electrics AccuSpark

[riverstar]

I am just wondering if anyone has experienced the same problems as me. I have been using a AccuSpark electronic distributor for a number of years without any problem and this year decided to try one of their Stealth Black Box programmable systems. In four months I have had three and all have failed and have sent the latest one back asking for a refund as I no longer have any confidence in their reliability.

 

It is a pity because in the brief window when one worked I was very impressed as it delivered a much smoother engine and a much improved response time.

 

Chris

 

 

[Steves_TR6]

Very interesting Chris.

 

I liked the look of that device and was cosidering trying one.

 

Will hold off!

 

Steve

[riverstar]

Steve, I don't wish to frighten people off or be unfair to the company as when it worked for me it worked very well and it is something I would like to try again, not sure it will be AccuSpark as I am still waiting for a response to my email about the problems I was having with my third unit. When I called their sales people and told them I was sending the unit back for a refund as I had lost confidence in the reliability and the lack of any feedback it was just accepted which made me suspicious, that's why I was just checking to see if anyone else had experienced problems.

 

 

Chris

[stuart]

Probably suffers the same problems as the Kenlowe electronic control units, they just dont seem to be able to cope with the vibrations in a 4 pot TR engine bay.

Stuart.

[Steves_TR6]

Steve, I don't wish to frighten people off or be unfair to the company as when it worked for me it worked very well and it is something I would like to try again, not sure it will be AccuSpark as I am still waiting for a response to my email about the problems I was having with my third unit. When I called their sales people and told them I was sending the unit back for a refund as I had lost confidence in the reliability and the lack of any feedback it was just accepted which made me suspicious, that's why I was just checking to see if anyone else had experienced problems.

 

 

Chris

Thanks Chris.

 

I've used the accuspark ignition module and spark plugs successfully, hence was interested in the ignition control module.

 

Lots of other jobs to do so shall ignore this one for a while :-)

 

Steve

[Guest ntc]

They are cr!! last one only 80 miles

[TriumphV8]

A Megasquirt One can do the same thing as the Stealth Box

and also add part throttle advance and rev limiter and a lot

of other gimmicks for ignition timing.

It is not necessary to connect it to fuel injection.

 

It is about 175USD in USA and never failed in my car for 10 years.

[Edmond]

Probably suffers the same problems as the Kenlowe electronic control units, they just dont seem to be able to cope with the vibrations in a 4 pot TR engine bay.

Stuart.

The Kenlowe electronic control unit on my 4a recently failed after 3000 miles. To be fair Kenlowe replaced it foc with an old style 'copper wire' affair which seems fine. Think I'll keep with contact breakers although a friend has offered my an unused Pertronix unit. At least with points I've always a spare set and can change them by the roadside.

[Peter Cobbold]

I had points fail once in 250k miles, and like Ed replaced them with spare in a few minutes. It was the only ignition failure I had, apart from the wire from the loom failing due to corrosion under a connector. Mind you, the points gap did need resetting every so often, and the switch to plastic points from fibre was unwelcome. But Disy Dr does fibre points now.

Peter

[stuart]

The Kenlowe electronic control unit on my 4a recently failed after 3000 miles. To be fair Kenlowe replaced it foc with an old style 'copper wire' affair which seems fine. Think I'll keep with contact breakers although a friend has offered my an unused Pertronix unit. At least with points I've always a spare set and can change them by the roadside.

I went through two units before Kenlowe did the same.So they must know that they do suffer this problem.

Stuart.

[RogerH]

Back in 1973 my elctronic ignition (Practical Electronics home brew - similar to Sparkrite) conked out.

This had contact breakers and powered a whopping great capacitor - for a ginormous spark. it died.

The designer must have known something was up as there was an inbuilt switch to by-pass the ruins and go straight to CB.

 

So I wouldn't have another electronic power unit.

 

However I do have the lumenition magnetronic pick-up in the dizzy - expensive but works well.

Yes it has failed once in 100,000 miles and requires no regualr maintenance.

Carrying a spare is painful at £70 each but can be easily changed by the roadside (easier than CB's)

The new accuspark/SimonBBC units are much cheaper but they appear to have a higher failure rate.

 

 

Roger

[Lebro]

I also made the P.E. capacitor discharge unit, & yes it would regularly fail. I now run Accuspark points repacement with no prob so far (2 yrs)

[mike3md]

A couple of 6 drivers in our group are trying the Stealth box, no adverse reports so far, but early days.

 

Apart from the CB/electronic debate, has anybody had any real experience of the Stealth programmable system or similar? This is an add on black box rather than a whole new distributor (such as the 123).

 

One drawback is that if it fails you have to reinstate the mechanical advance.

 

Mike (on points!)

[TriumphV8]

Apart from the CB/electronic debate, has anybody had any real experience of the Stealth programmable system or similar? This is an add on black box rather than a whole new distributor (such as the 123).

 

 

Hi Mike, if going away from original I would take the whole bunch of benefits.

 

123ignition is for those who live in fear of electronics but want to approach a little bit.

123tune is for those who still have fear but know what they are doing concerning precise timing

and are able to find the individual timing curve.

 

In addition they both can load the coil properly that our 6 cylinders have good energy to start combustion

especially at high revs. The have a constant closing time where current is applied to the coil, typically in the

range of 2ms to fit to the recommended coils.

So they do not fry the coil at idle or standing with ignition on.

Points and the cheap electronics can not do that.

 

123 and electronics in distributor have the disadvantage that electronics are close

to the engine and get hot what they do not like and may let them fail.

 

They all have the disadvantage that timing is triggered by the distributor that is driven via toothed wheels,

a chain and toothed wheels again what can not be that precise.

That is why modern cars get their trigger from the crank, that is precise!

 

From that the stealth box is a good idea but as reported there are some quality problems.

 

As far as I know they all do not provide a full 3D mapping.

That can only be done from systems like Megajolt and MegaSquirt.

They are the best what can be done to the engine especially when used as crank fired ignition.

 

Their disadvantage is that they provide a lot of features that have influence

on the timing. If not fully understood such a system can destroy the engine......

[riverstar]

A couple of 6 drivers in our group are trying the Stealth box, no adverse reports so far, but early days.

 

Apart from the CB/electronic debate, has anybody had any real experience of the Stealth programmable system or similar? This is an add on black box rather than a whole new distributor (such as the 123).

 

One drawback is that if it fails you have to reinstate the mechanical advance.

 

Mike (on points!)

Mike

 

That's what I am talking about, the distributor and electronic module has worked fine for three years it is the programmable box that has caused me problems. I have said before that when it did work and I was very happy with the result however two of the box's never reached the road and the third only lasted two months before giving up. I had mounted it on velcro to the glove box so it was well away from heat and vibrations were damped to a certain extent.

 

Chris

[littlejim]

In '76 I fit a magnatec lumenition kit to my Merc. It worked like a charm.

Several years later as I began the descent down the Clyde Mountain S bends, the motor died, electronic rev counter went to zero.

Soon after the power steering stopped, as did the power assisted brakes.

The hairpin bends took two hands on the steering to get round on the right side of the road, and braking took both feet on the pedal to get a modicum of retardation.

I somehow got to the bottom in one piece (couldn't actually come to a stop).

At the bottom the motor started up again happilly and it behaved normally.

 

Later looked in the distributor, and found the cable from the Hall effect transducer they provided, had fatigued through and split. For normal running the power could jump the small gap. On full retard the gap was too big and the motor died.

 

Magnatec sent me a new one for free when I told them about the problem. When some time later it fatigued too, I put the points back in.

Think they now use a more flexible cable to the transducer.

[Peter Cobbold]

In '76 I fit a magnatec lumenition kit to my Merc. It worked like a charm.

Several years later as I began the descent down the Clyde Mountain S bends, the motor died, electronic rev counter went to zero.

Soon after the power steering stopped, as did the power assisted brakes.

The hairpin bends took two hands on the steering to get round on the right side of the road, and braking took both feet on the pedal to get a modicum of retardation.

I somehow got to the bottom in one piece (couldn't actually come to a stop).

At the bottom the motor started up again happilly and it behaved normally.

 

Later looked in the distributor, and found the cable from the Hall effect transducer they provided, had fatigued through and split. For normal running the power could jump the small gap. On full retard the gap was too big and the motor died.

 

Magnatec sent me a new one for free when I told them about the problem. When some time later it fatigued too, I put the points back in.

Think they now use a more flexible cable to the transducer.

Phew.

Just shows that any small failure can have unexpected consequences if it happens at the wrong place or time.

A less experienced driver would have crashed I guess.... thanks to Magnatec.

Peter

[TriumphV8]

 

Just shows that any small failure can have unexpected consequences if it happens at the wrong place or time.

 

So better no moving parts if not necessary.

 

In the end will be the electronic trigger,

electronic ignition advance system and at last

electronic distributor with individual coils for each cylinder!

 

That eliminates all failures as long as the electronic box does not fail itself.

But in daily driver nobody would ask about that......

The Megasquirt ECU for example is from ABS brake system or airbag.

If not reliable there would be a lot of claims.......