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Engine hours meter and tacho

Nitrowing

By Nitrowing
in Boat Equipment

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John Williamson 1955 Rising Star

John Williamson 1955

Posted
Posted

So what is the best way to retro fit a rev counter and hour counter??

I have a Lister LPWS4 which has neither at the moment...

It might be worth having chat with a Lister service agent, as Lister offer(ed) a range of different control panels for their engines, ranging from a switch panel with an ignition switch, alternator light and oil pressure light to the full monty with gauges for everything. If you're lucky, someone might have a scrap engine with a working loom and panel.

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Haven't a Clue Gongoozler

Haven't a Clue

Posted
Posted

Don't know if it's any help but when I had a saily boat with a Beta BZ482 (13hp) the control panel didn't have a tacho/hours counter, so I purchased a Tinytach from tinytachUK with an internal flash memeory (so no battery) and it did the job just fine, being waterproof and an LCD display. Very happy with this solution I was and can thoroughly reccomend them. Not too pricey either.

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Tinhare Contributor

Tinhare

Posted
Posted (edited)

Seriously, is a tachometer really necessary on a canal boat?

It's not as if you can change up a gear.

An hour meter ....yes, but a tacho?

I thought the same thing (our boat doesn't have one) the I thought about it and yes it would be useful.

Our engine idles at 500rpm ish. Max is 1000. Normal working is around 800/850. So how do I know I'm not over revving the engine. Well, sound/guesstimate. Now how do I know the sound. Well, I borrowed a mates laser tachometer and tried different revs to see what if sounded/felt like.

I'd hazard a guess there would be a number of people who would have no idea what an engines revs are (even roughly) based on the sound of the engine.

Prior to getting the tachometer I was actually under revving the engine ie, cruising rather slowly.

Erred on the side of cation.

 

Alan.

Edited by Tinhare
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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

Posted
Posted

Seriously, is a tachometer really necessary on a canal boat?

It's not as if you can change up a gear.

An hour meter ....yes, but a tacho?

If what was fitted to a canal boat was determined by what was really necessary, then an awful lot of boats would be a lot sparser.

 

No inverters, TVs, washing machines.

Even bow-thrusters.

No multi-coloured paint jobs.

No roses and castles......

 

But seriously.....

 

No, of course not, but it can be a very useful aid sometimes, for example if your rate of progress doesn't exactly match your expectations. Are you actually misjudging engine speed, or is something else not quite right.

 

You don't need a GPS either, but even on the boat with no real electrics, no water system and only 8 feet of living space, I still use one as the quickest way of recording the approximate distance travelled each day,

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Alan de Enfield Veteran II

Alan de Enfield

Posted
Posted (edited)
Laurie.Booth, on 04 May 2014 - 08:06 AM, said:

I would find an hour meter very handy.

Is there a simple hour meter on the market.

It has to be very simple to install due to my total lack of knowledge.

 

Its called a stopwatch.

Press the button when you start the engine, press the button when you stop the engine. If you start the engine again (after lunch) simply press the button again and press it again when you switch of at night.

Elapsed time shown.

Zero and ready for the next day.

 

Simples !

 

Edit to add

 

It was good enough for the bombers to time their trips to Berlin, Cologne etc.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Laurie Booth Veteran

Laurie BoothDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

 

Its called a stopwatch.

Press the button when you start the engine, press the button when you stop the engine. If you start the engine again (after lunch) simply press the button again and press it again when you switch of at night.

Elapsed time shown.

Zero and ready for the next day.

 

Simples !

 

Edit to add

 

It was good enough for the bombers to time their trips to Berlin, Cologne etc.

My wife is already doing this, I need it to count over 100 hours for servicing my engine. When serviced I then need to zero the counter.

 

PS

I don't think my Springer would be much use against the Nazi hoards.

:)

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nicknorman Veteran II

nicknormanDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

I would find an hour meter very handy.

Is there a simple hour meter on the market.

It has to be very simple to install due to my total lack of knowledge.

Something like this is what you need. When power is applied it counts up, when power is removed it stops

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HONEYWELL-HOBBS-169635-ELECTROMECHANICAL-BOAT-HOUR-METER/191104621679?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.RVI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3D6658481265214457393%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D20131017132637%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D191104621679

 

That one is in the USA so expensive shipping, but you might find one in the UK.

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Laurie Booth Veteran

Laurie BoothDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Interesting item, pity they don't give much details. Looks to me that it won't rezero until it hits 9999 hours. Plus I'm not sure how it is installed.

Thanks for the link though

:)

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nicknorman Veteran II

nicknormanDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Interesting item, pity they don't give much details. Looks to me that it won't rezero until it hits 9999 hours. Plus I'm not sure how it is installed.

Thanks for the link though

:)

Yes it's designed to record total hours run, it's not resettable. You just have to apply 12v to it when the engine is running. The easiest way to do that is to take switched power from the ignition switch so that it runs when the ignition is switched on. The purists use something like the oil pressure switch to apply the 12v to the meter when there is oil pressure, which is hopefully the case when the engine is running!

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Laurie Booth Veteran

Laurie BoothDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Vibration triggered hour meter

 

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=201046140134

Interesting item but hard to read if its stuck to the engine,

:)

Yes it's designed to record total hours run, it's not resettable. You just have to apply 12v to it when the engine is running. The easiest way to do that is to take switched power from the ignition switch so that it runs when the ignition is switched on. The purists use something like the oil pressure switch to apply the 12v to the meter when there is oil pressure, which is hopefully the case when the engine is running!

Good item, pity it's not resettable.

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Robbo Veteran II

Robbo

Posted
Posted

Interesting item, pity they don't give much details. Looks to me that it won't rezero until it hits 9999 hours. Plus I'm not sure how it is installed.

Thanks for the link though

:)

Hour meters won't be resettable as they not meant to be, that will be a trip meter.

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magnetman Veteran II

magnetman

Posted
Posted

Yes but you don't need to see the hours all the time, it would be for servicing surely? A bike computer would do daily hours with a visible display if you are looking for a daily log.

Another tachometer, hours and temperature option is the type they use on RC aircraft but its quite expensive.

 

"Eagletree" data logger with LCD display and required sensors. You can download to a PC and view graphs of rpm, temp, amps, volts etc recorded ever second or every minute.

 

A bit Ott :rolleyes:

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Clifford Collaborator

Clifford

Posted
Posted

There were several ignition-switch-activated mechanical-display hourmeters on the site linkes to earlier. I'm interested in one because the hourmeter part of my tacho (Isuzu control panel) has gone belly up (surveyor said it was not unusual). I like the way they measure true time, not number of revs divided by a notional revs per hour.

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Laurie Booth Veteran

Laurie BoothDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

There were several ignition-switch-activated mechanical-display hourmeters on the site linkes to earlier. I'm interested in one because the hourmeter part of my tacho (Isuzu control panel) has gone belly up (surveyor said it was not unusual). I like the way they measure true time, not number of revs divided by a notional revs per hour.

Please let me know what you buy.

:)

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

Posted
Posted

Laurie,

 

As has been said, any true hour counter, whether electronic or electro-mechanical will not generally allow a reset to zero as standard functionality,

The intention is to count total hours run.

 

Why do you need this? There may be other ways of achieving it.

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Laurie Booth Veteran

Laurie BoothDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

Laurie,

 

As has been said, any true hour counter, whether electronic or electro-mechanical will not generally allow a reset to zero as standard functionality,

 

The intention is to count total hours run.

 

Why do you need this? There may be other ways of achieving it.

My engine has to be serviced every 100 hours, so it will be handy to have a counter that can be reset after each service.

:)

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