www.iFourWinns.com

i just got my new hobbs hourmeter for my h190 and am going to mount it in the engine compartment. does anyone know of a good wire tie-in spot for the power? any easy wire to use with the key/on position? bk

I am watching for answers as well. I want to help a friend put an hour meter in his 2008 H180, but not sure where to hook it up. Havn't done much research on the subject yet and I assume it is pretty easy.

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1998 Baja Boss 252 7.4L MPI Bravo 1 (SOLD)
2007 FW H200SS 5.0GXI (Sold)
2004 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew 6.0L (tow vehicle)
1991 FW 170 Freedom 4.3L (SOLD)

You'll obviously have to find a wire that has power whenever the boat is running. The simplest is to go off the ignition switch but that wire runs to your engine compartment also. I think it is at the coil, distributor or ECU. I am willing to bet that if it's a newer boat the wiring is there you just need to find it. Get out a voltmeter and start searching for live wires with the ignition switch in the "run" position. Make it a lesson in boat systems and you will be amazed at how much else you will notice and get sidetracked by. Your manual should also have a wiring diagram that may help (no manual....go download it from http://www.fourwinns.com See the past manuals section.

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Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie


'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive

i was kinda thinking about the coil wire terminal myself- i'll have to check it for voltage like you said.- thanks- bk

What year is your 190? In 2007 the Tach with hourmeter built in was standard.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

mine is a 1995 5.0 cobra with a soon to be installed hour meter.

And also consider you don't need to have the hour meter up on the dash. It's not like you need to be reading it all the time anyway. I've seen ones installed into a bracket down in the engine compartment.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

The engine compartment hour meter on my '99 Sundowner was connected o a plug fed by a purple and a black wire. Black was to ground, purple was off the purple ignition feed to the engine. The wiring/ plug may already be there on your engine somewhere.

Graham

well, i'm finally getting around to hooking up my meter. as graham said, it looks like the unused purple and black wire plug in the engine compartment is to be used for hour meters but...when i tested it, the most voltage i got was 10.5 vdc. the bad part is i bought a meter that is rated 12v-24 vdc. now i wonder if that low of voltage would work and if it did, how accurate would it be? bk

What voltage have you got at your battery? If that's OK ( 12.7- 12.8V on each is normal on mine), you might be getting a voltage drop due to poor connections somewhere along the way; the voltage will increase when the engine is running, as the alternator charges the battery, so I'm sure the hour meter will work. It's worth trying to find out where the voltage drop is occuring, if there is one, in case it gets worse. It might just be where the black wire attaches to ground.

Graham

well, after writing to the guy i bought it from (ebay)- he said he has the same one mounted on his boat and is getting somewhere around 11 1/2 v to it. i checked my voltages from the ign. sw. back and got a variety of different readings. then a lite lit up-duh...i charged up my battery and then took another reading and was up a whole volt at the plug! i was told that anything around 12 volts was ok (after the engine starts up and charging i should be getting my full 12 volts?!? ) another idea i had was to add an inline fuse maybe fusing it 3 or 5 amps?-can't say what it would take but it can't be too much? well, back to the store tomorrow!

Not sure which kind you bought, but I added a cheap hour meter to my Sea Doo. It didn't take any power hook ups, you just had to wrap a wire around one of the spark plug wires a few times.

This one is similar to one I had.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BIN-DIGITAL-HOUR-METER-W-TACH-YZF-YZ-CR-CRF-KX-KXF-RM_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a1205Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a1Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem250392194839QQitemZ250392194839QQptZMotorsQ5fATVQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

hour meter and tach combined-SWEET !!! and easy hookup too?? live and learn- bk

got it done! seems to work fine (time will tell) ha ha [img][IMG]http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt321/bkh190/hrmeter1.jpg[/img][/img]

try again...[img][http://s624.photobucket.com/albums/tt321/bkh190/th_hrmeter1.jpg/img]