Installing and calibrating an outboard tachometer 

You're welcome mate. :)

I definitely think trying different pole numbers until you get a sensible value is an entirely reasonable way to go. You can't do an damage.

Every ten minute project turns into a 2 hour fiasco/....adventures in Dodgeyness. I have 2 boats, So if I do the Math there will a 1/2 hour of actual boating per week....and then it snows in November. So it's mid May now, I might get 5 good hours without tinkering with shit...:)

Thanks Jack, I've still got to sort out that power problem at the forward control, but other than that I'm loving having it.

Thanks Dane! :)

I second that. I’m going through the older stuff again just for entertainment

Welcome! :)

Thanks mate, glad you liked it. :)

Thanks Bob.

For sure. ;)

Cool, they do make good stuff!

Hi mate. It does seem like a bit of a black art translating the motors poles to the setting on the tacho. Fortunately no harm comes from trying different settings, but you do need to know what the motor is actually doing so you can confirm when it is right. Good luck! :)

Thanks Gary.

Thanks John!

Thanks David, glad the vids are helping you. :)

Dangar Marine do you have any videos on wiring up a key start to an outboard ( marinar 25 is what’s on the boat) just on the off chance Thanks again

Thanks Rob, hope it helps you.

Rob Ez lui

Thanks John! :)

I'm glad to have it now, I certainly think it is worth installing.

You're welcome Andrew, glad you liked it. :)

Thanks mate. I managed to get myself burnt again at the meet up...

And he , Dave and Arn are nice people even off camera. Am glad to have been able to meet the crew a few times now.

Thanks mate, glad you've been enjoying the channel. You have a great Christmas too! :)

Thanks Tim, they certainly are handy for doing tune ups.

Interesting using Hz on a multimeter and convert to rpm too

You're welcome Chris, glad it helped you. :)

Thanks Angelo, it can be a useful tool, even though you aren't changing gears like a car.

I have experimented with a few some years ago now, I should try a newer one and see if they work better these days.

Perhaps I was lucky in that our two-stroke is quite loud. Plenty of noise for the app to grab onto! :D "Acoustic Tachometer" is the name of the app (for Android). Love your videos!

You're welcome mate, good luck with the install if you go for it. :)

Thanks mate. Yes, they do clog a lot. Someone else commented below that they drill a few small holes in the groves to give the shavings somewhere to fall through which helps too.

Thanks Bruce. You too! :)

I did start a video on that using a sender / gauge kit, but unfortunately the sender didn't fit in the tank I had. I'm going to be doing a series of vids on building a boat from scratch soon and I'll definitely put a sender in that tank.

Dangar Marine I'll be looking out for that project, sounds awesome! :)

Thanks Norman!

Thanks mate. Yes, having the right gear is always best, but most DIY people need to make do with what they own unless they can rent or borrow those types of specialist tools.

Yes, I'd like to add something like that to the trawler one day.

Thanks Chris!

Thanks mate. How can you not love Coopers! ;)

LOL, I know that feeling!

Good luck! Hope the installation goes well for you.

lol hahahaha

You'll need to check with the manufacturer to be sure, but it should work just fine as it gets engine speed from the charge coil, not from the CDI unit.

Necessity the mother of invention.

Glad I'm not the only one! :) You are right about the C. I wonder if it is is designed to be run off both charge coils and ignition wires, because with my connection the number of cylinders is irrelevant.

Thanks mate. I'm not sure which brand is better, they are different and marineengine.com sells both of them so I guess they carry both brands for a reason. It may be just personal preference I guess but I would expect there would be a reason to stock both.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend you do that on a CDI:-) A meter with Hz (frequency) capability is pretty cheap from Jaycar - about $20 .

The little ones you get have a wire you can wrap around the HT lead and then configure it with the number of cylinders and whether it is two stroke or four stroke. The meter itself lives under the cowling but I can't see why that same system could be used for one on the dash.

Stu, the 'wire wrap' system has a few issues you need to take into account. 1: the wire wrap itself becomes a transformer- so if you wrap 5 turns onto an ignition lead, you multiply the voltage accordingly. So if the leakage voltage is say 20 volts, the wire is carrying 100volts (with almost pico amp current , so no real risk to anyone).2: The spark plug voltage rise rate is very fast . 1 & 2 together with the longish wire run means you will be creating an aerial with ignition hash - not good for radios , fish finders etc. The normal car tacho needs a current pulse to count (normally 12v, goes to ground when the points close) - because it is triggering a transistor - so that long wirel is unlikely to work- car tachos are designed for milliamp current levels, pico is a little too low. The wire wrap tachos use capacitive coupling and trigger on the induced voltage spike.

good points Ron Powell. those wire wrap tachs are ok for repair work , i wouldnt think to try to use one as a dashboard unit or as a permanent solution. the whole point being that the universal one stu got for the dash needs another one to make sure of the caliration is correct. i/o's typically run modified car engines so a vehicle tach works fine. most if not all outboards run cdi's. having watched other video's i got to thinkin. a lot of people have car tachs and "tune up analyzers" sitting around in thier garages. and hooking up one of them wouldnt be good. why buy another tach to calibrate another tach if one of these are available? so its on my list to find a cheapy at a garage sale and tear it apart to see if it has any protection in its circuitry. perhaps some two dollar resistor voltage divider circuit could be added to make it possible. i do see online that people make adapter boxes but at $40.00 might as well buy a tiny tach wire wrap one. of course had stu taped the instructions to the beer in the fridge we might have seen the selector adjusted to the proper setting that would have put it in the ballpark to start with . lol cheers

If you want to use a car tack for CDI, you need a converter. You can build one your self, if you are not afraid of the soldering iron. I have instructions in one of my videos... Greetings from the other side of the planet by the way (literally)!

Thanks and welcome

Yeah, battery drills with hole saws over 50mm generally don't live long. I have found a mains powered drill is the only way to go for the bigger holes saws, and variable speed is needed too.

Interesting tip, I think I would have struggled to get it started on smooth aluminium without the centre bit, but it's always good to know things to try when you need to.

For over 50mm I use a battery masonary drill with a chuck adapter. Works well u can thash it lol

BAJATWIN You could use a drill press to cut a hole in small piece of plywood and then clamp plywood to dash, with plywood acting as a guide. Just a suggestion.

Mmmm, beer. What's not to enjoy? ;)

Thanks Jonathan!

Try readmanual.com and tradebit.com

Yes, I think I was misreading that after having read so much about "cycles" I wonder if it is is designed to be run off both charge coils and ignition wires, because with my connection the number of cylinders is irrelevant.

@@DangarMarine this video has bothered me since it came out. after rewatching it @2:42 on the back of the tach it actually states the send connection can be hooked to the neg ign coil lead on 4 stroke gas engines or the pulse lead on the charging coil. thus the reference to cyl for cylinders if used on gas or p for pulses if used on charge coils.

Jim H, you have to have imperial and metric bottle openers, some bottles are measure mL and others in Ozs, and even quarts or pints. very confusing!

Ron Powell doesn’t mater if your beer is measured in pints, quarts, milliliters or ounces. Doesn’t matter which side of the ocean your standing on either. At the end of the day, we all drink and enjoy our beer the same way! 😊

I noticed that RU-vid already does the auto tweets. The account is @dangarstu.

Cool, followed! I searched you but didn't find it. Im in the Boston area, someday hope to visit your aussie land. Keep on the sweet videos, they are helping my "beyond budget, boating dream come true". Currently running 2x 40HP Evinrudes, going for 3x.... no logical reason other then budget, and fun.

GJ Yes you can add a tach. There is a product called mini tach or something like that, pretty cheap if you don't have a center console to mount a larger gauge

jimbo gasoline Thanks Jimbo. This is all new to me, so appreciate the info. Will need to go and do some research. Cheers

Those mini tachs that Jim mentioned are really cool, but you may well find the motor has an AC outboard on it still as they were originally designed to just run some simple lights on small boats. A Merc guy will probably be able to tell you more.

Jimbo- and Stu- I reckon one of the mini tachs on a tiller steer could work well. Stick the tach on the front of the cowl, the sense wire could have a bullet connecter in it for when you are servicing the engine so you could remove the cowl. I have a couple of wire wrap tachs from go karting - water proof and cheap. CPR sell some decent ones but you can get the same ones from ebay at a bit less.

It's the only way to look professional. ;)

Thanks Jack, still waiting to get my laptop back, begging, borrowing and stealing at the moment!

Dangar Marine how’d the meet up go today?