bradrs

Many customers have reported they need to go up a couple on the main jet.

They are 3 more curves for you to try out. How they respond is going to vary a bit with how your shee is set up. It doesn't cost any extra to try all 4 of them out, so might as well try them all. Curve 1 advances the whole curve(except idle) several degrees. It should pull strongly at low RPM, and taper off up top. Curve 2 is advanced slightly less than 1, it will give a little more power in the mid-upper RPM. Curve 3 has a lot more advance at low-mid RPM that drops off up top, to give you decent upper RPM, with a strong mid range. Brad Dynatek

With the programming kit, you can program it to advance/retard the timing from stock however you like. It can take the place of an adjustable stator plate. It has 4 curves, all of which are fully programmable. The 4 curves that come with the box, are also included in the software, so that you can use them as a baseline for making your own curves. And yes, you can program the advance/retard to vary with RPM, so that you can do what you are describing, or even more. Here is a picture of our programming software for a 2000 RM250, the banshee software is very similar: http://www.dynaonline.com/images/dfspk1.jpg To adjust the curves, you just go to the boxes to the right, type in an RPM, and the desired timing. It's pretty simple to use. Brad

For starters, the banshee boxes we currently sell do not have a tach output on them. There was a bit of confusion about what features were available on which ignition, so a while back I made a table of features available by model, and put it on the website here: http://www.dynaonline.com/english/atv_fs.htm The tach outputs on our other ignitions were designed to drive a standard tach. We don't sell tachs for these. The reason is simple economics. Everyone has different ideas on what they want a tach to look like/do, and we would probably have to make a dozen different designs to make everyone happy, and only wind up selling a couple of each. So we made it a fairly standard tach signal, and allow the user to pick and choose whatever aftermarket or OEM tach you want. The tach signals are a 0-12V square wave, 2 pulses per engine revolution, which is the same as most 4 cylinder sportbike tachs. If you want to do it cheaply, that gives you the option of using a junkyard tach. We have tested a tach output on the banshee box, and hopefully a production version with the tach output will reach the shelves early next year. Brad

There are 3 different ones to match the 3 different connectors and features that came on the bikes. 87-94 had 2 round 4 pin connectors 95-96 had 2 square 4 pin connectors 97- has a 4 pin and a 6 pin connector. The 97- stock ignition switch to the 6 pin connector because they added a parking brake switch that limits the rpms with the parking brake engaged. Other than that, you can pretty much wire any of the stock ignitions in interchangeably with some cutting and splicing. The 97- dyna ignition uses the parking brake switch as the input for its programmable launch limiter, the earlier ignitions don't have this option. So if you wanted this feature, you need a 97- ignition, and a 97- banshee harness with the parking brake switch. You could splice it into a pre 97 harness, but I wouldn't recommend that unless you are very comfortable reading wiring diagrams. Other than the launch limiter, there is no difference in the dyna ignitions, they all use the same timing curves. Brad Electronics Engineer Dynatek

The self welding tape is also called cold shrink tape. It is WAY better than electrical tape. It's almost as good as heat shrink tubing, and easier to install without having to cut wires, since you just wrap it. You can pick it up at http://www.waytekwire.com/ among other places. If you go with heat shrink tubing, get the polyolefin lined(sometimes called adhesived lined) tubing. When it shrinks downs, an inner lining melts, and makes an even stronger and more water resistant seal. I think waytek has that too. I used the heat shrink usually, but if I am working in a harness where I can't easily slide the tubing over the wire, the cold shrink tape is my next choice. It has held up pretty well the times I have used it. Good Luck, Brad Electronics Engineer Dynatek

The Vortex can't either

The gear dependant mapping doesn't seem to be available on the banshee, at least not according to Duncan. And without a sensor for wheelspeed, or a gear indicator like some YZs or WRs have, it would be pretty hard to get gear dependant mapping. It doesn't sound like you have a Vortex on a banshee, so why are you recommending it?

Like I said, go back and read it again. There is a chart which lists the features available by model. Look at that. The tach is NOT available on the banshee currently.

Double check the dyna website. There is currently no tach output on the banshee box. There is an RPM activated switch(like for a shift light or something similar), but nothing that puts out a tach signal. Brad

In the US, K&L supply sells some of the stock connectors. But they don't sell direct, you would have to go to their website, and find their nearest dealer. http://www.klsupply.com/sales/ Meat, if you are going to go back through and solder all the connections, you might also want to take the time to track down some adhesive lined heat shrink tubing to put over the solder joints. Radio Shack may have this, or you can get it online through Digikey or Waytek Wire. It does a good job of reinforcing the solder joint, keeping things from shorting out, etc. Brad

Good to see you got it working. Any chance you saved the coil? I'd like to do a little testing with it to see if I can replicate the problem in the lab. The dyna cdi should be able to fire a dying coil better than the stock cdi, not worse. So I'd like to check it out, if you saved it. Ben, I have looked at the RZ and RD, you aren't the first person to ask about those. Some of them I THINK we can modify a banshee box to work with. One problem is that when I ask for info, I don't get good data. The non factory manuals are usually worthless to me. Also when the bikes get to be that old, every bike has been modified in different ways, and the whole electrical system is starting to get so tired that there are lots more issues to deal with. As a result, I can get a box running perfectly on one old bike, then find it doesn't want to work on another one that is the exact same model. I'll order up a factory service manual for the RZ though to do a little more checking on it. Brad

I'd have a tough time saying what will work best on a modded one, without actually trying it out. And I haven't tried out a lot of mod combos. We sell to several performance shops that do the dyno work with all the different mods. They would be a much better resource for how an engine with your mods will respond. Especially when you are talking about modified heads etc. With that said, I'd suggest trying curve 3 out. Here is a screenshot from the programming software, so you can see the 4 curves that come preprogrammed in the ignition. Curve 3 is setup to carry the timing and should give you a little more pull in the mid-high rpm range. But it would be worthwhile for you to try all the curves out, and see which one works best for you. Then if/when you do get the software, you can look at that curve, compare it to the others in the software vs. how they performed on the quad, and get an idea of what part of the curve you want to adjust. Brad

I've had a little experience programming curves with that ignition In order to program it, you need the ignition, a computer that runs at least Win 95 or newer version of Windows, and the programming kit. The kit consists of a cable and software for the computer, and runs around $200. Brad Electronics Engineer Dynatek

87-94 have 2 4-pin round plugs 95-96 have 2 4-pin rectangular plugs 97- has a 4 pin and a 6 pin rectangular plug. This one also has an input for the parking brake switch. Other than that they are basically the same. Brad Electronics Engineer Dynatek

The colors on the dyna wiring harness will not match the stock harness. The wiring swap Scott was talking about changes the polarity of the charging system signal from the stator. It is not unusual for this signal to be 180 degrees out of phase on an aftermarket stator, and if its out of phase, the bike will run rough, not idle or idle poorly, and be harder to kick start. If it's a wiring problem with the key switch, it will run for a second like Ben pointed out, then die. If it isn't the electrical system that is the problem, I would suspect jetting. The odds of getting not one, but two bad banshee CDIs is pretty remote. Dynatek will test a box under warranty for you, but I would suggest going through the rest of the wiring first before doing sending it in. Brad

Exactly how long does it run? Does it run for just a second, then shut off? Or does it continue trying to run, and just not idle? Did you check your key switch wiring? Brad

That is a really weird problem. You checked the black/red wire to see if it was shorted to ground, but did you check to see if it were shorted to any of the other wires that go to the CDI? I have seen a few times where those pre 94 style connectors shorted out inside the connector in the harness. Thats about the only place I could think a short could occur where the wire being cut wouldn't matter, and it would affect both stock and our boxes. It sounds like its a moot point now though, the bypass method works just fine. Meat, thanks for the welcome. I'm glad you guys are happy with it, the response we have gotten from you guys has been great. Brad

The wire from the key switch, and the wire from the handle bar mounted kill switch, go to two different inputs on the Dyna ignition. The key switch wire should be grounded when the key is turned on, and not grounded when it is off. If you have a short to ground on that wire, the key switch becomes useless. If that is OK, contact Scott @ Dynatek, describe the problem, and send it in for testing. Its not a common failure at all, but I have seen one or two come back where the key switch wire isn't working properly. We do test that part of it before shipping them, so its really odd that this happened. This problem should not affect any other part of the ignition operation, the rest of it should work as normal. Alternatively, you could sell it as a one off "race-modded" dyna ignition, since it already has the key switch stuff cut out of it. People normally have to ground that circuit in the harness when removing their key switches. So having it built into the box would simplify their wiring harness even more. Brad Electronics Engineer Dynatek

Plug wires just press in. There is a metal piece that you crimp on the end of the plug wire, that once inserted into the coil, grabs the side of the metal cup on the coil. If your current wires don't have this, you will either need to buy new wires, or just buy a plug wire crimper, and make your old wires fit. Brad Electronics Engineer Dynatek

Resistor plugs and plug caps don't really hurt spark energy too much, and will cut down on electrical noise generated. Maybe they put the resistor cap in because they needed it with the non resistor plug spec'd in the manual? I was speaking more in general terms, I should have been more clear. Generally, older stuff can get away with non resistor parts because they don't have processors that are more likely to have problems with the noise generated. I haven't tested a banshee with stock ignition and non resistor parts to see how the stock ignition works with the extra noise because quite honestly, it doesn't matter to me what you can get away with on the stock ignition as far as non resistor parts. I am more worried about how the dyna ignition responds to the noise, for obvious reasons Why did you switch to a non resistor plug cap? Was it part of some aftermarket wires? Brad

The plugs can certainly cause a problem like that. The R in the plug stands for resistor. The resistor is there to cut the amount of noise the ignition is subjected to when a spark occurs. This noise can affect the processor running in the ignition. On older analog ignitions like the stock, there is no processor, and no problem if there is noise. But on virtually all the aftermarket ignitions, there is a processor to control the timing, which is why they all recommend resistor plugs. The dyna ignition does NOT like non resistor plugs, which is why when I wrote the instructions, I said to use resistor plugs Brad Engineer Dynatek

The 97+ harness has a key switch that is closed to run. Meaning that wire(red/black on the stock harness, purple on the dyna harness) needs to be tied to ground to run. The dyna box will fire over a few times if you try to kick start it with the key off, but it will shut off after a few revolutions, which is what you are experiencing. This circuit is seperate from the handlebar mounted kill switch, which needs to be left open to run. Brad Engineer Dynatek

The dyna ignition gives not only a tailored curve that should allow you to dial in appropriate timing much better than you could possibly do with the stock ignition and a timing plate, but it also gives increased spark energy. Not everyone is comfortable with adjusting timing curves, so the other options like timing plates, etc. work good for them. There are quite a few engine builders building high power banshees with Dyna ignitions. The stock curve was designed for a stock engine. Once you start playing with the engine, it is going to need a different curve to get the most out of it. Things like pipes, port work, etc, will have different effects on the timing requirements at different RPMs You might be able to match the peak power, or come close to it, by tweaking the timing with a timing plate until you get it right at that one RPM. But what about the rest of the RPM range? The Dyna allows you to tweak ALL of the points to your liking. Is this something you need? It all depends on how much you want to get out of your quad. I know some of the shops we sell to make their own custom curves to work with their specific engine packages. BdBanshee, without knowing more specifics, I can't exactly explain to you why your customers liked the timing plate advance more. But if you programmed the dyna ignition to match the advance you were adding on the timing plate, I'd bet they would have been at least as happy. I don't want this to sound like a sales pitch, I generally just read this forum to keep track of what is going on with banshees, but I felt as though there was a little misunderstanding in what the benefits are of a timing plate vs. an aftermarket CDI. Brad

The extra wire goes to the parking brake switch. Are you sure the 96 isn't really a 97? From what I have seen, the 95-96 should have the exact same connectors. The 97- will have the extra wire, and a different connector. If you don't have a parking brake switch, you can just leave the wire disconnected, as other people here have mentioned. If you ground the wire, it will make the CDI think the parking brake is connected, and have a much lower RPM limit. If you plan on valet parking your Banshee, this could be useful... Brad