No don't worry I have not gone over to the dark-side of Kawasaki's
Decided to dig out my Kawasaki SRK-5010 Electro Tester to repair and sell it, to fund another project. It was intended to test H1's, H2's, KH's and Z1's including the CDI's and was a very expensive bit of kit that only the top dealers could afford/justify.
I switched it on and
BANG ! it blew the main plug fuse.
Investigating the blow-up, I found that the mains switch had arced over and on further investigation the switch was only 125VAC rated (the unit has a selector for different country main voltages) .... Tut tut Kawasaki (or whoever made it for them) .. So I replaced it with a period 250 VAC rated toggle switch. I didn't have a manual for it, only a useful card in the lid of the attaché case it comes in. So I tracked down someone in Argentina who was selling a NOS one for around 1500USD and persuaded him to scan his manual for £35, as this also contains the full circuit diagrams.
The unit has a Xenon strobe light unit which is powered by about 350 Volts DC and I was amazed that this is directly derived from the mains without any transformer isolation plus an unguarded output socket on the front into which the timing light plugs in. Very dodgy.
The interesting thing is that there is a very similar looking unit (deffo made by the same manufacturer) for Suzukis of the same age but that has a proper mains isolation transformer for the timing light to derive the 350v DC supply.
Anyway, I have managed to test the Xenon timing lamp and surprisingly it still works fine (i.e. the xenon lamp has not lost it's gas after 50 odd years) and also tested the coil test feature, albeit with a Honda four ignition coil. These are the most likely functions to fail.
See video clips:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W8CJgGX2Qwhttps://www.youtube.com/shorts/U9UDkf_rgLYI just need to test out the dwell and RPM measuring features of it next and then I am done.
My recommendation to anyone who ever uses one of these (rather than just keep as a museum piece) is to run the thing from a 110v power tool transformer, with the input selector set to 117v ... to be on the safe side.
Seems Kawasaki not only sailed close to the wind, safety wise with the H1 / H2 bikes but also with the electrical tester they sold to service them
On their Service Testers, good only Honda derived the high voltages on their units from a low DC voltage, using an electromagnetic vibrator of the type used in 1950's valve car radios. However, that vibrator unit does fail and is an absolute hen's teeth, 'unobtanium' component.
Pleased I got the Kwack unit working though ... you never seem to see these for sale with any kind of assurance that they do actually work. Sadly, the Kawasaki unit does not have a condenser test function of the type that the Honda testers of the same period had. .... and before anyone chips in... ' They were often only ever used to charge up condensers to around 200v and then chuck 'em at the apprentice and shout ..'ey catch this !
This picture is from the internet of the same unit (as my unit is still at work).Note that it looks like somebody has attempted to insulate the dodgy looking timing light connector on this example. The one I got was literally used as a door-stop in the place it came from
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