Hour meter on Leopard/Rotax engines

Stephen Buckley · Joined: 18 Jul 2001 Posts: 861

Todd,

It would be fairly simple to figure how to do this, however I would like to see the overall schematic of the harness/ engine. It doesn't seem to be available for some reason.

Jim Russell, Jr. · Advertiser Joined: 03 Oct 2001 Posts: 1535

Most of the MyChron gauges have an hour meter built in. This is what we use on all of our Leopard karts.

Jim jr.

Todd Renaud

quote:
Originally posted by Jim Russell, Jr.:
Most of the MyChron gauges have an hour meter built in. This is what we use on all of our Leopard karts.

Jim jr.

Thanks Jim. This makes sense but if the MyChron loses battery power, etc., then does the time stay there? Is there a way to hook it to the ignition so that once its engaged, then the hour meter starts?

Chuck McCue · Joined: 17 Jul 2001 Posts: 2944

The My Chron has a non-volatile memory which means the you can loose the battery charge and still retain the hours on the motor.
They work really well on our Leopards, also. :-)

Rob Martin

A typical installation of an hour meter would be on the switched side of the breaker.
Breaker off= no power to timer
Breaker on=power to timer or timer relay closed.

Some timers will use the switched 12v to power the timer. Others will require an outside power source. You would want to check on how much power is required for the timer. On the Parilla with a generator the power consumption will probably not be an issue. On the Rotax who knows what you'll get.

The mychrons also work great unless you accidentally reset the unit.

If you use a Mychron to log engine hours I would also suggest using a log book just in case.

Chuck McCue · Joined: 17 Jul 2001 Posts: 2944

"The mychrons also work great unless you accidentally reset the unit."

Rob,
The My Chron is dificult to accidently reset. you must go in config mode the select run time and even at that point you are asked to confirm. So it takes multiple steps to reset the hour meter in the My Chron. Keep it simple. :-)

CM

Mikko Nassi

I use the alfano.....and after each day we record the hours in written form as well.

Todd Renaud

With the increased runtimes between rebuilds on Leopard/Rotax engines, it seems to make sense that an hour meter would be good to have on the kart, to measure the time on the engines.

The biggest issue of course is to make sure it only runs when the engine is actually running. One could just place a manual switch that the driver flips when that happens, but I am interested in making it connected to the proper place so that the hour meter works when the engine is on, regardless of driver intervention.

Has anyone done this and/or is willing to share their thoughts on it?

TIA, Todd

Keith Smith · Joined: 11 Jul 2002 Posts: 24 Location: Chico, Ca

My Alfano went dead the other day, when I replaced the battery nothing was lost. I love my guage, keep a spare $3 battery in your box! My Rotax has over 20hrs and still going

Keith Smith 71 Rotax Nor Cal

Sam Cooper

Todd
Drew Cleaver uses a "tiny tach" hour meter on his Rotax, and it seems to work very well!
I think they retail for about $40.00 or so..

Sam Cooper
Speedwerx Motorsports