Cdi box

[Guest]

I bought a new cdi box for my 81 gs550 on misguided advice and it turns out I don’t need it.
It was made to order from regulator rectifier.com and they don’t do returns
I never used it and would like to get some of the money back and help someone one out.
Id part with it for 175 obo. I paid 225 total for it. Message me for details

[cowboyup3371]

For one, there is no such thing as a CDI for our bikes; can you post a picture of it as I think this may be more of a copy of an ignitor?

[Steve]

I just took a quick look at their site, seems that EVERYTHING is a "CDI".

Just for the record, I don't think there has ever been a street motorcycle from any factory that had a "CDI" ignition. Yeah there might be a dirt bike or a race bike, but not a street bike.
I could be wrong, it's happened before.

.

[Cmellon]

You may call it an igniter but I certainly does. They call it a cdi in the manual and the part I pulled off of the bike says cdi on it. If you have an original electronic ignition then you have a cdi. If you’ve up dated to say a Dyna S then you would no longer need it. Or if you have points.

[Steve]

Not sure which manual you are reading that says it's a CDI, but the Suzuki manual does not.

If you had a part on it that said CDI, it's not a Suzuki part.

The original (Suzuki) electronic ignition is NOT a CDI.

The term "CDI" stands for Capacitive Discharge Ignition. It uses circuitry to charge a large capacitor when then is discharged through the spark plugs. You may have noticed, but there is no large capacitor on a GS. That is because they use the standard coil and points type of ignition, which is INDUCTIVE discharge. Starting with the 1980 models, the mechanical points were replaced with a box of transistors that would interrupt the current through the COILS. The collapsing magnetic field in the COILS would create the spark. That box of transistors had the unfortunate name of "Ignitor", which led people to believe that it might actually ignite something, but all it did was turn the current on and off to the COILS. Because CDI was a popular aftermarket system for cars at the time, many people mistakenly called any electronic system a "CDI". Unfortunately, that mistaken believe is still hanging around today.

Enjoy your CDI, but rest assured that nobody with a GS motorcycle will be able to use it.

.

[cowboyup3371]

You may call it an igniter but I certainly does. They call it a cdi in the manual and the part I pulled off of the bike says cdi on it. If you have an original electronic ignition then you have a cdi. If you’ve up dated to say a Dyna S then you would no longer need it. Or if you have points.

I have two 81 550s and trust me I know the service manual does not say it is one. What page of this manual do you claim says it?

[Cmellon]

Ok it’s not a cdi in the manual. It’s called the igniter. Excuse me. First bike. Not terribly well versed in old Japanese bikes. I wasn’t getting spark so I just found the test for the igniter, coils, and signal generator. Sig gen and igniter failed so I bought new ones. The sig gen I bought was a Dyna S and at the time I wasn’t aware that I would no longer need the igniter box. So now I have this igniter box I don’t need. Matched up with factory plug and mount. They won’t take it back so here I am.

[Steve]

You are excused.

You were coming on strong enough that you were giving the impression that not only was this not your first bike, but you were somewhat of an expert in ignition systems.

Thanks for listening, live and learn.

.

[Cmellon]

Seeing cdi so many times and the site I got it from calling that I was pretty dead set that it was a cdi. Plus I’m out 200 on the thing so I’m a little salty about it. I’m aircraft mechanic and have many years experience on cars but never any bikes and nothing this old.

[Steve]

As I mentioned, it was a popular aftermarket upgrade for cars at the time (I don't think any cars came with it stock), so, by association, just about any electronic ignition system was (erroneously) called "CDI".

.