# Tach/Hour meters



## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

I've been doing a little research on tach/hour meters lately because I'm thinking of installing them on my regularly used pieces of equipment. This includes two cylinder Honda engines, a two cylinder Onan and single cylinder engines. Seems the prices are all over the place from really inexpensive to "you want how much"!?" So, like everything else, which ones are the best and which ones should you stay away from?

Just wondering what brands and models of tach/hour meters you folks have installed on your snowblowers. How satisfied have you been with them and what issues, if any have you encountered in their installation and longevity.


----------



## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

I use them mainly to track hrs...
Kinda nice to have a built in tach
FWIW, I used to buy the $35 Works/Sendec

The reality is, these all have sealed batteries, so once the batteries go, you need a new one. For the last 3 years, I've just buying them on Ebay for about 1/4 of the price above...

YMMV...


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

NOPE ... not anymore. I have the sealed battery ones and it ticked me off because they do die at some point and then the info is lost. I have three. Two are on riders and one on the Troy rototiller to track hours. I'm going on three years with them.

Now you need to read the ad as some/most do come with a replaceable battery !!

I try to record hours monthly when I remember but when these die they'll be getting the ones that are replaceable. $13 on up

Battery Replaceable Digital Tach Tachometer Hour Meter for Motorcycle Motor | eBay


----------



## Coby7 (Nov 6, 2014)

I just installed an el cheapo, I'll replace it when the battery goes. It's just to monitor for oil changes.



Still ticking....


----------



## CarlB (Jan 2, 2011)

here are a couple from cheap ones from china 

Sealed / waterproof non replaceable battery under 5 dollars probably good for snow blower.
Waterproof Digital Tach Hour Meter Gauge LCD for 4 Stroke Gas Engine | eBay

One for around 7 dollars not waterproof with replaceable battery 
Digital Engine Tach Tachometer Hour Meter Inductive for Motorcycle Motor FC0 | eBay


----------



## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

pry one of those el-cheapo's open and if the battery can be replaced do it then reseal the cover with some gasket maker


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

detdrbuzzard said:


> pry one of those el-cheapo's open and if the battery can be replaced do it then reseal the cover with some gasket maker



There's no prying it open. At least not the type Coby7 and I have. The components are in the open backed plastic case and then they pour in urethane or some liquid plastic to seal it up from moisture and protect from vibration. 

They were cheap so if I'm getting three year so far ... that's fair. I did break down and order two more today (with replaceable batteries :wink. Will put one on the 1332 Toro and one on the 1030 Snapper.


----------



## Coby7 (Nov 6, 2014)

Replaceable battery is only good if it keeps it's memory while you change the battery, otherwise your back to square one.


----------



## Thewoodchucker (Dec 22, 2015)

I have had a total of 3 tiny tachs just got one in the mail as a replacement this time with a filter and it works for about 30 seconds and then freezes up. This one I peeled the face off and dug out the sealer and got it to reset but it still on last for 30 seconds or so. Simple 5 hp Tecumseh Don't know what I'm missing. This brand for the money is not worth it
Just my .02 cents
Craig


----------



## Michael303 (Dec 3, 2015)

I wanted to be able to tune and make sure I'm not overdoing the RPMs so I ordered one of these yesterday for 10 bucks: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049IFX56











Amazon makes it easy to return or exchange if it turns out to be a dud.


----------



## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

Michael303 said:


> I wanted to be able to tune and make sure I'm not overdoing the RPMs so I ordered one of these yesterday for 10 bucks: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049IFX56
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've seen a lot of those and I'm curious of how well they'd work. Like I said in my first post, these things range in price from inexpensive to something I'd call pretty outrageous because the features are all about the same. Maybe it's like comparing apples to oranges, but you have to wonder. If you wouldn't mind, come back and let us know what you think of it.


----------



## caddydaddy (Dec 10, 2014)

I bought a battery powered one for my blower last year, just to keep track of maintenance, and the display still show up very dark. I can't remember the make though.
I also bought one of the type shown from Amazon with the 2 buttons, as a spare to use to check RPM on engines. I actually was using it tonight to check the RPM on my JD lawn tractor engine, and the display isn't as dark as it was last year, so it seems that one is dying.
For my portable generator, I wired in a mechanical hour meter than runs off of AC volts. It was under $20 and has worked fine the past few years.
Since the alternators on snowblowers are AC, I'd think a mechanical type would be easy to wire up, as long as you are able to keep the water off of it.


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

I put a NOS real Hobbs hour meter on the new Husky snowblower. It's the mechanical kind, with no battery, sealed nicely, etc. I connected it to the headlight wiring with a diode, works great so far. I wonder if there are any real mechanical meters like this commonly available? <trundles off to google for a look...>


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

My two came in today. It's going to be some time before I have the Snapper overhauled but hopefully tomorrow if we get some sun and decent weather I'll feel like going out to the shed and installing one on the Toro.

I'll have to get my hands on a digital inductive tach and check out the accuracy between the two.


----------



## Yanmar Ronin (Jan 31, 2015)

dr bob said:


> ... I wonder if there are any real mechanical meters like this commonly available? <trundles off to google for a look...>


That's what I got for the Yanmar, since having a tach would be a bit complicated... Amazon has a pretty good selection.










http://www.amazon.com/Quartz-Tractor-Generator-Engine-12-24-48/dp/B0049I6TJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451346584&sr=8-1&keywords=tms+hour+meter


Seems a little cheap, because... it was, but it works on the bench so I suppose I should install it and see.


----------



## mobiledynamics (Nov 21, 2014)

I like the analog.....just because it will never ~reset~.
But it's so 1980's


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

Sometimes the old reliable mechanical bits are more reliable than the all-electronic pieces like the tiny-tach and such. I dan't have a picture handy, but the one I put on it is a small rectangle face less than an inch and a half wide, maybe three quarters of an inch wide. It fits in a small angled bracket I made, and is mounted under the cowl cover out of the way. To read it or even know it's there, look up from under and behind the handles. Figured it would be safer there than on top.


----------



## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

I finally just threw in the towel, decided to go cheap and ordered one of these. Picked this one because the seller claimed to have them in stock in the U.S.

New LCD Digital Engine Tach Hour Meter Gauge for Racing Motorcycle Black US | eBay

I put it on my Honda ES6500 Generator. Installation was straight forward and easy and it read the RPM right there with my hand held, so either they are both right, or both wrong. I'll see how it holds up being stored in the garage during the cold months.

I also installed a Schumacher battery tender on it since it is electric start only and has no recoil starter.

SE-1-12S-CA - Schumacher Electric


----------



## Torobrand (Jan 29, 2016)

*help please*



dr bob said:


> I put a NOS real Hobbs hour meter on the new Husky snowblower. It's the mechanical kind, with no battery, sealed nicely, etc. I connected it to the headlight wiring with a diode, works great so far. I wonder if there are any real mechanical meters like this commonly available? <trundles off to google for a look...>


what is the diode for? Can't you just remove the connector from the light, T off the positive wire and go to ground for the hour meter, and then reconnect the connector to the light? Where does the diode go/


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

I don't see it mentioned but if DrBob has an incandescent light running off the engines AC adding the diode cuts out half the power going the "wrong way" and thus producing the DC the meter might need.

I've always been curious if that also cuts in half the output amps ??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyhzpFqXwdA


----------



## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)

^^ Same one I get - they are throw away since you can't replace the battery and sealed in resin. I think youare better off to buy the one the K4F points out since you could pick up a quality battery to start off with. The cheapo Chinko batt's are short lived.....even though the good batt's cost the same as a unit it will last you much longer.


----------



## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

My LMC has a mechanical hobbs similar to the one YR has. I was messing around with it a couple days after I'd brought it home and I accidently left the key on. The next time I went to play with it I found a dead battery and realized I'd left the key on. It had another 10 hours or so on the hour meter.:facepalm_zpsdj194qh
There is probably a way to wire it so that it only operates with the engine running, but I became real careful about playing with the key after that.


----------



## caddydaddy (Dec 10, 2014)

I was setting the governor speed on my old Ariens last night and using the cheapo battery powered tach/hour meter I bought. It stuck on 3650 RPM and won't show anything else.
Oh well, that piece of junk is in the trash now!
The Moose Racing one I bought for my Cub Cadet works great!


----------



## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Kiss4aFrog said:


> I don't see it mentioned but if DrBob has an incandescent light running off the engines AC adding the diode cuts out half the power going the "wrong way" and thus producing the DC the meter might need.
> 
> I've always been curious if that also cuts in half the output amps ??


I'm not an EE. But as I understand it, adding just a single diode will block half of the AC signal, the half that's negative voltage. AC would normally go + then - then + then -, etc. 

With the diode, it would instead output + then 0 then + then 0, etc. This is, I believe, called half-wave rectifying. Wikipedia has info here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode_bridge

During the + output voltage portion, you'd likely get the normal amperage, since the voltage is close to normal. If it's a simple resistive circuit, the amperage scales directly with voltage. So while getting +12V, you get 2A of current (or whatever the circuit would dictate). But during the 0 output voltage portion, you get no amps, since the voltage is 0V. 

Your duty cycle is cut in half, since you're only getting useful (positive) voltage half of the time. So your "average" amperage would be reduced, yes. You'd get 2A, then 0A, then 2A, then 0A, etc. For an average of 1A. 

If you added a full-wave bridge rectifier, however, things are different. Now the negative-voltage portion of the AC wave is "flipped" to positive-voltage. This image helps show it: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode_bridge#/media/File:Rectification.svg

So instead of getting + then 0 then + then 0, now you get + then + then + then +. So you still get usable voltage almost the entire time. Which, for our hypothetical circuit, means you get +12V almost the entire time, and therefore the circuit draws 2A almost the entire time. For an average of 2A. 

I hope my understanding of this is correct.


----------



## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Oh yeah, hour meters  I have two of the ~$10 eBay ones, like shown in post #10. They're fine, I don't have any big complaints. 

My oldest is maybe 5 years old or so, and the battery is still going. I mounted the older one on my blower last year, and either it's resetting periodically, or maybe it doesn't work the way I thought. It now seems to show the run time of the latest session, not the cumulative run time of the machine/meter. The other one is still properly tracking cumulative run time. Their LCDs are fairly "light", not a lot of contrast, so difficult to read in poor lighting. 

I did buy 2 better ones last year, made by Hardline: 
Robot Check

They're more expensive, about $25. But unlike my others, they read up to 16,000 RPM, while my others go to 9,999 RPM. This means they can also be used to tune chainsaw carbs, such as for tuning the saw to 12,000 at WOT (one method of tuning a saw carb). They also seem to be higher quality than my cheap ones, and the displays are easier to read (more contrast). Cumulative runtime is being tracked properly. They claim a 10-year battery life. I didn't know about the inexpensive replaceable battery ones when I bought these. 

I have one of these already mounted on my tractor, the other will go on the snowblower, replacing the cheap meter.


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

dbert said:


> My LMC has a mechanical hobbs similar to the one YR has. I was messing around with it a couple days after I'd brought it home and I accidently left the key on. The next time I went to play with it I found a dead battery and realized I'd left the key on. It had another 10 hours or so on the hour meter.:facepalm_zpsdj194qh
> There is probably a way to wire it so that it only operates with the engine running, but I became real careful about playing with the key after that.



That's the thing about knowledge. You usually only get it after :facepalm_zpsdj194qh


----------



## caddydaddy (Dec 10, 2014)

RedOctobyr said:


> Oh yeah, hour meters  I have two of the ~$10 eBay ones, like shown in post #10. They're fine, I don't have any big complaints.


That looks just like the one I had that froze up after about a year.


----------



## Opfoto (Jan 3, 2013)

*Tachometer from Ebay*

I bought a couple of these as was suggested previously to check the RPMs on my Craftsman #247.88790.

Digital Engine Tach Tachometer Hour Meter Inductive for Motorcycle Motor FC0 | eBay

I have just gotten them from China and have been playing with them trying to tune up the SB listed above. So far, so good. Will report as the year progresses.


----------



## dr bob (Dec 12, 2015)

Torobrand said:


> what is the diode for? Can't you just remove the connector from the light, T off the positive wire and go to ground for the hour meter, and then reconnect the connector to the light? Where does the diode go/


 
The current from the alternator to the lights is AC. The lights have diodes and resistors internal to make them work. My options list included trying one diode and letting the meter motor run on that. I figured if it wasn't enough duty-cycle for the little motor in the Hobbs, I could stick a few more in there to make a full-wave bridge. As it was the single diode was enough, and it fit inside the shrink tubing I used to waterproof the positive connection. The other wire then fits in a piece of shrink sleeve that holds both wires in one. I happened to have some 1/4" accordian sleeve that isn't the split kind, so that went on with another larger shrink sleeve to make a waterproof and mechanically-durable cable that won't get accdentally screwed up. The Husqy has a molded plastic 'console' panel that has stiffening ribs on the back/bottom. I mounted the meter in one of those cavities, with the cable tied up snugly passed through holes in the ribs.

I'm not close to the machine so no pics handy, but the tiny meter is up and completely out of the way underneath. I have to grab a flashlight and kneel down under the handles to see and read it. It's more for adding perspective to statistics than anything else, since use patterns will vary wildly year to year. It gets fresh oil at the end of evey season whether there's one or ten new hours on the meter. When do I change belts? This is its first winter in my garage so we'll see how diligent I am in five or ten years. In the past, I planned on getting decades from other garden equipment that gets used a whole lot more. I'm not deviating from that philosophy now... too late for me to forget those old habits.


----------



## Taurus04 (Dec 10, 2014)

CarlB said:


> here are a couple from cheap ones from china
> 
> Sealed / waterproof non replaceable battery under 5 dollars probably good for snow blower.
> Waterproof Digital Tach Hour Meter Gauge LCD for 4 Stroke Gas Engine | eBay
> ...



I have the one with the non interchangeable battery. It is not waterproof. Snowblowed today in wet snow and the hour meter went blank and all the numbers started flashing. Water had seeped in the hole where the wire from the spark plug enters the unit. A drop or two of RTV silicon woud jave stopped it. If I can dry it out, I will seal it. Tach still works though and that is what I wanted.


----------

