What makes the hour counter work on a 4720H and fuel Gauge

[bigrich954rr]

I have a Branson 4720H and the fuel Guage stopped working right and the hour counter turns on but doesn't count. So what makes it count the hours

 

[ptsg]

The hour meter gets the signal for a single wire that comes out of the alternator and it will only count hours with the engine running.

I see on other threads the tractor was in a flood, so that could cause all sorts of weird electrical issues.

 

[Cougsfan]

The fuel gauge not working could very well be created by a bad ground. My fuel gauge only worked intermittently, so I checked the ground. The ground wire is attached to the fuel tank access port on on top of the tank. Mine "looked" OK, but I disconnected it, cleaned it and applied some dielectric grease, and now works fine 100% of the time. Let us know if this works.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

The fuel gauge not working could very well be created by a bad ground. My fuel gauge only worked intermittently, so I checked the ground. The ground wire is attached to the fuel tank access port on on top of the tank. Mine "looked" OK, but I disconnected it, cleaned it and applied some dielectric grease, and now works fine 100% of the time. Let us know if this works.

I'll have to try that when it warms up a bit. Mine has never worked correctly from day 1.

 

[bigrich954rr]

OK it was a ground issue rust and some cracks fixed the fuel Guage will know more when I fill the tank.


OK what about the hour meter how's that thing work

 

[ptsg]

The alternator has a single wire coming from the housing that sends a signal to the tachometer and to the hour meter.

The hour meter has it's own timer and will only start counting after it sees the signal coming from the alternator. Since it has it's own timer, it won't change how fast or slow it adds the hours contrary to the old mechanical hour meters.

Another thing you may try, is to wiggle the plugs behind the dashboard. Since it was a flood tractor, it may very well be corroded or have dirt or something.

 

[bigrich954rr]

Ugg what a pain the tach works fine. So it has To be the back of the hour gage or the hour counter.

DC and water eats wire AC and water doesn't eat wires but shocks the hell out of you


Thank you guys for all the help I love the tractor and hate to sell it but life happens.
This site has saved me many times

 

[bigrich954rr]

OK there 3 wires coming out the back of the alternator which one need to have 12 volts to make hour meter work ?

 

[Cougsfan]

I don't know the answer to your question, but you might try looking at the hour meter itself. I would think it uses 12v dc power (I could be wrong, but it would seem strange for it to run of un-rectified power). If so, supplying it power from any switched 12 source would work. As with other instrumentation components, the hour meter ground could be your problem as easily as the supply side, so check your ground. Improper intuition seems to always cause people to concentrate on the power supply side and to overlook and assume that the ground is good. My experience leads me to believe grounding problems are just as, if not more, frequent.

 

[bigrich954rr]

OK I was hoping to not have to dig into the dash

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I don't know the answer to your question, but you might try looking at the hour meter itself. I would think it uses 12v dc power (I could be wrong, but it would seem strange for it to run of un-rectified power). If so, supplying it power from any switched 12 source would work. As with other instrumentation components, the hour meter ground could be your problem as easily as the supply side, so check your ground. Improper intuition seems to always cause people to concentrate on the power supply side and to overlook and assume that the ground is good. My experience leads me to believe grounding problems are just as, if not more, frequent.

Honestly, I have no idea what the tach needs for a signal or power. Does it generate it's own internal timing pulse off of getting plain old DC power, or is it using the unfiltered output of the alternator as a "timing pulse" to trigger the "clock" in the tach? It may actually need both 12v DC and the timing pulse from the tach? It might be easier to get it to read true engine rpms if it's getting non-filtered (non-rectified) signal directly from the alternator?

 

[Cougsfan]

The tach works by counting the pulses from the alternator, converting it to rpm. If you lose your alternator you lose your tach. (I know from experience) It sure seems that the hour meter is nothing more than a clock that is turned on when either the ignition is on or the engine is running, one of the two, and has no need for the AC current. I know my tractor seems to tick off an hour in one hour regardless of engine rpm. It would seemingly add needless complexity for the hour meter to depend on unrectified power. But again, I am not sure.

 

[ptsg]

The tach works by counting the pulses from the alternator, converting it to rpm. If you lose your alternator you lose your tach. (I know from experience) It sure seems that the hour meter is nothing more than a clock that is turned on when either the ignition is on or the engine is running, one of the two, and has no need for the AC current. I know my tractor seems to tick off an hour in one hour regardless of engine rpm. It would seemingly add needless complexity for the hour meter to depend on unrectified power. But again, I am not sure.

That's pretty much it. The Hour meter just gets the signal from the alternator to know when the engine is running so it starts counting, otherwise it would count hours every time the ignition as on, even without the engine running.

 

[ericm979]

That's pretty much it. The Hour meter just gets the signal from the alternator to know when the engine is running so it starts counting, otherwise it would count hours every time the ignition as on, even without the engine running.

My old Kubota did that. The meter would click over when the ignition was on and I was warming the glow plugs before starting it.

 

[bigrich954rr]

OK thank you ill have to dig around