broken lcd hour gauge

jon and michie

jon and michie

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Hi - I am thinking of looking at a boat next month but allegedly the hour gauge is broken which is apparently an lcd display - Is there any way of finding the true hours from that gauge (please bear in mind I am no electronic expert).
All opinions welcomed
Jon
 
jon and michie said:
Hi - I am thinking of looking at a boat next month but allegedly the hour gauge is broken which is apparently an lcd display - Is there any way of finding the true hours from that gauge (please bear in mind I am no electronic expert).
All opinions welcomed
Jon
Click to expand...

The memory is very probably still there but the display does not like damp. We had a Volvo one like that and the cure was to remove the instrument ( Rev counter with hour meter built in) and dry it either in the airing cupboard at home or in front of a fan heater on the boat. Usually had to do this every spring.
 
From experience - usually they keep counting even when the display fades away - and come to life now and then for no good reason (but not always).
Possibly can be brought to life temporarily by drying out - as already suggested.
 
Like others say in case it is a Volvo Penta tachometer with build in hour counter, these things are notorious for having bad LCD displays. The actual circuit that counts and memorizes the run time is on a PCB and normally does not fail.
Drying out can sometimes help. In my case I had to buy a used tacho with working LCD and swapped the casing that holds the LCD with my original one. That resolved the problem (until now at least). The LCD is connected to the PCB with a ribbon cable that can be detached at the PCB side.
 
jon and michie said:
Hi - I am thinking of looking at a boat next month but allegedly the hour gauge is broken which is apparently an lcd display - Is there any way of finding the true hours from that gauge (please bear in mind I am no electronic expert).
All opinions welcomed
Jon
Click to expand...

If its a Volvo engine then forget the "allegedly" - they all break down under damp marine conditions. Not that the hours mean much anyway. My previous boat had a Volvo 2003 ( a true old volvo engine) which was then 10 years old and well worn. When it idled for any length of time and the pistons cooled off, it would smoke like an old destryoer on revving up. The current boat has a Volvo 2030, a water cooled rebadged Perkins assembled jap engine and it uses no oil and works like a sowing machine after 19 years use. And it has the usual failed hours meter.
 
jon and michie said:
Hi - I am thinking of looking at a boat next month but allegedly the hour gauge is broken which is apparently an lcd display - Is there any way of finding the true hours from that gauge (please bear in mind I am no electronic expert).
All opinions welcomed
Jon
Click to expand...

My LCD failed as well. It comes back intermittently and is still recording hours. As said, failure due to winter. I have been told that the crystals solidify and can be 'massaged' back into life but haven't tried that yet. Might be worth a go in your case???
 
jon and michie said:
Hi - I am thinking of looking at a boat next month but allegedly the hour gauge is broken which is apparently an lcd display - Is there any way of finding the true hours from that gauge (please bear in mind I am no electronic expert).
Click to expand...

As it isn't your boat, I don't think you'll be able to do the drying out routine. However, engine hours aren't necessarily any indication of an engine's health. You'd be better off assessing the engine on its general condition, noise, smoke, etc. Many marine diesels suffer from being run at low speed for short times, on and off moorings, when they rarely reach operating temperature and thus wear prematurely. Engines with higher hours will usually have been run at operating temperature for long periods and will often have little wear.
 
jon and michie said:
Hi - I am thinking of looking at a boat next month but allegedly the hour gauge is broken which is apparently an lcd display - Is there any way of finding the true hours from that gauge (please bear in mind I am no electronic expert).
All opinions welcomed
Jon
Click to expand...
Getting the display to read again is pretty hit and miss, so you might need a VP tech to read the engine hours off the engine ecu itself. You can try warming it for 20 mins with a hairdrier to dry it, and that sometimes getts a flicker of a reading again.
I have dismantled the unit , cut out the bust display and fitted a new one. You then have to leave the display on a battery to count up to the correct hours, and then fit to the boat. You need to be ok with a soldering iron, but the new display is only about £20. Assuming that you do not burn it out fitting it, a-hem...
 
My lcd slowly faded away over a season to the point I could no longer read it. It was attached to a volvo 2030. I had the saildrive diaphragm renewed and in order to do this, the engine was taken off its mounts and moved into the saloon. When it was finally put back together, the lcd display was clear as when new. I assumed that there must have been poor connections and that pulling them apart and back together remade a sound connection. I was really surprised to see the unit back to life again!

Just may be worth to clean the connections.
 
thank you for all the replies - at least I now know that it would seem to be a common problem that could be rectified.

thanks again
jon
 
DipperToo said:
I think it was on the 18th August...


Default Re: Yanmar instrument panels.
I have recently added further investigation of this possible cause/solution (found on the sailboatowners forum) to my long and ever-growing task list:
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=59966&d=1357622123

Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?438455-Yanmar-instrument-panels#eOpoTIyxp9ZYXMrg.99
Click to expand...

Yes, that is the thread http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?438455-Yanmar-instrument-panels

I've updated in the last couple of days with a solution which does seem to work, much to my surprise!

Richard
 
Well having done the drying routine multiple times on a Volvo panel until we changed boats and now with a different boat again with a Yanmar 3GM30, I am very glad our latest one has a mechanical hour meter. All this new gen tech is great when it works but sucks when it doesn't especially if the reason is it doesn't like damp or it just cannot be read in direct sunlight, both somewhat ridiculous defects to have on a boat installation:disgust:
 
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