what does an engine hour guage read?

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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www.keepturningleft.co.uk
The one on Harmony suggests that I have done 600 hours this year

yet the GPS records around 2,200 miles

at 4 knots per hour 600 hours will get me 2,400 miles

so all that sailing has netted me minus 200 miles

yours

Confused of Rosneath
 
600 hours in a year

is quite a lot

are you sure it's all been done this year?

if not, it may be down to leaving the power connected when the engine wasn't running

but, who knows?
 
pvb said:
600 hours in a year

is quite a lot

are you sure it's all been done this year?

if not, it may be down to leaving the power connected when the engine wasn't running

but, who knows?
Click to expand...

impossible to have done 600 hours

possible it was switched on for 600 hours

It is an electrical thing rather than mechanical

D
 
The hour gauge keeps ticking up as long as power is applied to it. It should be wired so that it is only powered while the engine is running (plus possibly a few seconds start and end where you turn the panel on and off) and thus it counts the number of hours the engine has run.

Fair chance either yours is connected wrongly, or you've been leaving something on full-time which was meant to only be on when motoring. You'd have to follow the wires back to see exactly what's going on.

Pete
 
The guage should only count up when the engine is running. Is yours perhaps connected when the battery switch is turned on? Easy to find out if it is. Easiest connection is to the ignition switch. That way it should only count when the engine is running unless you are in tge habit of leaving the ignition on. If you motored 600 hours I think you would have noticed it in your pocket.
 
It would not be unusual for the hour meter to count time when the ignition key is in the on position.
It should be easy enough to see if an hour meter is counting.
 
dylanwinter said:
... at 4 knots per hour 600 hours will get me 2,400 miles...
Click to expand...
If you started from rest and accelerated at 4 knots per hour for 600 hours, you final speed would be 2,400 knots and you would have travelled 720,000 miles, so something wrong there, I think.

On the other hand if you travelled at a constant speed of 4 knots for 600 hours you would indeed travel 2,400 miles.
 
alan_d said:
If you started from rest and accelerated at 4 knots per hour for 600 hours, you final speed would be 2,400 knots and you would have travelled 720,000 miles, so something wrong there, I think.
Click to expand...

...and his fridge will be using 3 amps per hour while he does it :)

Pete
 
OK enough picking on Dylan's typographical error.
As said Dylan the clock in the hour meter is likely to be very accurate at measuring cumulative time. But this does not necessarily represent actual engine running hours and certainly not hours of driving the boat forward. It is most likely as said that the counter is wired to the engine control panel. (people love to call it ignition when there is no ignition in a diesel) Therefor it measures time the power is on the engine systems. So if you left the key turned on overnight you could run up another 8 hrs on the clock for no actual engine run.
A better arangement is to run the counter off an oil pressure switch or off the alternator aux output so only counts hors when engine is running.
You might like to attach a volt meter to the counter power terminals and just observe under what conditions it gets power so counts. Either accept that or change it.
Dylan I imagine your fiming adventures are winding down at the end of the season. I hope it was a good season for you.
good luck olewill
 
Both my engine hour meters, on two boats, are connected directly to the key switch. It would be almost impossible to leave this switched on accidentally as the low pressure alarm would be sounding. It is surprising though how much the hours mount up when anchoring and mooring with the engine ticking over, but in six months on board we only manage about 200 hours or less. It does sound likely that the wiring is incorrect.
 
I think you will find that it's recording the number of hours your power has been turned on. If you've kept a record of fuel added (which I'm sure you have) divide it by a reasonable fuel consumption and see if that gives a more reasonable figure. Then check where the hours run meter is connected to.
 
If you can read the digital display when the engine ignition switch isn't on it is probably wired wrong.
If you can read the digital display when the engine ignition switch isn't on and it is clocking up time, it is definitely wired wrong!
It should pick up power from the lamp side of the ignition switch.
 
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Our vdo hour counters only advance with the "ignition" switch on and the voltage above 27 ish volts..

However the hour meters advance with the ignition on and the float charger on.

So are yours wired on the wrong side of the switch, and elapsing time while on charge?
 
nigelmercier said:
Ever run the engine for battery charging?

A VDO / Volvo Penta hour counter only counts when there is a tachometer signal. Others may count when the ignition is on, as does the modified VDO with a stand-alone counter.
Click to expand...

Interesting! My Yanmar tachometer has stopped working but the hour meter still goes so I guess Yanmar do it differently.
 
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