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Old 11-13-2013, 11:12 AM   #1
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hour meters don't match.. What gives???

After a month of cruising, one engine has logged 53 hours and the other 71!! I have never run on one engine so what gives??? Not sure how these hour meters work but one is off... Which one?? How do I fix it??

Thanks folks! Laying out the wind in Coral Bay Marina in Islamorada...

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Old 11-13-2013, 11:18 AM   #2
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How do you fix? Time it the next time you go out and then see which one matches!!!!.....sorry for the simplistic approach!
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Old 11-13-2013, 11:18 AM   #3
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Oh and sorry for your misfortune of having to layover in the keys!!!.....
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Old 11-13-2013, 11:21 AM   #4
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for maintenance purposes id go with the higher number. once the wind lets up and you get underway time an hour of running with your watch and see which one (or both) is off. if i were a betting man i say the meters themselves are faulty.
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Old 11-13-2013, 11:35 AM   #5
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Quote:
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if i were a betting man i say the meters themselves are faulty.
Well based on math and logic alone...I would say at least one is.....
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Old 11-13-2013, 12:15 PM   #6
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Could it be that one key was turned on for accessories when not underway?
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Old 11-13-2013, 12:24 PM   #7
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Although I've never examined the cause it's happened to me with Hobbs meters before a couple times on duplex pumping equipment. All three times I've replaced the one showing low hours and the problem was "solved". It has made me wonder about the accuracy of my equipment with a single meter but never enough to clock it as my maintenance is calendar based rather than hour specific.
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Old 11-13-2013, 01:11 PM   #8
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Ours don't match. I write the hours down after each trip and usually they match for the trip but one particular trip they were way off. I'm sure the one w less was wrong because the number it read was impossible- like .2 hours for a two hour trip. We've only had it the last three years of its 29 years so I can only assume this has happened before- since the two meters are off by a couple dozen hours.
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Old 11-13-2013, 01:35 PM   #9
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I think it's the key not being turned off all the way at one of the helms. I've had problems shutting off the port engine and have had to run to the other station to shut it off more than a few times. Not sure whether or not the keys were in the right position or not. I was under the impression that the hour meters only ran when the engine was running and no when the key was in the "accessory" position. I'll have to do some detective work and time things next time out, then make sure the meter's not still running after the engine shuts down.

The good thing is than likely there are LESS hours on my engines than the meters suggest!
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Old 11-13-2013, 01:40 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigfish View Post
After a month of cruising, one engine has logged 53 hours and the other 71!! I have never run on one engine so what gives??? Not sure how these hour meters work but one is off... Which one?? How do I fix it?? Thanks folks! Laying out the wind in Coral Bay Marina in Islamorada...
Another good reason to keep a deck log. I'm guessing that your meter is wired to keep time when the key is on, instead of when the engine is actually running. 18 hours I'm guessing you turned the key to check something after a run and forgot to turn it off until the next day. Use the lower hour number for your maintenance records until get things squared away.

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Old 11-13-2013, 03:15 PM   #11
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When I bought my boat, the stbd meter was inop with about a 600 hr split. I found the disconnected wire and it hasn't skipped a beat since then. My key switches are OFF-ON-momentary START. Each of my meters runs when its respective key is in the ON position. The key must be on for the stop buttons to activate the fuel-shutoff solenoid. Occasionally I have found the keys in the ON position a while after shutdown.

I have considered leaving the stbd switch on for 600 hrs (25 days) to catch up, but then I sit down and come to my senses. With my luck, I'd wear out the stbd meter or cause some other problem in all that time in the on position. It's just not worth it to me. I always record port and stbd meter readings at refuelings and maintenance.

In high time multi-engine piston airplanes, it's not uncommon to have split meter readings due to Hobbs meter failures. It's always recorded in the maintenance logs as a means to track the airplane and engine hours accurately. I never saw individual engine Hobbs meters on multi-engine turbine powered airplanes...just one for the entire plane.

With only 18 hrs of difference, if you find it's due to a key being left on and it bugs you, you could match them up and annotate the logs with the correction to the meters for syncing purposes.
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Old 11-13-2013, 03:51 PM   #12
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Just power the silly things via an oil pressure switch and stop worrying about it.
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:06 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigfish View Post
After a month of cruising, one engine has logged 53 hours and the other 71!! I have never run on one engine so what gives??? Not sure how these hour meters work but one is off... Which one?? How do I fix it??

Thanks folks! Laying out the wind in Coral Bay Marina in Islamorada...

You havent said what type Tach you have. If you have an older VDO like the one in the picture you could have a bad drive gear. This one is an 1988. The yellow gear was made of urethane and they put a grease on them that ultimately resulted in failures. Its an easy fix if you like working on your own equipment. I had the same problem and it never acted the same way twice.
Fryedaze - VDO Tach/hour meter gear replacement [1987 VDO 81 117 377]
Attached Thumbnails
4 inch VDO Tach.jpg   VDO bad gear.jpg  
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Old 11-13-2013, 06:05 PM   #14
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Mine are off by over 250 hours. Key left on, running on one engine, etc. I log each engine seperately in the maintenance log and don't worry about them being even. Having a meter on each engine, doesn't mean they should read the same number of hours.
I would be more suspicious if they did.
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Old 11-13-2013, 06:35 PM   #15
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Reminds me of the saying,

"A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never quite sure."
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Old 11-13-2013, 07:49 PM   #16
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Reminds me of the saying, "A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never quite sure."
In '84 when Trimble came out with the 1st GPS receiver they said you really needed three just to figure out which one was "lying." Watches and gps have both improved. Not sure if that's really a good thing though.

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Old 11-13-2013, 10:33 PM   #17
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Reminds me of the saying,

"A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never quite sure."
Geez! You stole my thunder, yet again! (That's why I only have one engine!)
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Old 11-14-2013, 07:05 AM   #18
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You havent said what type Tach you have. If you have an older VDO like the one in the picture you could have a bad drive gear. This one is an 1988. The yellow gear was made of urethane and they put a grease on them that ultimately resulted in failures. Its an easy fix if you like working on your own equipment. I had the same problem and it never acted the same way twice.
Fryedaze - VDO Tach/hour meter gear replacement [1987 VDO 81 117 377]
Dave: That's what both of our VDO tac gears look like! How did you order the replacement gear?

When the second tac went out last year, we installed this under the instrument panel via the oil pressure circuit as Rick B suggested but it would be nice to have all the factory instrument gauges working.
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Old 11-14-2013, 08:01 AM   #19
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[QUOTE=Larry M;191640]Dave: That's what both of our VDO tac gears look like! How did you order the replacement gear?

Odometergears.com
Odometer Gears - Hour Meter (VDO) - All
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Old 11-14-2013, 08:10 AM   #20
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[QUOTE=fryedaze;191644]
Quote:
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Dave: That's what both of our VDO tac gears look like! How did you order the replacement gear?

Odometergears.com
Odometer Gears - Hour Meter (VDO) - All
Thanks! I didn't realize you wrote the directions and the directions on the web site is the exact tac we have. How often does that happen?
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