Ignition coil replacement R60/2

jberzins · Post by **jberzins** » Sun Nov 06, 2016 12:05 am

Hello,
Recently discovered my ignition coil is bad, thanks for the help folks. Do I just use one of my old ones, or should I try to look for something new. Any recommendations would be great. I see Max's has them, but they are quite pricey.
Thanks again.

schrader7032 · Post by **schrader7032** » Sun Nov 06, 2016 1:23 am

I'd move on to a solid state coil rather than rely on something that is quite old. I bought one from Vech...it's the Emerald Isle coil. I don't see that name listed on their website...call and ask about it.

Beemer54 · Post by **Beemer54** » Sun Nov 06, 2016 11:52 am

Last year the Airhead Ezine did a reader survey about /2 ignition coils. The Emerald Isle ones ( sold by Vech) came out way on top. Emerald Isle got a bad reputation with their earlier versions of the coil but their newest ones produce a strong spark at lower revs than the originals and are very reliable.

jberzins · Post by **jberzins** » Sun Nov 06, 2016 4:47 pm

Well I put in one of my extras and the bike fired up, however I am thinking about just ordering a new one anyway for the piece of mind. Thanks

808Airhead · Post by **808Airhead** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 9:55 am

I always have a spare one handy.

miller6997 · Post by **miller6997** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 2:49 am

...one on the bike and a spare in reserve. I just measured the resistance across the leads and got a reading of 29.2 on the new spare and 20 on the one in service, which is several years old. Is that a meaningful difference? A friend just got a brand new one from Vech, and he gets the 29.2 reading as well. I thought I read somewhere that zero resistance across the leads is normal. No?

wa1nca · Post by **wa1nca** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 5:06 am

No
A coil is a transformer

It really has 2 coils
A primary side and a secondary side

The primary side has a very low resistance
It is connected to the points wire and to ground by the 2 screws holding the coil in place
It should have a very low resistance like .5 ohms

The secondary side ( The 2 terminals going to the spark plug wires) should read 29.2K (thousand) ohms with the Emerald Isle coil

The 20k reading you are reading on the old coil is also ok

Your new coil has more turns on the secondary side than the old style coil thus givings it a higher output ( spark)

Tommy

miller6997 · Post by **miller6997** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 6:46 am

...but I'm still puzzled by the difference in the readings. Both coils are Emerald Isle, bought from Benchmark, and to all outward appearances identical. Were there earlier and later versions of the Emerald Isle coil? Would the ohm reading decline with age and/or deterioration of the coil?

wa1nca · Post by **wa1nca** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:45 pm

Sorry
I didn't realize your old coil was also a Emerald Island
My coil is 6 years old and gives the same readings 29.2k ohms
So 20k may indicate a week coil or maybe it is a older version and 20k is ok
Not sure if even Vech would know
Maybe some other users can take some more readings and see what they get
Tommy

Darryl.Richman · Post by **Darryl.Richman** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 8:27 pm

With the original equipment coils, they tend to work ok down to about 13K ohms. When they read lower than that, people start to experience problems. I have a couple of them that read in the 12K ohm region and one that's under 11K. That last one will quit and die, when completely warmed up, if you let the bike get under about 1500rpm, and then you have to wait for it to be stone cold again before it will restart.

Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

Ignition coil replacement R60/2

Ignition coil replacement R60/2

I'd move on to a solid state

ignition coil

Well I put in one of my

I always have a spare one

I have two Emerald Isle coils...

zero resistance across the leads is normal. No?

This is helpful...

Emerald coil

OEM coil numbers