Hour Meters

Walkin Horse · Oct 30, 2016

How does the hour meter record. Does it record hour for hour or does it work off the rpms.

Wagtail · Oct 30, 2016

Ignition 'ON', Ignition 'OFF' = time.

It's an indication of how long the donk has been running, not how hard its been working.

ovrszd · Oct 30, 2016

It totally depends on type.

My 2012 Kubota uses a digital/electronic hour meter. As Wagtail said, on/off.

My 1984 Ford uses a cable driven hour meter. It is most accurate at PTO engine speed. Less engine speed will record less time in an hour. Wide open throttle will record more time in an hour. It's uses are more under PTO speed than above. So it's hours recorded on the meter are always less than reality.

Walkin Horse · Oct 30, 2016

This is a new mx. A friend is using it to bill hours on a job. Are they that accurate or use a watch?

DK35vince · Oct 30, 2016

Depends on the type of meter.
My tractor has a cable driven meter.
1 hour at near PTO speed = 1 hour on the meter.

ovrszd · Oct 30, 2016

Walkin Horse said:
This is a new mx. A friend is using it to bill hours on a job. Are they that accurate or use a watch?

Yes, it's accurate enough. Simple electronic clock running when key is on.

With that said, the tractor should be paid for time on the job, running or not.

Walkin Horse · Oct 30, 2016

ovrszd said:
With that said, the tractor should be paid for time on the job, running or not.

Believe me he doesn't let it sit still.

MHarryE · Oct 30, 2016

Several variations. Old timers were hours at a certain rpm(generally pto). Next simple ones are hour meters that record when the switch is on. Not very good because if the key is accidentally left on, hours accumulate. Next type uses an engine oil pressure switch. When the engine oil pressure reaches a certain point, probably 5 psi, the hour meter starts running. Then there are engine computer hour meters. They might not be used to much as the engine oil pressure switch is inexpensive and farly reliable.

Sawyer Rob · Oct 30, 2016

I don't try to squeeeeze my customers for every last penny... I go by the hour meter and leave it at that.

It's been working just fine for me for many MANYyears now...

SR

Bird · Oct 31, 2016

Walkin Horse said:
How does the hour meter record. Does it record hour for hour or does it work off the rpms.

I've had a Kubota B7100 and a B2710. This topic has come up several times in the past. One of them was simply a clock, running anytime the key was turned on, whether the engine was running or not. The other worked off the rpms; only recorded an hour if the engine was running at PTO speed.

adventure bob · Oct 31, 2016

The new "hour meters" on modern tractors are recording in the ECU when the tractor is running. Amazingly, if you have a scan tool you can also see percentage of time at idle, at WOT, percentage of time PTO was engaged, all kinds of cool stuff. The ECU is smart enough also to record starts. Does take an expensive scan tool though for anything other than hours.

dickfoster · Oct 31, 2016

adventure bob said:
The new "hour meters" on modern tractors are recording in the ECU when the tractor is running. Amazingly, if you have a scan tool you can also see percentage of time at idle, at WOT, percentage of time PTO was engaged, all kinds of cool stuff. The ECU is smart enough also to record starts. Does take an expensive scan tool though for anything other than hours.

So which scan tool do you have?

Industrial Toys · Oct 31, 2016

I liked the old cable style tach/hour meters for accuracy, only the cables tended to fail. But for longevity, I would still take that system over the LCD digital dash panels in a heartbeat.

adventure bob · Nov 2, 2016

Neighbor works for a mobile commercial heavy equipment repair/service company and has both a Jaltest tied to a Toughbook and a Snap-on commercial. Its good to know people. Both of these are outside my price range for occasional use. His Jaltest is about $12K all in; laptop, cable set, adapters and software. I grade his road, we drink beer, he'll scan my tractor if I need it.

oldpilgrim · Nov 2, 2016

I did some work digging and trenching last week. Never shut my tractor off for 7 hours. Never stopped to eat. It was working all the time, but at about 1800-2000 rpms...that's all it needed for the job. PTO speed is 2400.

The meter registered a little over 2.5 hours.

Jay4200 · Nov 2, 2016

Walkin Horse said:
How does the hour meter record. Does it record hour for hour or does it work off the rpms.

My 'L' records hours at PTO speed, or RPM*hrs/PTOrpm.

dstig1 · Nov 3, 2016

Industrial Toys said:
I liked the old cable style tach/hour meters for accuracy, only the cables tended to fail. But for longevity, I would still take that system over the LCD digital dash panels in a heartbeat.

Wait - you said they fail but you prefer them for longevity?

My understanding (from TBN...) is thta the modern ones are RPM sensitive. An hour at idle does not come to an hour of run time, but it would at full throttle. So it is weighted by RPMs. Frankly, I don't know either way, but I read it here in the past...

4570Man · Nov 3, 2016

I prefer to set a stopwatch on my IPhone. Zero confusion that way.

Redneck in training · Nov 3, 2016

Most engine hour meters record revolutions. Reason being the distance the piston travels in the cylinder is what matters. Some machines have both revolutions and time recording meters.

ovrszd · Nov 3, 2016

Redneck in training said:
Most engine hour meters record revolutions. Reason being the distance the piston travels in the cylinder is what matters. Some machines have both revolutions and time recording meters.

That was the idea with the cable driven ones.

I believe there are some electronic ones that do that now. I don't believe my Kubota to be one of those. It's a simple tick, tick, tick time clock with key on.