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Bruce
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Wollongong, Australia
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31-07-2019, 02:01 AM
1

Petrol Engine Hour Meter

Those of you who have a petrol engined generator, snowmobile, outboard etc might find this interesting.

I have an AC generator. It's maintenance schedule is in hours - for example every 20 hours change the oil. How the hell do you remember or know when the 20 hours is up? I didn't have a clue until I came across this Ebay listing from China.



Anyway I sent off for it and it arrived a few days ago. Easy to fit - just a few turns of wire round the spark plug lead, then clip the wire into a slot in the device - no physical connection or soldering required. At the moment I have the wire just coming out from the spark plug cover but it would be easy to drill a more convenient 3mm hole for the wire



The hourglass image to the left flashes when the device is picking up a signal.





Blow me it worked perfectly I ran the generator for 12 minutes and got 0.2 hours! Very happy with that, at about $7 (£3.50) you can't go wrong.


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Mr Ploppy
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Perth Western Australia, 3rd house on the right
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31-07-2019, 07:52 AM
2

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

Not a bad idea, depending of course how frequently one uses the generator.
I change the oil once every year because I don't use the thing very much. Only during the occasional power failure.
Oil change every 6 months would probably be better.
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31-07-2019, 09:46 AM
3

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

Originally Posted by Mr Ploppy ->
Not a bad idea, depending of course how frequently one uses the generator.
I change the oil once every year because I don't use the thing very much. Only during the occasional power failure.
Oil change every 6 months would probably be better.
That was more or less what I did, when I got the mower out in spring I'd change it's oil and the generator's at the same time. It used to get a lot of use because our feeder was below standard and tripped regularly but they replaced it about a year ago and now is pretty reliable.

I usually just connect up the fridge, the freezer, the NBN/wifi and the microwave plus the odd fan in summer. I still keep the gennie by the back door just in case but I test run it more often than it gets used in anger these days.
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31-07-2019, 09:47 AM
4

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

What would we want a generator for??? our electricity supply is good enough for us in the UK.
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31-07-2019, 09:57 AM
5

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

Originally Posted by realspeed ->
What would we want a generator for??? our electricity supply is good enough for us in the UK.
Free Camping? But it doesn't have to be a gennie, how about a Quad bike? Jet ski, snowmobile, Mower, Outboard motor, Post hole digger, water or irrigation pump, indeed anything with a petrol motor where the service period is in hours.

You would have loved one during the three day week in the 70s and they might come in handy when the lights go out post Brexit?
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31-07-2019, 11:09 AM
6

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

I don't ever remember working a 3 day week in the 70's or any time since I started work in 1960 up to 5 years ago
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31-07-2019, 11:23 AM
7

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

What about when the fuel runs dry? A solar panel would be more use.
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01-08-2019, 02:37 AM
8

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

Originally Posted by spitfire ->
What about when the fuel runs dry? A solar panel would be more use.
I can’t get them to work in the dark.
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01-08-2019, 11:45 AM
9

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

Originally Posted by realspeed ->
I don't ever remember working a 3 day week in the 70's or any time since I started work in 1960 up to 5 years ago
An aide-memoire just for you...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Day_Week
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01-08-2019, 12:11 PM
10

Re: Petrol Engine Hour Meter

Originally Posted by realspeed ->
What would we want a generator for??? our electricity supply is good enough for us in the UK.
Most of, or maybe all of, the water pumping stations I've supplied equipment to have back up generators. You wouldn't want to be without your water as well as your power, would you?

Anyway, all of the generators had hours run meters. These are readily available and usually ex-stock from component distributors.
 

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