Hour meter hookup

[boatman37]

installed a new hour meter and moved it to my dash. can i connect it to anything in my dash, like the tach? or do i have to run the wire all the way back to the coil? the key is never left in the on position unless the engine is running

 

[GA_Boater]

If the tach power is only live when the key is in Run, that will work fine. Turn the key on and use a test light or meter to the power connection on the tach and see if it shows 12V and goes off when the key is Off. Also check the Accessory position if you have one and make sure the tach isn't getting power.

 

[Scott Danforth]

any of the purple wires under the dash would be "ignition on" that includes the feed to all the gauges

 

[boatman37]

Thanks guys. will try to check that later and will report back

 

[boatman37]

got it all hooked up today. there were 2 wires on the back of the tach that powered on with the key on so i hooked it to one of those and it works fine now. thanks!

 

[Silvertip]

The back of a tach has four connections: 1) "L" = internal light. May or may not be on with Ignition switch. 2) "+" = +12 volts with key on. 3) Ground 4) "S" = Send/Sense which is the tach signal from the engine. You only need to look at the terminals on the tach to tell which one is 12 volts.

 

[boatman37]

The back of a tach has four connections: 1) "L" = internal light. May or may not be on with Ignition switch. 2) "+" = +12 volts with key on. 3) Ground 4) "S" = Send/Sense which is the tach signal from the engine. You only need to look at the terminals on the tach to tell which one is 12 volts.

Thanks. Yes, there were 4 connections. both on the lower left and right both had power with the key on. not too sure which was which but i hooked it to the one closer to starboard. i didn't check the actual voltage from them though. it was getting dark and was hard to see but i can switch it to the other easy enough if i need to.

there is one near the top which i think is for the light then one near the bottom center and one on each side of that center one. it was too dark to tell which was which other than my test light lit on both with the key on

 

[boatman37]

here are a couple of pics. i still haven't cleaned up my mess since it has been raining for 2 weeks. i was told when i bought it that it had about 600 hours. the broken meter read 400 so i 'adjusted' this new one to 600 so i am at least close

 

[dingbat]

the broken meter read 400 so i 'adjusted' this new one to 600 so i am at least close

The reason why I put no faith or value in an hour meter.

Use the calender as your maintenance reminder and put the money saved in the fuel tank