PRD Fireball Shop Manual/Electrical & Starting

Unreliable Starting via On-board Starter

Undeniably the most widely experienced and well-known defect with the PRD Fireball engine was it's ignition/starter system's inability to reliably start the motor.

The problem boiled down to one simple fact: the Opamma ignition did not generate consistent spark at the RPM the starter would drive the motor.

There were a few "work-arounds" used by the community to achieve reliable starting:

1. Use of an external starter.
2. the use of a Li-Po battery (5000mA, 30C, 4 cell, 13.8V) which solves all starting issues on the old ignition.
3. Re-wire the starter for 9-volts.
4. Add an extra 6 volt battery to the 12 volt battery to create 18 volts across the starter.

This problem was so common that PRD finally released an updated ignition system in 2012 to solve this systemic issue: PRD Fireball Shop Manual/Easy Start Ignition.