Inductive hour meter.

[Greenfrog]

I have an inductive hour meter on my old Cub Cadet. Works fine. This is the type where several wraps of wire go around the spark plug wire on small engines. Will one of these work on my old CASE SC? I guess I’m concerned about the spark sequence being different. ??
there are good reviews on these. Thx in advance if anyone knows.

 

[JMOR]

Were not Cub Cadets sold with more than one engine configuration? That my mean there is a different answer depending on what engine

 

[Mule Meat]

Don't see why one would not work. The programmable type that the spark sequence can be set would work best. These type can be set to how many times a plug fires (1 or 2) with one revolution of the crank shaft. The maintenance interval can also be set. Some even come with a tachometer feature.
Just wrap the pickup wire as close to the #1 plug as possible to help keep it from picking up a signal from the other plug wires.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I have an inductive hour meter on my old Cub Cadet. Works fine. This is the type where several wraps of wire go around the spark plug wire on small engines. Will one of these work on my old CASE SC? I guess I’m concerned about the spark sequence being different. ??
there are good reviews on these. Thx in advance if anyone knows.

I have one similar to this one and it works on my Farmall too.
I would make sure you can replace the battery. I didn't check if this one from Amazon has a battery you can replace.

Yooreal Digital Inductive Tach Hour Meter,RPM Gauge Meter Tachometer for Lawn Mower Scooter Dirt Bike Tractor Generator Air Compressor Marine Motorcycle Snowblower Pressure Washer$10.99​

 

[Greenfrog]

Don't see why one would not work. The programmable type that the spark sequence can be set would work best. These type can be set to how many times a plug fires (1 or 2) with one revolution of the crank shaft. The maintenance interval can also be set. Some even come with a tachometer feature.
Just wrap the pickup wire as close to the #1 plug as possible to help keep it from picking up a signal from the other plug wires.

Good point

 

[wp6529]

If it's just an hour meter it should not care at all about a spark sequence or number of cylinders, only that it sees a signal indicating the engine is running. The number of cylinders comes into play for meters that include a tachometer function, but no meter should care the least bit about a spark sequence and the ones with a tach will still monitor a single cylinder and extrapolate for the number of cylinders it has been set to.

 

[JMOR]

If it's just an hour meter it should not care at all about a spark sequence or number of cylinders, only that it sees a signal indicating the engine is running. The number of cylinders comes into play for meters that include a tachometer function, but no meter should care the least bit about a spark sequence and the ones with a tach will still monitor a single cylinder and extrapolate for the number of cylinders it has been set to.

"Should" is the key word!

 

[stevieb49829]

Doesn't a 4 cycle engine fire once on each cylinder for every 2 revolutions, no matter how many cylinders the engine has? So it doesn't matter which plug wire, or how many there are.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Doesn't a 4 cycle engine fire once on each cylinder for every 2 revolutions, no matter how many cylinders the engine has? So it doesn't matter which plug wire, or how many there are.

Doesn't a 4 cycle engine fire once on each cylinder for every 2 revolutions, no matter how many cylinders the engine has? So it doesn't matter which plug wire, or how many there are.

Yes and No.
A 4 cycle air cooled engine that gets its spark from magnets in the flywheel will fire every revolution.
My old Farmall with a magneto only makes one spark per plug every 2 revolutions

 

[stevieb49829]

Yes and No.
A 4 cycle air cooled engine that gets its spark from magnets in the flywheel will fire every revolution.
My old Farmall with a magneto only makes one spark per plug every 2 revolutions

Thanks George. I was wondering who was going to point that out. It was only a couple of years ago that I got into an engine where that was occurring, and fought for a while to make it stop!! Live and learn, by tearing things apart and putting them back together (without any leftover bolts!)

 

[JMOR]

Yes and No.
A 4 cycle air cooled engine that gets its spark from magnets in the flywheel will fire every revolution.
My old Farmall with a magneto only makes one spark per plug every 2 revolutions

Geo, I don't know the inner workings of the hour meter, but if it only used the signal from wire coiled around the plug wire to start a clock and absence of signal to stop the clock, it wouldn't seem that what wire, how many or how many per crank revolutions?

 

[T.R.K.]

I am thinking what those 'hour meters' really count is the number of sparks.

Most small engines like your Cub Cadet have a magneto that makes a spark every crank revolution whether it ignites anything or not-meaning the spark is only used every other crank revolution.

If your Case SC has a magneto, each plug wire will only get a spark every other revolution of the crank. So the meter is only going to see about 1/2 the sparks it would on a small engine.

If the Case SC has a distribuitor, and you put the pickup on the coil wire, it might work.

 

[cwtech]

I am thinking what those 'hour meters' really count is the number of sparks.

Most small engines like your Cub Cadet have a magneto that makes a spark every crank revolution whether it ignites anything or not-meaning the spark is only used every other crank revolution.

If your Case SC has a magneto, each plug wire will only get a spark every other revolution of the crank. So the meter is only going to see about 1/2 the sparks it would on a small engine.

If the Case SC has a distribuitor, and you put the pickup on the coil wire, it might work.

If an hour meter is counting the number of sparks, as the engine speeds up, the time on the meter would accumulate faster than at idle.
....I don't believe that is how they are designed to function.

A tachometer does count sparks to determine engine rpm.

 

[Greenfrog]

I am thinking what those 'hour meters' really count is the number of sparks.

Most small engines like your Cub Cadet have a magneto that makes a spark every crank revolution whether it ignites anything or not-meaning the spark is only used every other crank revolution.

If your Case SC has a magneto, each plug wire will only get a spark every other revolution of the crank. So the meter is only going to see about 1/2 the sparks it would on a small engine.

If the Case SC has a distribuitor, and you put the pickup on the coil wire, it might work.

Very good point. I never thought about using the coil wire, instead of a plug wire on the no. One cylinder. As one of the other people mentioned, on the old CASE I need to isolate that meter pick up wire so as not to pick up nearby spark/impulse. I’m experimenting in new territory here. Good discussion here for others to learn by. Thx

 

[JMOR]

Might take a look at this from link GEO posted

 

[Greenfrog]

Very good point. I never thought about using the coil wire, instead of a plug wire on the no. One cylinder. As one of the other people mentioned, on the old CASE I need to isolate that meter pick up wire so as not to pick up nearby spark/impulse. I’m experimenting in new territory here. Good discussion here for others to learn by. Thx

I mounted the hour meter on the old case SC. Wrapped induction wire around the coil wire. Found good place to mount meter. Run for 6 minutes and it recorded one tenth of a hour. I know it may not be necessary, but interesting to do and to learn by.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

I put a tach like that on the motorcycle it displays hours when off and rpm running. It doesn’t care about anything except how many spark impulses it sees it being a single cylinder it’s pretty simple. If you have one that cheap you might have to do math to get the right rpm for 4. And yes the hours will be accurate also it will take a second then switch to hours as it recognizes the engine is off