MOPED ARMY

i always ditch hobbit CDI when i could have points instead, the honda electronics are seriously bulletproof.

Can you advance timing on a Hobbit?

Seems like I've looked and you can't... at least on the ones with points....

If you can, please enlighten me.

Justin

Timing for the PA50 CDI is not adjustable. Neither the stator baseplate nor the CDI pickup mounts are slotted.

Timing for the PA50 points is adjustable - somewhat. Similar to the stator for the CDI system, there are no slots for adjustability. The point gap can be changed, and changing the point gap will change the timing. However, this method of changing timing is limited in its usefulness - since in order to "advance" the timing, the gap would have to opened slightly wider than the stock setting - and when you do this the dwell time (the amount of time that the coil "sees" current) is reduced. Without enough dwell, the spark "strength" or intensity will be reduced.

When your dwell is too short, you'll "see" it at higher RPMs - the point contact is closed shorter than normal, and the as engine speed increases, from a time perspective, measured in milli- or micro- seconds, the amount of time gets shorter and shorter - until it is too short - the coil does not saturate (the amount of current does not build up to its normal value), and the available spark energy (when the points open again) drops.

So - yes, you can "play" with your points to advance timing, but you may create high RPM problems. The only way to know if it will work for a PA50 is to try it. OR - maybe someone else already has . . . ?

To put it simply no the hobbit cdi dose not have the capability to change timing or limit your revs, how ever on my currant set up I can exceed 10k and I know for a fact that the CDI dose not preform as well on the top as the points. Im not an engineer, I cant tell you why it dose this, only that it dose.

Nate,

Have you used a timing light, or some other means, so that you KNOW that the timing is not shifted at the higher RPMs? Or was it a case where the spark became intermittent (i.e., a high speed miss, or similar)?

For other CDIs that do have a limit, a capacitor is used in a specific part of the circuit to cause this shift. Without dissecting a CDI unit, how do we know that this is designed to limit or not?

I'm only hoping that someone will use a timing light and do a simple test. Then we'd know for certain.

To make it be restricted, the CDI unit would have to be "smart". AFAIK, the Honda CDI unit is relatively inexpensive and is small -- there's no way it can have logic inside that would restrict the timing like that. The problems are high RPMs are merely a function of coil and capacitor size. The cap just cannot charge fast enough at high speeds.

A generic CDI unit is pretty simple to build. It's trivial to find bigger caps, and to save space you can also find one of those nifty coil-on-plug devices, although that may be overkill. Let me know and I can find some schematics.

i bet the cdi timing is just set to perform for a stock bike is all. turn your backing plate holes into slotted holes so that you can adjust the timing, then you can time for top speed if you like.

i haven't seen this cdi setup, so i can't say for sure, but from the descriptions in this thread, it sounds pretty easy to fix.

urn your backing plate holes into slotted holes

Unfortunately, you can't do that on a Hobbit stator :(

looks the same as the US units.

My spare CDI stator does look different that your pic.

The pick-up for the CDI is not adjustable on my spare part.

Not only that, buy my spare has two coil assemblies, plus the one CDI pick-up.