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Cheap Engine Hours Meters?


Jen-in-Wellies

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Engine hours meters with mechanical numeral movements from the usual suspect Chandlers cost around the £50 mark. There are Chinese ones for sale on Ebay for around £8, plus / minus a pound or two. Has anyone got any experience of these? Are they reliable, or should we stump up the extra for an expensive ones? "You get what you pay for", or "marine surcharge"?

 

Thanks,  Jen

Another cheap Ebay tat question. We seem to be having a lot of these.

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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There are loads on the RS website. This one for instance, is one of the cheaper ones. https://docs-emea.rs-online.com/webdocs/1585/0900766b815859e6.pdf

 

There are lots in the £20- ish range. Or go for an LCD one. I have one for logging engine hours on my glider, connect it to 12v and it springs into life display wise, connect another terminal to 12v and it starts counting up. However long the power is disconnected, it doesn’t lose its count.

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39 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

There are loads on the RS website. This one for instance, is one of the cheaper ones. https://docs-emea.rs-online.com/webdocs/1585/0900766b815859e6.pdf

 

There are lots in the £20- ish range. Or go for an LCD one. I have one for logging engine hours on my glider, connect it to 12v and it springs into life display wise, connect another terminal to 12v and it starts counting up. However long the power is disconnected, it doesn’t lose its count.

That is more down in the price range of the Ebay ones. RS stuff is usually good, though the price is often high, which suggests that the Ebay price may not indicate poor quality.

Jen

 

Edited to add:

The Ebay one I linked to is nearly identical to the Kubler one RS sell for £24.23 ex VAT. The only difference I can see is that it doesn't have the Kubler name, or a CE mark on the label on the back. Either it is a knock off, or made in the same Chinese factory after hours, or one for the non-European market.

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About six years ago I bought a small volt meter costing around £2 ...Chinese of course. It's worked perfectly all that time. Just because it's Chinese doesn't necessarily mean it won't do just what you want.  This meter gives the same reading as the Tracer display I fitted when I finally got around to installing solar panels. I'm sure a cheap hour meter is worth a punt.

20180712_211920.jpg

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19 minutes ago, Peter-Bullfinch said:

About six years ago I bought a small volt meter costing around £2 ...Chinese of course. It's worked perfectly all that time. Just because it's Chinese doesn't necessarily mean it won't do just what you want.  This meter gives the same reading as the Tracer display I fitted when I finally got around to installing solar panels. I'm sure a cheap hour meter is worth a punt.

20180712_211920.jpg

I agree. The majority of electronic stuff is made in China, regardless of the nationality of the company whose name is on the box. Most of it is excellent quality, especially things made for larger companies to standards that they provide and check up on. This is as good as, or better than anything you can get made elsewhere. However there is a proportion that is very nasty indeed, made by shady, fly by night outfits. They skimp on component quality and manufacturing, giving something that will fail in a short time. Question is, how can you tell? One way is someone elses personal experience. The reason for wanting to get it right first time and not just take a punt is that this is going in to a panel for another neighbour. The panel aperture will be made to fit it, so may not suit another instrument.

 

Jen

 

Jen

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I have cheap eBay electromechanical one. The only disadvantage is that it is sealed and so can't be quickly rolled forward to match the engine hours. I have left it clocking whilst off the boat, for some 4000 hours, so it seems reliable!

 

Richard

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Priced between your cheapies and your £50 chandler ones, are those from Durite.

On Flamingo I have a mechanical one from them that I'm sure I paid less than £30 for, though a quick look now I can't find it quite that cheap.  It seems rock solid, and (unlike some), the digits swap over neatly, rather than ending up not really aligned.

I'm also looking to replace a vintage Lucas one on Sickle, that has gone intermittent on me, so I will be watching this thread with interest.

 

The problem I have there though is that the one I need to swap out is in a hole considerably bigger than the standard 52mm, so some kind of bodge will be required unless I am to replace the whole panel it is in.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Engine hours meters with mechanical numeral movements from the usual suspect Chandlers cost around the £50 mark. There are Chinese ones for sale on Ebay for around £8, plus / minus a pound or two. Has anyone got any experience of these? Are they reliable, or should we stump up the extra for an expensive ones? "You get what you pay for", or "marine surcharge"?

 

Thanks,  Jen

Another cheap Ebay tat question. We seem to be having a lot of these.

This one is on Ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-24V-36V-Waterproof-Hour-Meter-Panel-for-Car-Marine-Engine-2-Round-Gauge/222658353202?epid=23006500395&hash=item33d778d832%3Ag%3ACfcAAOSwa9NZy37Y&_sacat=0&_nkw=engine+hourse+meter+12v&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=m570.l1313

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10 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

The problem I have there though is that the one I need to swap out is in a hole considerably bigger than the standard 52mm, so some kind of bodge will be required unless I am to replace the whole panel it is in.

Find a friendly local woodturner. They could make you a lovely ‘bung’ out of oak with a 2” hole in the middle, so you’d end up with a wooden bezel. 

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How

2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Engine hours meters with mechanical numeral movements from the usual suspect Chandlers cost around the £50 mark. There are Chinese ones for sale on Ebay for around £8, plus / minus a pound or two. Has anyone got any experience of these? Are they reliable, or should we stump up the extra for an expensive ones? "You get what you pay for", or "marine surcharge"?

 

Thanks,  Jen

Another cheap Ebay tat question. We seem to be having a lot of these.

What connects to those terminals on the back. Could I piggy back off my fading Isuzu engine hours meter on the panel to one of these meters mounted somewhere in the engine hole? 

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2 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Engine hours meters with mechanical numeral movements from the usual suspect Chandlers cost around the £50 mark. There are Chinese ones for sale on Ebay for around £8, plus / minus a pound or two. Has anyone got any experience of these? Are they reliable, or should we stump up the extra for an expensive ones? "You get what you pay for", or "marine surcharge"?

 

Thanks,  Jen

Another cheap Ebay tat question. We seem to be having a lot of these.

I got an ebay hours meter and it's racked up 1000 hrs so far without problems. 

Similar to this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Black-Rectangle-12V-36V-DC-Generator-Engine-Sealed-Hour-Meter-Counter/202237766833?hash=item2f164f6cb1%3Ag%3AuGYAAOSw42JZIVd0&_sacat=0&_nkw=12v+hour+meter&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.X12v+hour+meter.TRS0

 

It ticks over every 6 mins (ie 1/10 hour) so good for lots of hours but no good for minutes and seconds.

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8 hours ago, blackrose said:

How

What connects to those terminals on the back. Could I piggy back off my fading Isuzu engine hours meter on the panel to one of these meters mounted somewhere in the engine hole? 

You could piggyback it. The one we are considering is to replace a dead LCD hour meter built in to a working rev counter, so similar. On an Isusu panel too! Easiest way is to connect - terminal to the boat negative and the + to ignition switched 12V from the On position terminal on the key switch. This isn't exactly the same as engine on time, but close enough for most people, including me! For absolute accuracy you could include a changeover relay fired from the engine oil pressure switch, so the hour meter only runs when ignition is on and the engine has oil pressure, so is running. To much faff I reckon.

 

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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13 hours ago, Canal321 said:

+1 for the cheap eBay thingy. As said above just leave it connected to a 12 v battery until you get to the required value.  Mines working great, only problem was it took 6 weeks to get here!

Shame they don’t ship it connected to a battery, that way it would arrive wound on to close to where your broken original meter is reading.

  • Haha 1
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6 hours ago, Murflynn said:

I have an engine meter fitted to my wrist.  The only expense would be a pencil and paper. 

And, (being totally honest please!), how accurate do you reckon your recording of engine hours is, versus a meter properly connected to the engine?

 

I can't imagine having to record to the minute every time I start or stop either of our engines, (and managing never to lose the piece of paper).

(Mind you, I haven't had a working watch for years, so it couldn't work for me anyway!)

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20 hours ago, blackrose said:

How

What connects to those terminals on the back. Could I piggy back off my fading Isuzu engine hours meter on the panel to one of these meters mounted somewhere in the engine hole? 

I run my hours meter from the panel illumination bulb holder on one of the guages. 

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I've ordered the cheap one from eBay. I'm just going to mount it somewhere below the control pedestal in the engine hole and put a sticker on it saying + the number of hours on the Isuzu hours counter as that one is a bit temperamental. It's not like engine hours is something vital you need to see while you're steering. 

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19 hours ago, blackrose said:

It's not like engine hours is something vital you need to see while you're steering. 

 

^^^This^^^

 

I have an engine hours counter that responds to vibration, and is attached to the engine. No wiring whatever necessary. I see what it reads whenever I start the engine (from the engine room).

 

I really don't see why anyone needs one at the helm with associated wiring. 

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