Adding hours to Faria analog gauge hour-meter

[TwinTip]

Does anyone know how to add hours to the hour-meter of a Faria analog gauge (2004)? The gauge has the following cables connected to it:

Purple - Ignition
Grey - Tach Signal
Black - Ground
Blue - Light

I initially thought connecting a 12v DC source between the purple (+) and black (-) post on the guage would allow one to add hours. After trying this I realized that the purple wire is the 12v source and that this provides power to the gauge only.

Come to think about it, the guage only adds hours when the engine is running and not when the ignition is ON (or the accessory is ON) so I think it is a combination of having power on the unit (purple) as well as having the tach signal (grey) present. If this is indeed the case, what type of signal is needed on the tach connector to add hours (is it also a DC source that perhaps increases in voltage as the rpm increase on the engine)?

The reason for this is because the gauge was replaced and it currently does not show the correct hours on the engine.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[DanielC]

The Faria hour meter probably needs the tach signal to increase hours. The tach signal on an engine with just a ignition coil and points is basically a switched DC signal, on, then off every time a spark plug fires. The voltage does spike above 12 volts because of the inductive effects of the coil, how much, I do not know right off hand.
I believe the GM engine does store hours in the engine control computer, that should be able to be read with a scan tool that will down load that info.

[BigRob]

i believe the 05 boats are the ones with the ecm that stores the hours.
your dealer should keep a record of the old hours so you shouldnt worry about the incorrect hours on your boat.

[sharkbait83]

twin tip----how to add hours to aftermarket faria gauges

I was in the same boat as you last year when my teleflex start to go and I installed new faria gauges and I wanted badly to make my hours match up to the mechanical hour meter I installed after I purchased the boat and knew that someday the teleflex would probably fail. They did about 6 months later. After calling and researching for days I figured out that if you take your tach down to a tv repair shop and ask them to hook up your tack to a sign wave generator ( I think thats what I remember he called it) and calibrate to the right freqency it will start adding hours Just remember it took about 6 days running time to get my tack to the correct hour mark (one day will put 24 hrours on the tack) Good Luck it worked for me
Randy

[TwinTip]

RE: twin tip----how to add hours to aftermarket faria gauges

Thank you all for your input. Randy, I happen to have a sine-wave generator so I'll hook it up and see what happens.

I did check the Faria web-site and found that the tach signal is connected to either (1) the negative side of the ignition coil or (2) the tach signal post on solid state ignition systems.

[beaster]

I ran into the same issue when replacing my digital gauges with analog. I needed the replacement due to the Gateway box failing as a lot of them do. I had seen where I could get the hours registered for ~$150 from someone online. After reading some of the post on this and other sites I decided to purchased a wave generator and the test probes from Amazon ($30). You need to make sure you have a 5v power supply 2amp minimum to make the wave generator work else it will say "low battery". You cant use a phone charger or the USB on your PC. I used one from an external PC speakers.

.
From the attached diagram Purple is the ignition (12v battery +), Black is Ground (12v-) and Grey is the Tach.
From the Wave Generator connect the Red probe to the Tach post, connect the Black probe to the Ground post.
Take a 12V battery can connect the Battery- Ground to the Ground post and the Battery + Hot to the Ignition post.


I email the guys at Faria who helped me out on the settings. Set the wave Generator to "Square Wave" ( I later tested Sine, triangular and saw tooth wave forms...all worked) at 200Hz. You can look on Youtube to see how to make the adjustments. This is what represents you ignition firing. I had to increase the amplitude (AMP dial knob on the side) of the wave to get it to register. I had to turn mine up 50%. The hours will start registering when the RPMs are greater than 400.




If you dont know the hours on your engine, take it to the dealer and have them read the ECM.
It will register 1 hour for each hour you have this running.
If you increase the frequency of the wave generator you will only get greater RPM's.
There is a dip switch on the back of my Tach. The instructions say to set it to "3". I played with different settings to see if it could register hours faster...it didn't change the results.

Sorry for some of the blurry pictures. I hope this post helps other.

[t.franscioni]

Thanks for this post. Was wanting to do this too but had no idea how to go about it.

[ScooterMcgavin]

That's some great information! Thanks for posting

[beaster]

I ran some other wave forms last night. I ran a sine wave, saw tooth, triangular etc...they all worked. The posting only covered how to add hours to an analog gauge.

[Machspires]

Found another way to add hours to a new zero-hour Faria Tach if you convert....

Had an old 4-wire, 12V PWM computer fan (see Pic). Connected fan and new Faria Tach to a DC power source, then hooked a lead from the combined TACH / PWM leads off the fan (blue and yellow wires in Pic) to the Tach input on the new Faria Tach (Stud #1, in Pic). When powered up, fuel gauge came off the peg and Tach registered a steady 500RPM (with the hour meter indicator blinking). Already up to 135.1 hrs...only 267.5 hrs to go...