Digital Rippin: Initial impressions of RDD RXG CDI

[NitinGirish]

I bought an unit from Ron few weeks back. As suggested on the forum, got it installed from Asgar today.

My curiousty with the CDI began sometime around May 2009. My biggest worry was the installation. Apart from riding, filling petrol and what I've studied about internal combustion engines in Std 9, I know nothing about bikes Besides, I had only RX100 those days and from what I could gather on an RX100 install is not as easy as RX 135.

In the interim, my dad bought an RX 135 in Puri, Orissa and when he got transferred back here, brought it along. With this bike, I had no emotional attachment like RX100 and so was willing to experiment a bit.

After many days of scheduling and postponing, finally got it installed today.

Bike is 2002 model RX 135 4 Speed with fat cat-con. Magnet& Coil plate assy are stock that came from the factory.

Bought Mico W5BC & Activa plug cap.

Plug cap reading: 5.05
Source Coil reading: 0.8 (presume 80 Ohms??)
Battery: 13 (Measured when bike was NOT started)

Wiring harness looks like this:-



Coil Plate


Grounding 1


Grounding 2


Final Mounting


Please let me know if there has been any mistake while installing. There was no old cycle tube handy so wrapped it in polythene cover and taped it. It is NOT touching/rubbing against tank or anything.

Bike revvs much better now. This bike is now, where my RX100 is already is in terms of free revving. Earlier do 40kmph in 3rd gear and you would feel resistance. But now it revvs upto 60kmph easily. On stock CDI, RX 135 4 Speed is like having intense foreplay and then a severe anti-climax. With digital CDI, you don't bother yourself with the foreplay at all

I am not too sure the bike is running any cooler though. Let me commute next week and update this comment but this is the biggest expectation I had from the CDI. That even after 20-25kms of commuting in rush hour traffic, I should be able to touch the head. My initial impression is it is not runnning any cooler.

Like Arvind said, if I change to cat-con I should see even better revvs. But I will take sometime to make that decision. As of now I am happy with the additional revvs.

Long-term durablity and reliablity-only time will tell that. Going by many people's experiences it should be good. If you are running on cat-con-buy this product.

Will update this thread once I clock more kms.

[NitinGirish]

Many thanks to Aravind for staying through the install and the ride on his RD. I am glad I did not fall off the bike!

[anu_2stroker]

In city traffic the temp diff may not be noticable...... but on 20km of hard riding and u ll.

[roshiba777]

The harder you pull it will run cooler..

[ethan]

+1. Was wondering the same thing when i had it installed. Go on a long ride and check after riding hard. Thats the magic, the harder you ride, the cooler she runs.

[arvindraju]

yet another clean install with good hands at work. Was glad i could see you through the install.Enjoy !

[NitinGirish]

Headlight has gone completely dim today. It glows like park light Horns & indicators are working fine. Any pointers would be very helpful.

Also there is a noise when I rev past 1/2 throttle. Sort of a metal vibrating noise. Will post audio clip shortly.

[NitinGirish]

http://youtu.be/W02NGDxgr_c

Audio clip

[chinoy]

Looks like a Clean install.

I think I know what has happened. You have drilled new holes in the Coil Plate right.
You then rotated the plate. Clock wise to advance the timing. Right.
And you forgot to take out the metal clip behind the plate. Its a thin metal tab which holds the wires in place.his
This needs to be removed.

The CDI has nothing to do with your lighting coil.
Your Horn and indcators will work cause you bat is still charged.

Take it back to asgar.
Ask him to remove the metal tab. Under the coil plate and re-seat the drum.
I have covered this topic in the past.


If Asgar is far fom your house. Get some local mech. To tighten down the Drum. Or do this job. Its a simple 2 minute job. And once the metal tab is removed your wires will have the freedom to follow the rotation of the plate.
I suspect the Drum is rubbing on the Lighting coil. Hence the poor lighting and sound.

Avoid pushing the bike till you fix this. If it was ok and this just started. It just means your drum is coming loose.
Also keep an eye on your jetting / plugs.

[NitinGirish]

Thanks a lot Ron. I'll ground the bike for rest of the week and take it to Asgar on Saturday and ask him to do the needful. With my superlative wrenching skills, I don't want to risk doing it myself.

I clearly remembered your advisory point (actually a separate thread I guess) regarding removing smaller plate/tab on coil plate. I think you saw some guys doing this mistake at your place and you corrected them. But I couldn't locate any Thats not a problem, will figure out this Saturday when I go to his place.

I just opened the headlight assy now and this is how the bulb looked

Even after replacing with new one, only one filament is glowing.

[chinoy]

Only one filament is supposed to glow.
You do know that installing just the CDI has nothing to do with your lighting. !

[ad1tya]

Even after replacing with new one, only one filament is glowing.

LOL only one filament glows at a time man. Two are for High & Low beam.

Also see if pulsar is touching the rotor or not. If it is you should file it down a little bit.

[NitinGirish]

Only one filament is supposed to glow.
You do know that installing just the CDI has nothing to do with your lighting. !

I didn't know that.

I know CDI has nothing to do with lighting. Its got to do something with the install and am trying to get some help from you and the members here thats all. I probably should have started a new thread for this.

@Aditya: Thanks for the pointers man. I am learning

[chinoy]

Its all cool Bro.I don't think people buy CDIs from RDD. They buy an education.
You have a very clean bike. I like that.

Whats not clear is did you drill a new hole in the palte. Or did you move the pulsar or did you do both ?

[NitinGirish]

Two new holes were drilled Ron. But I am not sure if the Pulsar coil was moved. I had gone to buy Fusebox while the magnet and coil plate were being installed. Asgar is currently out of town. I will provide an update by late evening tomorrow.

Just hoping he has not moved it

[nitesh]

@Nitin, little OT but you should get the 90/100 kit from Ron too while its still in production. That way you'll have a brand new set of coils, a plate thats meant to be used with the RDD CDI. much simpler and affordable too.

[NitinGirish]

affordable too

Not at the moment doc. Feb & March is when corporate coolies like me get skinned by the Govt. Add to that, my car insurance is due for renewal this month.

Besides, I am not sure for how long I will keep this bike. So don't want to spend anymore on this apart from regular maintenance and Motul 510.

[NitinGirish]

Went to Asgar today. He did a good job of diagnosing & fixing the issue. He could locate the noise source in 30 seconds

Dim headlight was due to

a wire from lighting coil being grounded. Lighting coil wire ground aagittu

This what Asgar told me. I have no idea what that means but I was damn happy to see coil plate intact. No touching/rubbing whatsoever

Metal clip was removed earlier itself.


Coils are undamaged


Second issue of strange sound turned to be improper mounting of fuel tank. The rubber bushes at the front don't sit in the slots on the chassis neatly. It was always like this from day1. Maybe it didn't make such noises before because I never revved so much before. Thats also sorted now.

Thank you all for providing pointers, diagnosis and troubleshooting

[chinoy]

He has done a nice job with the slots.
Yes the lighting coil getting pinched / grounded is a common problem even on the stock plates.

[NitinGirish]

Nearly 2500 kms up after the install and its gotten better after increasing the plug gap slightly. I was facing starting problem (both early morning and regular starts) but its fine now. Its revving even smoother

Though the service advisory says 0.4 to 0.5mm gap on Mico plugs, I 'feel' there is a scope for deviating from this