Points Timing With Multimeter

[brewsky]

It took me a while to figure it out myself.
Like LM said, if you read the Honda instructions, it leaves you with? ????????
Newer dual point bikes have 2 plates, a smaller one for one set of points on top of the larger one. This allows both sets to have gap set independantly

[mike horvath]

Yep...I've used that 12 volt little light bulb technique and it's quite simple. You can pick up a small bulb from the hardware store which actually come with prongs 3/8" long that attach easily to the alligator clip.

[akpasta]

Ok, so I made a test light tonight and it functions, but I can't get it to work properly on the bike...

I got a 'D' battery holder with wires coming off the + and -. I cut one bulb off a strand of christmas lights to wire in.

Wiring is such...

Neg - > alligator clip

Pos - > light bulb > aligator clip.

When I touch the two clips, the bulb comes on, so it's "working."

So what I've read, is you attach the pos to the arm of the points, and the neg to ground (the frame, or engine, or whatever). But when I ground it, the light just goes on, and stays on whether the points are open, or closed. Am I doing it wrong? Do I need to pull a wire off the points? A lot of explanations gloss over this I think because they assume people already know, but in the past i've just used rolling paper to tell when the points open :-D

[LOUD MOUSE]

I described what/how and all the tools needed.
I didn't recommend that type of test light.
Your are on your own feller. ........lm

Ok, so I made a test light tonight and it functions, but I can't get it to work properly on the bike...

I got a 'D' battery holder with wires coming off the + and -. I cut one bulb off a strand of christmas lights to wire in.

Wiring is such...

Neg - > alligator clip

Pos - > light bulb > aligator clip.

When I touch the two clips, the bulb comes on, so it's "working."

So what I've read, is you attach the pos to the arm of the points, and the neg to ground (the frame, or engine, or whatever). But when I ground it, the light just goes on, and stays on whether the points are open, or closed. Am I doing it wrong? Do I need to pull a wire off the points? A lot of explanations gloss over this I think because they assume people already know, but in the past i've just used rolling paper to tell when the points open :-D

[brewsky]

Pull the points wires off if using a home-made self-battery powered light like you have made. (In this case the points act at a simple switch in your homemade circuit.)

That means the light bulb will go OFF as the points open or "fire" at "F".

If you light still will not go off then your points are grounded.

This is the OPPOSITE of a normal test light powered from the bike battery, where the light will go ON when the points open at "F". (In this case, the points ground out the 12v from the battery thru the coil, until they open)

[akpasta]

So disconnect wire from the points and still go ahead and put the alligator clip on the points arm? So before, the wire touching the points arm was completing the circuit, right?

[brewsky]

Yes