Honda Service Tester capacitor/condenser tester voltage?

[AshimotoK0]

I got this back from 'Hondaman' on the USA site. (prompted by Bryan  )

Good work, Ashimoto!
I remember those Honda testers. Mine burned out the vibrator tube that ran the high-voltage test circuit, and I could never get a new tube after that.

The Daiichi condensors have undergone some transformations: they were first made in Japan and those are usually stamped with the 3-leaf symbol and "JAPAN" on their bottom ends. Those worked OK (I still have some of those). The ones that do NOT work OK are the ones from Daiichi (not Japan), which are knockoffs from China. For a while Daiichi Japan had Taiwan make some of the condensors, and those are stamped "Tai" or "Taiwan". Those work, too, but this only happened for a short while. It's the modern ones (since 2016) from mainland China that do not work, usually within 100 miles or less.

I dug out more of my NOS and used condensers last night (used ones typically 35+ years  old I guess)  and all of the NOS ones tested fine and all of the used ones were leaky to various extents. None of  the used one I would consider re-using and only fit for the bin. However, some of the used ones looked shiny new when cleaned up, which is deceptive.

Good news though that NOS one's don't seem to degrade in storage .. I suspect my NOS CB72 style dual-can ones are 30+ years old but stored indoors in warm conditions, so no real chance of moisture ingress.

[Seabeowner]

I'm also following this as I have stuck with the points on three of my four bikes. Did tens of thousands of miles in the 70s and never remember a problem with my Hondas or Kawasakis. Have a couple of spare Daiichi that I bought from DSS in 2017 and just dragged them out of store. "Made in Japan" with 3 leaf symbol so hopefully ok.
In general do all types of capacitor have a limited shelf life in years or only actual hours of use?

[Bryanj]

There are different types of condenser, most only degrade with use but a few do with age

[Woodside]

Hi Ash
Just popped in and saw this

It reminded me of this I have here

[Oddjob]

That brings back some memories

[AshimotoK0]

I just got this ..tests Kawasaki early triples including CDi's and Z1 ignitions

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[deltarider]

Great find. Does it read TACH/DWELL via an inductive clamp or via a solid connection?

[AshimotoK0]

Do you mean Woodside's Honda tester or my Kawasaki  one? Not sure on the Kawasaki one yet but it deffo has a non-contacting  pickup for the strobe timing light. I think the tacho function is probably a crocodile clip onto the points type signal though.

[deltarider]

[...] I think the tacho function is probably a crocodile clip onto the points type signal though.

That's the way I'd prefer to have it. Congrats again!

[Sesman]

Those “Easy Peelers” are good value at 2 for £3?

[SteveD CB500K0]

Expired though…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Oddjob]

That plum's seen better days

[AshimotoK0]

  You are all as sad as that Plum 

[Bryanj]

Just cos i never see daylight does not make me Sad

[deltarider]

BTW, does measuring capacitance make much sense, or is it more a way of determining what kind condenser you have at hand? The only test I've found so far, concerns insulation. It's in the French CB500/550 manual, which was composed in collaboration with Honda France. There it says:

> 5 MΩ   Good
     5 MΩ-1 MΩ Satisfactory
> 1 MΩ   Bad