I have long been wanting install an hour meter on my quad to better keep track of regular maintainance and such. The hour meter itself is pretty easy to install. The one thing that has baffled me so far is the trigger source for the meter.

There is basicly two ways to hook one up.

1. simply tie it to a switched power feed from the ignition. The drawback to this is that it counts time that the ignition is turned on, not the time the engine is running.

2. the more accurate way is to find a run circuit (only has power when the engine is running) to tie it into. Just looking at the wiring diagram in my manual hasn't made obvious if this can be done. The only thing that can really tell me this is the power coming from the stator to the voltage regulator/rectifier. But that is Alternating Current, not Direct Current and the voltage is quite a bit higher also.

any ideas?

Realisticly, I know it probably know that it's not going to make a huge difference in accuracy wether I pick option 1 or 2. However, I know it's wrong, and I don't like to jerry rig something when I know there's a better way.

One other favor to ask. My shop manual is lost in that black hole we call moving boxes. Does anybody have a scanned copy of the '03 baja wiring diagram they could send me?

Thanks alot guys!

-Tom

 

anyone?

(I'm only posting again so that it makes it back to the top of the list)

-Tom

 

I know what you mean, been there. even if you get an ac/dc hour meter, which run off either, there is always voltage present on the 3 yellow alternator wires bleading back through the regulator from the battery, so it would still always run even with the motor off, regardless of key position.
There are hour meters you can buy that run off the coil wire - same source the tach uses. they cost more though.
Or, you can do this - it is invloved, but if your experienced a bit with electronics then go for it:
The red warning light comes on when oil pressure is lost - so its always on when the key is on and the motor is off. So (follow me here, its not really hard) you can tap into ignition power coming FROM the key switch, go through the NORMALLY CLOSED contacts of a cheap automotive realy ($6), and to the hour meter. Tap into the power coming from the oil pressure sensor and use it for coil power on the relay.
Now, when the key is off, the motor can't run of course, and there is no power to the meter because it comes from the key. When the motor is running, the key is on so the meter counts. When the motor is killed but the key is left on, the relay pulls the contacts open to kill power to the meter via the juice coming from the oil pressure sensor.
Solder your joints and use shrink tubing for fail-safe performance.

 

now that's some sothern engineering!!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] I like it.

However, I'm not sure that the oil pressure sending unit can handle enough current to energize the coil in the relay. However if I remember correctly, the sending unit isn't really a sending unit, it is just a switch set to open/close at a certain pressure. it might just work yet. I don't think the relay would have to be a heavy duty unit like is used for the aux lights. I probably could find a smaller relay with a lower amp rating since the hour meter doesn't draw much current.

I haven't seen any hour meters that are triggered off the coil. Where would I find one? Anything onlline?

Thanks for the help.

-Tom

 

you're right, the oil sender is just a switch, and given the right relay the coil on the little automotive relay will draw way less than an amp, and the meter will draw less than an amp through its contacts too. i did it, it works great.
there was a guy that posted a link about a meter that ran off the coil power, he had a link to it, that's where I saw it. do a search on hour meters, maybe it'll come up, its been a while so I don't have the link anymore.

 

Well I think I found a winner. it's an hour meter that uses an inductive pickup. You just wrap the little wire around the spark plug wire near the coil. Check it out.

Hour meter.


now if I could just find the $42

-Tom

 

hmm... I went to the tiny tach web site www.tinytach.com and from their product line they suggest that some cdi ignitions actually fire every revolution of the crank (fires on the exhaust stroke also). Just an interesting tidbit of info.

Does the DS ignition do this? It would actually make sense because the trigger is right off the crank.

 

yeah, seems to make sense - I would think that it fires every rpm, even though no fuel is there to burn on the exhaust stroke.
that's a good price - that's how much I wrapped up in my meter and relay together, and much less hastle.

 

Here is photo of my tach/hour meter

 

I found a couple other options also.

Inductive tach/hour meters

http://www.jackssmallengines.com/hour_meter.cfm

http://www.mayberrys.com/honda/gener.../hourmeter.htm


12v DC hour meters

http://www10.thomasregister.com/olc/...orp/page16.htm

and one interesting one that detects the vibration of the engine.

http://www.imagineeringezine.com/e-zine/hourmeter.html
this one actual is a circuit that activates a normal 12v DC hour meter