VDO hour Meter

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firstbase

firstbase

Guru
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
1,644
Location
United States
Vessel Name
Black Eyed Susan
Vessel Make
Grand Banks 42' Classic
Have a non-working VDO Hour Meter on my GB 42. Already not working when I bought the boat. Found a company in Ft. Lauderdale who will repair and set the hours to correct number (off by about 1,00) or so. I assume it is the meter and not some sort of sender or whatever telling it to count (fountain of knowledge on these, can you tell?). Can I assume that an hour meter is simply connected to the ignition and counts when it has power from the engine that is running?

Fountain now turned off.
 

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Every hour meter I have ever seen is just a clock counting the hours that power is applied to it.
 
firstbase said:
Have a non-working VDO Hour Meter on my GB 42. Already not working when I bought the boat. Found a company in Ft. Lauderdale who will repair and set the hours to correct number (off by about 1,00) or so. I assume it is the meter and not some sort of sender or whatever telling it to count (fountain of knowledge on these, can you tell?). Can I assume that an hour meter is simply connected to the ignition and counts when it has power from the engine that is running?

Fountain now turned off.
Click to expand...


The hourmeter is a synchronous motor that drives a geared counter. The gears are nylon, and they have a penchant for wearing to the extent of failure. There are a number of places on the east coast that repair them, Lauderdale Speedo is one, I've had two repairs done, one sent, one hand carried to their shop, quick turnaround, not inexpensive, both were over $100. If you have a suitable location, it may be less costly and more reliable to use an electronic model; have it set to the correct hours before installing. It's a simple connect, ground plus a lead to the ignition (+). It seems that 3K hrs is magical for the mechanical meters. IIRC, Lauderdale Speedo could convert the mechanical clock to digital. I could be wrong, it's been some time since the last repair.
 
Thanks guys. Yes, Lauderdale Speedo is who I talked to. $125 and the will reset the hours. Don't know the cost of converting to digital, installation etc. The other meter is working fine so will probably just fix this one. Drives me crazy to have them off from each other or at least reasonably close.
 
I’ve seen them connected to a pressure switch activated by oil pressure. That way just turning on the key won’t cause them to run. The engine actually has to be running for the hour meter to run. I don’t think it makes much difference.
 
Thanks Parks. Spent the last year looking under and in just about everything...except the lower helm and instruments. Just getting there. Meters are monitoring FL 135's if it makes any difference. Also, starboard ammeter shows charging while running, port nothing...upper and lower helm. Electrician told me they were old and somewhat useless instruments and not really worth fixing if fixing is needed. Aanother one I don't understand.
 
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Depending on the hour meter some are not powered by the boat , the clock winder built in is.

When in operation and power (ignition?) is available the unit will wind the clock for a 2-5 min of time counting.

My guess would be the mechanical clock is more robust , and can handle vibration better. More are installed on gen sets , machinery and farm implements than on boats.


So if it continues to count a bit , after shut down , that is normal.
 
That I did not know...it seems I learn something every day about the odd little complexities of older boats and their systems. And new ones I suppose.
 
FF said:
Depending on the hour meter some are not powered by the boat , the clock winder built in is.

When in operation and power (ignition?) is available the unit will wind the clock for a 2-5 min of time counting.

My guess would be the mechanical clock is more robust , and can handle vibration better. More are installed on gen sets , machinery and farm implements than on boats.


So if it continues to count a bit , after shut down , that is normal.
Click to expand...

I have that kind of meter. Starts when ignition is on for the port motor. Other motor has no hour meter. It is well built, but I had to take it apart to repair. They are like a clock mechanism inside, and clocks dry out and need oiling. Has points and a electromagnet coil and spring, when points come together, coil pushes arm over loading the spring and it runs the clock down. Seeing how complex built this is , not sure it is a good idea. The one I fixed must have bee over 30 years old. Prior owner also had another, but the little plastic gear cogs broke, so can not count the hours.
After I repaired, I reset the hours to zero. But I never even look at the hour count.

In the still broken hour meter, they are like old style odometer gear cogs. And not sure I would want to spend any money to fix it.

Also has a fancy red-white disc that shows seconds as it runs. Tells you it is working.
 
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So you do oil changes, etc. based on a running log or something not by hours on the engine?
 
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X 2 on Lauderdale speedo, they do a great job and know what to do .
 
Hour meters are so inexpensive. Why bother paying more for a repair of an old unit? I don't get it but, hey, it's not a criticism, just an observation.

Example: my old, hopelessly unadjustable to reasonable accuracy Stewart Warner tachs on my 1983 Defever -- I replaced them with VDO programmable tachs powered by the alternator. They are spot-on throughtout the RPM range according to my photo tach. Yes, the hours started from zero. I simply put a label on each tach with the accumulated hours from the old tachs. The old tachs? In the garbage.
 
Thanks CJ. My reasoning is...I have no reasoning. Never really thought about replacing or converting or anything else. Haven't gone beyond its broken, see if it can be fixed. Take it in, get it fixed. End of story. If I am going to replace one I should (to my mind) replace both but now that doubles the cost.. on and on... Whats a new one cost...$50 or so I would imagine. New ones for less than a fix. Hours incorrect but what the hay....
 
Greetings,
Mr. fb. I may have missed it in this thread but ask Lauderdale Speedo if they have a digital hour meter. I looked into replacement tach's due to the death of the integral hour meter in one of my original Motorola units. Replacement had a digital hour meter that LS said they could readily program to any hours requested. They may have stand alone hour meters.
 
RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
Mr. fb. I may have missed it in this thread but ask Lauderdale Speedo if they have a digital hour meter. I looked into replacement tach's due to the death of the integral hour meter in one of my original Motorola units. Replacement had a digital hour meter that LS said they could readily program to any hours requested. They may have stand alone hour meters.
Click to expand...

Here is nice one, look Bosch electronic hour meter $28
BOSFST7951.JPG

Bosch FST7951 Gauge, Hour Meter - Tachometers & Gauges

I am not impressed with mechanical hour meters, why bother.
 
Thanks guys. Will look into all of these. May go down to Lauderdale Speedo tomorrow. At $28 for the Bosch a VDO fix for $125 seems silly. I guess "original to the boat" starts to fade around $50...! Have no idea if new will fit in the same footprint but I bet the opening is somewhat standard.. 3.5" or so...
 
Lauderdale Speedo

3X :thumb: for this company.
Lauderdale Speedometer, Inc. 300 W State Road 84 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33315-2133 954-522-2133
 
You really want to find out what makes it spin. On my Detroits, they were turned on by a fuel pressure switch on the engine, so were very accurate as only worked when fuel was going through the engine. I don't think it is particularly ethical or useful to zero them out though.
 
caltexflanc said:
You really want to find out what makes it spin. On my Detroits, they were turned on by a fuel pressure switch on the engine, so were very accurate as only worked when fuel was going through the engine. I don't think it is particularly ethical or useful to zero them out though.
Click to expand...

I don't think his intention was zeroing them out....He wants them to work to count hours. He had inoperative hour meters that he wanted repaired or replaced. As some mentioned, hours could be added to new meters or a note/label made.
 
I very much wanted to keep my 1972 woodie Grand Banks as original as possible. When one of my SW hour meters died, I went ahead and bought two new SW hour meters. I put one in the old slot of the defective one in the console and noted the hours from the original one so I could keep track of maintenance issues for the next six months. I placed the other new meter on a 12 VDC source for six months until it came up the the total current engine hours. Then I placed this meter which now reflected the engine's actual total hours in the console and took the new one that had been in the console for six months and placed it on the 12-volt supply until it read the same as the other older (but still working) hour meter. Then I replaced that old meter. WHY? you ask, well, I'm anal, and I hate having to do mental arithmetic to add the meter hours to some tag hours beside the meter, ok? One could say the two new meters are "old" because they have run as long as the old ones, BUT chronological age in the boat environment has something to do with age too.
 
Sailor of Fortune said:
I don't think his intention was zeroing them out....He wants them to work to count hours. He had inoperative hour meters that he wanted repaired or replaced. As some mentioned, hours could be added to new meters or a note/label made.
Click to expand...

Correct. Wanted both to read the actual hours on the engine. Since I was pulling the broken one I went ahead and pulled the other which was working fine. Some have told me these have a lifespan of about 3,000 hours so I had the working one gone over as well. They replaced circuit boards and some other bits and pieces. Hours on the working one were left alone and the hours on the broken one were moved forward to match the other showing true hours. Both back and both working fine. Now on to something else on this friggin boat to be anal about. :)
 
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RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
Mr. fb. I may have missed it in this thread but ask Lauderdale Speedo if they have a digital hour meter. I looked into replacement tach's due to the death of the integral hour meter in one of my original Motorola units. Replacement had a digital hour meter that LS said they could readily program to any hours requested. They may have stand alone hour meters.
Click to expand...


Aetna Engineering offers digital tachs, and at least one model incorporates a digital hour meter.

FWIW, when our original Faria analog tachs (with hour meters) started to go south, I sent them to Faria for a rebuild... but they "lost" the engine hours, reset all that to zero. Hmph. And the tachs were only so-so accurate, anyway. I replaced them with Aetna tachs (with hour meters), and they're very accurate... but I haven't yet addressed the "hours" issue. Might get a round tuit, but in the meantime I just made the appropriate maintenance log entries... 608 hours ago.

CruzPro offers digital tachs, and probably offers digital hour meters, too.

-Chris
 
Before you take the meter out, verify it has volts to the terminals with engine running. Some do go through an oil pressure switch on Lehmans, fuel pressure on Detroits.
 
Thanks Ski, I did check that it had power before pulling. Power good, unit just DOA. With all the things I have left to worry about on the boat I get a big smile seeing them both working and showing correct hours. Used to bug me to death. I'm just weird.
 
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