I installed a rotary twin power on my rx7 today. I installed it right i think, and grounded it to the firewall. I drive into town only to smell and see smoke coming from the hood. I shut of my ignition and opened the hood and the twin power was extremely hot. I unplugged it from the harness and i was kind of suprised that my car started. When i arrived back home i plugged in the harness to the twin power and the red LED is still comming on. Any ideas as to why it's doing this?.
When i plug back in the harness and turn on the ignition the twin power gets super hot.


Side note: I recently bought this unit used from a forum member
Please help,

I took some pictures of the mounting location, ground, and the location of the plugs that i tapped into.

 

If it was grounded incorrectly it would not turn on, you have the PNP FD harness so the install is straight forward. Sounds like you got a defective unit. I would not risk catching the car on fire over a used Twin Power, contact the seller tell them you want to return it. Then buy a new one.

 

Is it normal for the car to run and drive with the twin power harness attached while not attached to the twin power itself?

 

Yes.

 

Damn i see this is a big problem for these twin power units. I better be careful when i get mine.

 

Isn't the primary goal of the twin power ignition to increase spark ignition? So in fact your car will run if plugged in (if bad) but it will not operate as it's supposed to.

 

How hot do Twin Powers normally run......has anyone actually checked this? Do they run warm or hot during operation.

Can someone here please check their unit after a run.

 

I had one go bad after a dyno day. It burnt to the point of smoke coming out of it. The car wouldnt stay fired, massive backfiring and flamage. Knew it was ignition related and traced the smell to the box. THat one was bought used. I have another one that has lasted 8k so far. G

 

must be rotary powered

 

For the people who have the TP, is the harness long enough to where you can run the wiring through the firewall and just have the actual TP by the pedals so the heat wont destroy it?

I dont know if thats a dumb question but i havent gotten mine yet so i cant get a logical answer for myself.

 

mine doesnt get hot enough to where u cant put your hand on it. It shouldnt be affected by the heat on that side of the engine bay. G

 

So it would just be a design flaw??

Also, how long is the harness?

 

About 18"

 

I checked an HKS twin power temperature with a laser thermometer yesterday, after reading the request. The car had just been driven 150mi to our shop. It was 140F, warm but not hot, you could rest your hand on it without any issues.

In FD's I always mount them in the same location, pictured below. There is an available mounting hole ready for use. It is not a very hot part of the bay, we have never had one fail (knock on wood).

 

No problems with it mounted here...

 

Would it be stupid to mount the unit by the pedals and just run the harness through the grommet in the firewall?

Lets say the routing of the wire can be done, is it pointless? Or is heat really not the problem with these units.

Cause going by these posts, not only in this thread, it seems like it is.

 

I would be keen to know what HKs recommend as far as mounting is concearnned. I wonder if these units aren't failing due to dust and moisture entry into the unit itself. On the lighter side if you mounted the unit inside the car and it went bad you would be the first to know

 

HKS recommends installation in the engine bay http://www.banzai-racing.com/store_i...wer_Rotary.pdf

 

Well its understandable and obvious they would recommend mounting in the engine bay cause well, the wires do go to the coils.

But so far, all of these failures are because of heat, or so it seems like. I wonder if the actual heat from the engine bay kills these units over time.

And although mounting the unit inside the car may seem far fetched, i dont see a downside to it besides that people will think its stupid since its a part that is normally installed in the engine bay.

Im doing it for longevity and test purposes.

Cant hurt to try it. I may end up doing that when i get mine.

 

Failure due to heat is an assumption you are making. Just because the OP's was radiating heat, does not mean it failed because of it. Most likely it was fried when he bought it used. This could have been caused by any number of shorts from a bad coil, igniter or coil harness. A short at any of the other components could easily backfeed into the Twin Power and cook it internally.

I had the same HKS Twin power in my engine bay for 8 years on my 500hp 13b-rew, before I installed the 20B. Not a single problem and it has now been surviving happily in a customer's engine bay for the last year or so. I now have the 6 channel Twin Power installed with the 3 rotor.

You can install it where ever you like, but my opinion is that it is a waste of time extending and running the wires through the firewall.

 

It was fried when i bought it. And the seller gave me an immediate refund
Who ever had it before probably had problems with their ignition coils as Chris said above.

 

Nice you got a refund. Hey just to keep the thread going, opinions on the AEM vs HKS twin power. (without starting a s**t fight) Are the AEMs still inferrior. I ask because I see a lot of people saying the AEMs overheat & one person referring to the HKS as being only a hair better than the stock.
I have a MT10 & X4 at current. In NZ the AEM is about $450 compared to $1000 on the HKS.

 

It is an assumption but these threads about the same problems goes without saying.

Either heat is the problem or there is simply a design flaw with these units.

Im not ordering people to install them inside the car. Since people install these units in various areas of the engine bay anyway, i dont think there is any downside in trying to put the unit inside the car.

I already did a quick measurement according to 18" like someone said and it should reach.

Time is irrelevant to me. It would prob take 20 minutes more than a normal installation. Im good with wires anyway.

Ill just be the only idiot then who would do this with the TP. I wouldnt be the first idiot to do idiotic things to their FD's though. I've seen FARRRRRRRR worse in my days on this forum lol

 

The only "design flaw" that I can see is that it does not seem to have any sort of internal circuit breaker and no external replaceble fuse, in the event that something shorts out in the ignition system. Relocating it inside the the cabin is not going to prevent this from happening, however again you can do whatever you like to your own car.

 

I was the seller of the twin power....where can i send it to be repaired?

I bought it from a member in a package and he said it worked fine. He said "tough ****" to me.