tachometer which one!

what im looking for is a universal tach. i want a tach that will go from a 2 cylinder point engine. to a 4 cylinder magneto. to a cd ignition. and back. from a lawnmower. to an atv and anything you can think of.

i bought a tach/ multi meter from harborfreight. i know how to work the temperature gauage from it just stood at 95 degrees. the wire kept bending for me to even connect it. the tach didnt work cause i had an magneto ignition not a pointless one. lol pointless. so the reading were scattered all over.

im looking into a tinytach. anyone know which one to get? theres a model for multicylinder outboards. then theres 2 cylinder 180 motors. ones with times. ugh so confusing. help

Re: tachometer which one!

Some 2 stroke fire at TDC, some fire at TDC and BDC. Often with a twin they fire not one plug at TDC but they fire both each time even though only one cylinder is under compression. You have to figure out what type ignition you have to get the right tinytach.

There is also an Equus tach that will work in near any engine with a plug wire. I've seen some MDS stuff for taking a lead off a plug wire also.

Re: tachometer which one!

coolguy147 said:

im looking into a tinytach. anyone know which one to get? theres a model for multicylinder outboards. then theres 2 cylinder 180 motors. ones with times. ugh so confusing. help

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I spoke to them about my engine 2001 60 two stroke (3 cylinders) they told me I needed the multicylinder outboards model. I am pretty sure you need at least two different models to cover almost every engine possible. Call them, they know there stuff and can tell ya whats what.

Your other choice is a contact model, the kind that has a part on it that you put in contact with the spinning object and it reads how fast its turning. That is going to be the only truly universal type.

Re: tachometer which one!

i have a very old tachometer that you sitck on the the flywheel but its very hard to use. slips off. and possible to injure myself from hitting the flywheel

Re: tachometer which one!

plus it only goes up to 3500 rpm but i dont know if you wanna hold it for more then 2500 rpm

Re: tachometer which one!

I have a digital clamp on tach, you can put it on any plug wire. It has to be away from other wires though or it can get confused. I had a long car plug wire like 3' long, I put that on the engine it had a (IIRC) HEI male end that would plug into the engine wire. That way I could pull the clamp on away from the motor and spinning flywheel to read rpm under power.

Not sure where I bought it, but it is this one. It will read either type of ignition.

Re: tachometer which one!

what do you mean it wont work next to other plug wires. then whats the points of using it? i have a magneto ignition it this only works on batter ignition motors then the magneto wont provide and strong enough signal to work

the tach i tried out got confused too it didnt work on my motor

Re: tachometer which one!

The timing light/tach he is referring to is an inductive pickup style. He doesn't mean it won't work with certain ignitions. He merely means if you get the pickup clamp too close to another plug wire the inductive pickup will be triggered by both wires, not just the one it's clamped onto. The only thing you have to worry about is if your ignition system fires plugs at both the compression and exhaust strokes as is done on some engines but not likely on any you own. So -- buy a tiny tach for a one cylinder engine. The pickup wire is wrapped around one plug wire, routed away from other wires, and away you go. It doesn't matter if the engine has one cylinder or 100.

Re: tachometer which one!

you think the tiny tach model for one cylinder would be the choice? can you be a little specific

ya thansk though im understanding. i dont have enough experience just to go by ear on the rpm's

Re: tachometer which one!

What more do you need? Each cylinder fires ones per engine revolution. If you attach a one cylinder tach to any spark plug wire it will read RPM. As I said it doesn't matter if the engine has one cylinder or a bunch. It works on lawn mowers and it will work on your outboard.

Re: tachometer which one!

so the single cylinder model will work

TT226R-2C model will work?

http://www.tinytach.com/tinytach/gasoline.php ill give them a call but you think that the first one will work good?

sorry for being annoying-"What more do you need?"

Re: tachometer which one!

Yes, that one will work. Silvertip is simply telling you that you don't need any other model unless you plan to switch it to a non-two-stroke motor.

The tach wire wraps around the spark plug (it can be any spark plug wire on your motor). The tach wire, which is wrapped around the spark plug wire, picks up the electrical field of the firing spark plug wire. Each plug fire once per revolution. You can wrap around any plug wire wire. It does not matter which one because at any given moment they all fire at the same rate. The tach needs to know the rate of firing. It does not care how many cylinders there are.

When you route the tach wire through the engine area you have to be careful that the wire does not touch or get too close to other plug wires or coils. If it does it will pick up the electrical field from that wire or coil and the rpm on the tach will read high. Secure the tach wire in the engine compartment with cable ties so it does not flop around and touch other plug wires.

You will need extra tach tire. There is only 6' of wire supplied with the tach. It is very unlikely that this will be enough to reach from the tach, around the gunwale and back to the motor.

I plan to get a Tiny Tach also. That is the unit I plan to get because you can reset the hours. I have two boats: a twin cylinder and a V4. I am going to have a tach wire attached to a plug wire on each boat. I will switch the tach unit from boat to boat depending on which one I am using.