Relation to CX500 CDI information.

The CX500 CDI wiring schematic and the “How-to Build a CX500 CDI” are important in that
they give you the essential parts and wiring to design a micro-processor-based FT500 CDI. A
nice attribute of the CX500 CDI was that in early models, the advance was by the old centrifugal
mechanical method – so the CDI did not have ignition advance as part of its circuitry. This
makes it easier to insert a micro-processor control circuitry into the design.

Of course the CX500 was a twin-cylinder engine so that part needs to be eliminated. But the
basic inputs are all there and one essentially only needs to insert the micro-processor into the
control part of the design: i.e. the trigger to fire the SCR.

Another nice thing about using the data from the CX500 design is that the high-voltage part
(where the charging of the main capacitor can approach 400V) is already spec’ed for parts that
can withstand the higher voltages. I believe this is also the reason for “double-dioding:” snap
back-voltages are split between the series connected components.

geo