What's a good circuit to add an hour meter to?

[rtimgray]

Since the hour meter on my DK45 is stuck at 999.9, I was going to add a small electronic meter. However, I don't want to record "key" hours, I want to record hours only when the engine is running.

Do any of you guys know a circuit that is energized when the engine is running but not when the key is in the "accesory" position?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Not familiar with your tractor but if it has an electrical fuel shut-off valve (kill the engine but just turning off the switch) that would be a good place to tap into the electrical supply. Just need to figure out which terminal at the switch controls the fuel valve if connecting the hr meter near the switch is desireable.

 

[ragkar]

How about this
DR Power Equipment - PTO / 3 Point Hitch Wood Chipper - maintenance / hour meter

Hookup is a single wire that you wrap around your spark plug wire.

I've seen them for sale in motorcycle shops and undoubtedly you can find it on Amazon or the web.

You probably couldn't mount it on your dash panel, but a cable clamp and a small bracket fabricated from scrap should do it.

This meter would be handy for the other small engines, like mower, splitter, generator etc, that need periodic oil changes.

 

[JakeBrake]

How about this
DR Power Equipment - PTO / 3 Point Hitch Wood Chipper - maintenance / hour meter

Hookup is a single wire that you wrap around your spark plug wire.

I've seen them for sale in motorcycle shops and undoubtedly you can find it on Amazon or the web.

You probably couldn't mount it on your dash panel, but a cable clamp and a small bracket fabricated from scrap should do it.

This meter would be handy for the other small engines, like mower, splitter, generator etc, that need periodic oil changes.

This unit is for gas engines only. I have one on my DR Field & Brush Mower. You have to have one or more sparkplugs.

By the way I called DR this morning to order parts and no one answered. DR is located in Vermont. I guess they are closed for Irene. Fortunately, the parts I need will not keep me from mowing

 

[RayK]

I used a vibration activated hour meter, it has it's own internal battery, no wires to hook up. very small and can be mounted on the dash, only records hours when it senses vibration i.e. engine running. I got mine from Allied Electrinics.

 

[Rustyiron]

I'm just wonderin' what in the world (unless you have a radio) the key would be on and the motor not running? Can't you use the wires the factory unit uses?

 

[kco]

The wiring diagram for your tractor should be available here:

http://downloads.pfgaustralia.com.a...vice Manuals/DA/DK 35-40 WM/10 Electrical.pdf

and the one for newer DK's (similar to EX's) is available here:

http://downloads.pfgaustralia.com.a... Manuals/DA/EX35-50/Section 11 Electrical.pdf

It appears the older DK's get their hours from the tach while the newer ones determine when the engine is operating from the alternator charging circuit. You can likely tie into the alternator signal similar to the EX's?

Or perhaps you could use a normally open relay on the discharge indicator circuit to turn on the hours timer when the discharge indicator is off?

 

[rtimgray]

I'm just wonderin' what in the world (unless you have a radio) the key would be on and the motor not running? Can't you use the wires the factory unit uses?

You are exactly right - I have a satellite radio (and regular radio) mounted on my tractor. I use it as a mobile boombox while I'm working around the farm - no need to have the tractor running all the time just for the radio.

The regular hour meter is tach driven. I took everything on the dash apart to get to it and manually rolled it over to 1000. However, it appears as though it is stripped at the 1/10th of a minute dial. I hooked it up to a drill so I could speed it up and it kept skipping at that point.

Thanks.

 

[Rustyiron]

Sat. radio on your tractor +1
Then if it were me, as sugg. above, find the wire to the fuel solenoid that opens it up and use it. I still use those darn headphones that only get the bad stations in.

 

[rtimgray]

To try to add a conclusion to this thread, I ended up picking up power coming out of a fuse in the fuse panel (down by the clutch) that only had power on it when the key was in the "run" position. On my tractor, it is the very bottom left hand fuse - power control relay or something. I know that when the tractor was running, if I pulled the fuse, the tractor quit.

I got the new hour meter mounted in the side of the dash - doesn't look to bad, and seems to be functioning as desired.

And while I was working on the tractor, I installed a new radio (the old one had gotten to the point that it wouldn't stay on the FM band - always wanted to go to AM. I use the FM broadcast option on my Sirius Stiletto to listen to the radio, so I had to install a new unit that would pick that up.