total loss ignition

[lilroy]

What is total loss ignition and what does it do to increase performance? ???  

[Scott]

I was just about to reply, but now I'm at a total loss of what I was going to say!

[morepower]

In general the flywheel is no longer charging the battery.  Removing the charging components, less drag on the crank. The main advantage of a total loss system is a little more hp aka ... quicker acceleration.

You must...should.. chanrge the batterey after every
race or ride. Depends on how many times you have
to push the motor start button.

[grasshopper]

So just as long as the bike is running you don't have to worry about your ingnition system dieing?

Do you have to worry about the bike dieing?

What if you kill it for some reason, will you be able to start it again or are you SOL?

[Jeff]

It's total loss as in the bike is running off the charge held in the battery.

Yes, you have to worry about the bike dying, but if you have a well charged battery and understand the draw of your electrical components, as well as knowing how long it will all last, you can do it with little or no problem.

If you kill it will it restart?  Well, it depends on the system you run.  If you go for a micro-battery that does not have enough power to start the bike, and you rely on an external source to start the bike; then yes, you're SOL.  If you use a fully charged normal battery, you should be able to start it a couple of times if need be.

[cardzilla]

I run a total loss system and it took a bunch of R&D (per se) to get it right.  I ended up having to run a heavy gel cel battery (about 8 pounds) as opposed to the dinky one I ran with the charging system.  The HP is pretty substantial (5 on the R1) and you have less gyro effect from the crank which makes the bike's direction easier to change.

[mike_rbm]

Unless your a pro AMA guy (or Ed Key  ;D ) I wouldn't get into it. 95% of us aren't going to turn a faster lap because of this. Does anyone have any stats on the fraction of a HP you'll pick up?

[mike_rbm]

I run a total loss system and it took a bunch of R&D (per se) to get it right.  I ended up having to run a heavy gel cel battery (about 8 pounds) as opposed to the dinky one I ran with the charging system.  The HP is pretty substantial (5 on the R1) and you have less gyro effect from the crank which makes the bike's direction easier to change.

5hp sounds suprising to me! Big weigth aded with the battery and all the set up time.  :P  

[lilroy]

So does anyone have any #'s on how much HP gain is achieved with this system on an 1000cc inline four?

If the HP gain is small, is it still worth while because the rate of acceleration is increased significantlly?

Is it possible to use only two batteries alternating between bike and charger for a typical race weekend?

Thanks for the very useful info!! :D

[lilroy]

While I was typing some of my questions where answered.  Thanks for the help so far!

[Jeff]

you're not going to find a real dramatic HP gain, but the motor will spool up instantly.  It's a big difference coming out of corners.  However, on a 160hp liter bike, how much more grunt do you need off a corner?

(also, please note, I speak only theoretically as I have zero practical knowledge (yet) of said application.  However, I have been looking into it for some time)

[Pierre - Team PMR]

i bought an F3 that had no charging system.  Only had a battery and it needed to be boosted with jumper cables before starting it.  I rigged up a simple wire (one lead going to + and one going to -) and had a connector at the other end.  I would run my race and once I came back into the pits, I would simply plug in my trickle charger into the connector I rigged up.  in 3 years of racing I never once had a problem with loss of HP or not being able to start my bike.  

I feel this was an advantage since there was no drag on the crank.  Bike ran great