Could anyone please tell me if the cdi I need to purchase is AC or DC, and if it needs to be eton or if I can use a generic inexpensive brand, thank you so much, Dave.

 

Welcome to the forums.
PM Lynn Edwards.

 

Eton CDIs are unique to Eton. You cannot use cheap generic CDIs. According to a published wiring diagram for the eton Viper 70cc your CDI is AC powered. But you still will need an eton CDI.

But published eton diagrams are often different from the real world etons out there. So let's check: How many wires on your CDI, and what are the wire colors? I want to see if they match the diagram in front of me.

Why are you contemplating changing the CDI? Are you sure this is the problem? What problems are you having? There are other things involved with the ignition system. For example the stator, ignition switch, kill switch(es), remote control module, ignition coil, spark plug, tether pull cord, and all the wiring interconnecting these pieces.

With a meter you can test a lot of these things to narrow the possibilities down before you spend the bucks on an expensive CDI which may be just a guess.

So again, what problem are you having?

 

Lynn, thanks for taking the time, I purchased the eton without a cdi or coil, the previous owner took it into a shop and that is what they said was bad, and quoted him several hundred dollars and since his boy had outgrown it he opted not to fix it, but he left shop without parts on the quad and then finally some months later put it up for sale. Cdi part #812300 is $90 and coil #81614 is $70. I was hoping to buy the cdi/coil combo off of eBay for around $30 just to not get too deep into this quad if there is additional problems. The cdi is a square four plug alongside side a 2 plug with rounded corners. Lynn, sorry a bit winded but, could I spend the money on an eton cdi and save on a generic coil? Thanks in advance, Dave.

 

So you have two connectors with fou pins and two pins. But does this mean you have six wires connected to the CDI? Or is one of the connector slots unused?

What are the wire colors? My diagram shows only 5 wires to the CDI.

The generic (cheap) CDIs for chinese quads have a kill switch pin that is left open (disconnected) for the engine to run, and any one of many kill switches can kill the engine by any one of those getting closed (shorted) to ground.

The eton CDI *requires* that the kill switch input be grounded to *run* (backwards from the generic chinese stuff). If any of the kill switches are open the quad quits running.

The wiring for these two are quite different. The generic chinese quad have all the kill switches wired in parallel (side by side). The eton quads have all the kill switches wired in series (nose to tail). The wiring is significantly different between these two schemes.

The possible kill switches are:

1) one half of the two section ignition switch
2) The left handlebar kill switch
3) Tether pull cord
4) Remote control module

Even if you planned on rewiring your quad (a lot of work), there is another consideration. The ignition timing advance curves are generated inside the CDI. Are the eton advance curves the same as the advance curves in a chinese CDI? I don't know the answer to this question .

 

Lynn, it sounds like I will just order etons cdi, what do you think about a generic coil, thanks.

 

The CDI and the ignition coil are a tuned circuit. They interact with each other, with the overall goal of transfering the most energy to the plug on each spark. A mismatched pair between entirely different manufacturers could result in lower spark energy. Perhaps this would be minor, or maybe not. I don't know.

There is a lot of copying in this industry. Some major player (like Honda) spends a lot of money optimizing a design, then all the small players mimick it. It may well be that a cheap generic coil is very close in design to the real Eton coil and would work fine. Or maybe not.

You could always try a generic coil if you're into research and development. I don't think it would hurt anything to try this. If it were me I'd try it - but I like to experiment . If it works then fine, and if it doesn't work you could just write off the cheap coil and then buy an expensive eton coil.

 

Lynn, ended up buying a $17 cdi and coil from an eBay seller that thought it would work, oddly when I got it today it was the same cdi for my sons yerf dog, gy6 it was labeled. I hooked both up on the eton 70 and absolutely nothing, won't even turn over or any lights come on, I believe it is also blowing the fuse by the battery (Fyi- battery is fully charged and registering 13.6 volts). Soooo, you might be totally right about the wiring, if it is wired wrong and acting like a kill switch, would it simply do nothing, like it is, and could that blow the fuse, thanks a million, just not 100% sure I want to try this with $170 worth of eton cdi and coil, thanks again, Dave.