coils. recently was told that using the wrong coils can make the boyer unit run hotter than normal ?
Hello 2valve.......As Chasbmw mentioned, there is no need for a special coil. Just the spark plug wire/cap needs to be upgraded for that micro digital ignition. I bought both items from Rocky Point Vintage Cycle Vintage MC Parts. They gave me great customer service when the original micro digital went tits up.
My heads are single plugged btw..... Cheers
Here's the latest from the U.S. distributor, Rocky Point Cycle, (which, by the way, has probably been the most courteous and helpful retailer of any product that I've ever had the pleasure to deal with):
Interesting that I have another customer with the same problem,
who also has a 1979 R65 with OE coils. The importer is in contact with Boyer
on this; early theories center on how the Boyer changes the dwell time which
is done in steps rather than linearly which is how a points base system
would work. There is also an indication that some of the electrical
components of your tachometer may have aged causing it to misinterpret the
Boyer's signal.
I am hoping that Boyer will come up with a fix. My gut tells me that
this is of a low order of magnitude. I suggest that you wrestle with the
question of keeping the Boyer and living with the screwy tach or returning
the unit for a full refund; if Boyer is going to suggest a fix it will come
in less than a week.
I believe that the knocking is the result of improper timing, the tach
is the real issue here.
I suspect that I may as kiss my money good-bye, since Boyer's e-mails trailed off rather quickly, and in order to fit the unit into the bean can initially, I had to make wiring adjustments which made a return unlikely (ie, the point of no return before I found out that the unit wouldn't work anyways).
Here's the latest from Boyer (below the dotted line). Supposedly I have a bad wiring connection somewhere, and the reason that the stock points work -- whereas the Boyer system doesn't -- is that the slower points system is "masking" the connection problem. So the old technology magically doesn't seem to notice that there's a bad ground, etc.
.......................................
I have been testing an old BMW R65 tachometer that was in the cupboard.
>
> The operation appears totally faultless using production units from
> stock so we can only conclude that the problem is not caused by the
> Micro Digital ignition design itself, although we could check the
> customers unit if necessary.
>
> We have overlooked a likely cause that would tie in with all the
> described symptoms, 'tacho going haywire, pinging/knocking during
> acceleration'.
>
> This old problem will be a bad earth or 12 volt feed connection.
>
> As engine vibration increases with acceleration and load, the
> connection would become worse and interfere with the supply for the
> electronic ignition somehow, causing the rough acceleration. The
> strobe test that the customer performed also appeared to show two
> separate timing marks that could indicate a resonant oscillation of
> a connection.
>
> The comparison with the smooth running of the points should not be
> taken at face value, the slow mechanical points operation could be
> effectively 'masking' a connection problem that could only be seen
> by the fast response of an electronic ignition.
>
> We think it most likely a bad fuse holder, switch, earth or other
> connection that is vibrating on and off whilst accelerating creating
> intermittent connections that are interfering with the ignition
> units operation.
Thanks Bill. I'll try that. I'm not sure when, because I'll be on the
look-out for a spare bean can to put the system in (because the fitment
problems I mentioned before).
But I guess I'd also like to know if Boyer ever tested their unit in a
1979-80 R65. I don't see how they could have, due to 3 reasons:
1) I had to pry the spring posts back significantly to allow the rotor plate
down into position
2) I had to file off the stator posts a half millimetre so the rotating
parts wouldn't bump into them
3) I had to cut off the zip-tie and chip away at the epoxy holding the
wiring out past the stator plate so that I could both get the plate into the
bean can and so that I could feed the wiring out through the side of the
bean can (Plus, on the instruction sheet, the diagram of the stator plate
has very little resemblance to the actual stator plate, in that the wiring
on the former is located in such a manner that my adjustments wouldn't have
been necessary).
Obviously, if Boyer had found any of this out, they would have gone
back to the drawing board...you would think. So I suspect that their talk
of poor groundings is just a red herring. And I honestly don't see how the
slow operation of the points could even theoretically mask a connection
problem.
