tach

I have a 1983 36 Albin... the PO had an advanced alternator regulator Pro-Digital... Both tachs have been working without any problems, but today and yesterday on a 2 hour cruise both days the tachs did not work. I am told it has something to do with the Pro-digital regulator.. I Have the manual but to me it could be written in greek for I don't understand any of it.. So in very simple terms can someone help me in what to look for or to do to make the Tachs operational again... thank you
Kevin G
New Bern NC

This is a long shot but if you had a generator and battery charger on the alternators may not be putting out any signal to run the tachs.

KEVMAR said:

I have a 1983 36 Albin... the PO had an advanced alternator regulator Pro-Digital... Both tachs have been working without any problems, but today and yesterday on a 2 hour cruise both days the tachs did not work. I am told it has something to do with the Pro-digital regulator.. I Have the manual but to me it could be written in greek for I don't understand any of it.. So in very simple terms can someone help me in what to look for or to do to make the Tachs operational again... thank you
Kevin G
New Bern NC

Click to expand...

I will check but I don't think the generator is hooked up to the regulator that the lehmans alternator is,, both techs have been working since july when we got the boat ... just happen not to work htis weekend

Greetings,
Mr. K. I think what Mr. bg is alluding to is using your generator in conjunction with a battery charger whilst underway. Since the battery charger at this point would be "filling up" your batteries, output from your engine mounted alternator would not be necessary thus eliminating any signal for the tachs from aforementioned engine mounted alternator. Some engine mounted alternators have to be in a charging state to operate the tachs.

this is not a unique problem. Sorry to say, I have had the same problem for 15 years and haven't found a solution. My port engine is on a 130 amp alternator, regulated through an Ample Power Next Step Regulator. my Sb engine is a stock 50 amp alternator on a stock self regulating alternator. I get rpm on Stb, but on Part, only when it suits the system. This only occurs when (no scientific data here, just an impression) the batteries are fully charged and have "turned off" the regulator. I have learned to live with it. I run the engines at the same operating temp. That seems to work the best. I get the same MPG on each. Both are happy. Initially, I synchronize by the harmonics. I set the Sb to about the right rpm first and try to match the Port to it. As I am not trying to get onto a plane, it all seems to work out.

When I say both techs I mean one is in the lower station and one onthd upper .. I have only one engine

I ditched the alternator connections and went with mechanical sending units. Not that expensive and I'm very happy with the results. But then again, I've got twins and have to worry about keeping them in sync. With a single, you might be OK to ignore the tach and just use speed through the water, once you know the sweet spot you want to run in.

CaptTom said:

I ditched the alternator connections and went with mechanical sending units. Not that expensive and I'm very happy with the results. But then again, I've got twins and have to worry about keeping them in sync. With a single, you might be OK to ignore the tach and just use speed through the water, once you know the sweet spot you want to run in.

Click to expand...

What brand of mechanical sender did you use? Where did you mount it? What brand and model of tach do you have?

We use on of these and love it. More accurate and easy to install. Can be bought for $100.

http://tinytach.com/diesel.php

I bought a pair of Aetna Engineering sending units that are made to replace a blank plate on my Perkins 6.3544 engines:


They originally fed some ancient Ensign tachs, but I've also connected them up to a Noland RS11 that puts the data out on the NMEA 2000 network. That allowed me to replace the old tachs at the upper helm with a single Lowrance LMF-400 multifunction display. I also display the RPMs directly on the chartplotter. The rest of the gauges I've left analog, but if I lose the NMEA data I can live without tachs until it's repaired.

I looked at the Tiny Tach web site. I don't see a lot of technical information there. Am I correct in reading that it gets a signal off the fuel line? Interesting concept. I assume it counts pulses from the mechanical fuel pump. I've never seen that, thanks for the tip!

CaptTom said:

I bought a pair of Aetna Engineering sending units that are made to replace a blank plate on my Perkins 6.3544 engines:

They originally fed some ancient Ensign tachs, but I've also connected them up to a Noland RS11 that puts the data out on the NMEA 2000 network. That allowed me to replace the old tachs at the upper helm with a single Lowrance LMF-400 multifunction display. I also display the RPMs directly on the chartplotter. The rest of the gauges I've left analog, but if I lose the NMEA data I can live without tachs until it's repaired.

I looked at the Tiny Tach web site. I don't see a lot of technical information there. Am I correct in reading that it gets a signal off the fuel line? Interesting concept. I assume it counts pulses from the mechanical fuel pump. I've never seen that, thanks for the tip!

Click to expand...

Yes it clamps onto one of the injector lines and counts the pulses. Works great.