Where to connect the positive lead of an hour meter on both the Briggs
& Stratton 5hp I/C hand-crank horizontal shaft engine and the Honda
5.5hp hand-crank horizontal shaft engine.  Connecting the ground lead
is a no brainer, but where to connect the positive lead?

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Clarification of Question by satyr_at_heart-ga on 26 Nov 2004 17:48 PST

Where to connect the positive lead of an hour meter on both the Briggs
& Stratton 5hp I/C hand-crank horizontal shaft engine and the Honda
5.5hp hand-crank horizontal shaft engine.  Connecting the ground lead
is a no brainer, but where to connect the positive lead?  This meter
operates on multi?voltage electrical systems: 12V, 24V, 32V, 36V, 48V
and 72V DC.  It has two leads: Pos and Neg.

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Request for Question Clarification by byrd-ga on 27 Nov 2004 07:40 PST

Could you please provide the model numbers for both the
Briggs&Stratton and the Honda engines?  Thank you.

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Request for Question Clarification by byrd-ga on 27 Nov 2004 08:45 PST

Hi satyr_at_heart-ga,

Actually don't worry about the the model numbers; they likely wouldn't
be of much help after all. I did a little more research, and consulted
with an electrical engineer of my acquaintance, who informed me that
what you are trying to do just isn't possible, at least not simply and
inexpensively. As I understand it, the difficulty lies in the fact
that the motors you're talking about are powered by magnetos, and a
magneto-driven motor does not have a source of electric power for the
hour meter, which is why you can find nowhere to connect your positive
lead.  What that means is you'd have to connect a battery or
battery-holding device, plus some external circuitry, etc. between the
two in order to power that hour meter. Unfortunately, the price of
your question doesn't make it feasible to spend the time researching a
complete solution (see pricing guidlines, here:
http://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html ), but perhaps knowing
what the trouble is, you could ferret one out yourself. Or, you could
raise the price of your question accordingly, or post a new question
requesting help on how to get your electric hour meter to work with a
magneto-driven engine.  Or maybe someone else has already done this
and will post a comment to that effect.

Good luck! 
Byrd-ga

The fact that your hour meter has a ground wire very likely means that
it operates off either 12 or 6 volts DC. Since you say that both
engines are hand crank start, I will bet that the meter you have won't
work in your application. If you will give info on the hour meter, we
can verify if I am right.

To redhoss:  You are right in that the meter is for 12v to 72v DC. 
While the small engines do not have a battery with an alternator
recharging system--being hand crank start--would the engine be able to
operate the meter directly from the ignition system after starting?

Could you describe the hour meter, perhaps post data. Some of them
work by connecting to the spark lead, some to the ignition etc. But
depending upon the type and age, one cannot assume that the ground
lead is negative.

Best

To guzzi: The type of hour meter I have I bought from Northern Tool,
here is the web page where it can be seen:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=6970&productId=200246424&R=200246424&cm_ven=TL&cm_pla=DF&cm_ite=engine

On the back are two simple leads, one marked + and the other marked -

To Byrd,  I'm realizing now why the meters will not work on a hand
crank start engine (he does a dohh!!! like Homer Simpson).  One
respondent suggested that I use the spark plug wire as my positive
source (Thak you Guzzi) but my thought was that the changing RPM of
the engine would affect the rate of the hour meter and therefore not
be accurate.  Also, isn't the voltage send to the spark plug
significantly higher than the 6v or 12v found on most garden equipment
that is accessorized with battery start?

Oh yes that?s a nice bit of kit for the price. I had in mind to
suggest the *really* cheap elapsed time indicators such as ......

http://www.frederickscom.com/products/timetracker.html

..... but yours look good.

Indeed the spark lead voltage is just a bit higher, like 25kV, but
here?s an example.

http://www.dirtbikeworld.net/Reviews/motominder/motominder_text.html

Usually they?d incorporate their own power supply but this one
doesn?t. You?d use it on magneto system -- oh, like yours. Duh indeed
:-)

Also ......

http://www.lotus-equip.com/Tachometers.htm"

....... but I think there is a misprint where they say ?off? rather
than ?on? hours.

It wouldn?t actually be difficult for a techy to knock up an interface
for the ones you have, although they?d still need their own battery
PSU. All you?d need is a high impedance input, voltage protected,
pulse detector driven off the points or HT lead to enable the counter.
Trivial bit of design for an electronic engineer if you know one,
because they do look smart. Are these display engines (for which I
have an interest) or workers?

Best

To Guzzi: Thank you for the tips and leads to follow.  As for the two
engines, they both are working engines.  The Briggs & Stratton powers
a 30 ton hydraulic log splitter, and the Honda powers a mini trenching
machine.