# Hour Meter Question



## Fairweather (Aug 17, 2020)

I have a Tohatsu 4 stroke and would like to add an hour meter to the console. It will probably be the simple kind that counts hours when the ignition switch is on. This may be an oddball question, but does anyone know if there is an hour meter that can be corrected to show true hours when the hours are read out of the ECM? I know the hours the motor currently has, and I would like to set that starting point on the meter.


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## Capt. Moose (Dec 12, 2015)

None out there that i know of they will all start at zero.. Are you running a gps? You can get the harness to a nmea backbone then to your gps.. Get true hours that way.


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## NealXB2003 (Jun 8, 2020)

I have never seen one that could be corrected. Either they read off the ECM, or they start from day 1 of the install. 

I'd rather have a tiny tach style that reads of the spark plug pulses, than one that is tied to keyed on power. Just personal preference I guess.


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## Sublime (Oct 9, 2015)

I vote Tiny Tach under the cowling. How many hours do you think you have? Power up a Tiny Tach off a battery in your garage and let it roll for a week?


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Don’t believe so unless you chose to hook that gauge up to a power source - then simply monitor it and disconnect when it has the hours you want showing on that “new gauge”

My skiff, only 32 years old...has had so many motors on it that the original hour meter (installed before motors had internal hour meters) shows many thousands of hours... What I did was carefully record the hours on the boat’s meter each time a new motor was installed, every few years - then at a glance I can figure the motor’s hours. On a few occasions over the years I’ve needed a new ECM (computer) on a motor - which automatically re-sets the clock on the motor to zero (no matter how many hours the motor has) ... while that on-board hour meter still reflects the true hours it has... Very handy


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## Capt. Moose (Dec 12, 2015)

You could also get the tohatsu gauge but still need a backbone. It’s not a cheap set up. That why I just went the gps route and get all the engine data as well


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## Fairweather (Aug 17, 2020)

Thanks for the ideas! I had thought about putting a timer on it in the shop and let it run until it hits the desired hours. The motor has 138 hours. I just better not overshoot if I do that!

Or maybe I'll go the GPS route.


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

I don’t think my Lowrance gps records hours.


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## Fairweather (Aug 17, 2020)

Not all GPS units will. They have to be compatible with a NMEA network, which as Capt. Moose pointed out is not exactly cheap.


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## reedriley8 (Sep 3, 2020)

I’m about to hookup my 2012 f70 to my simrad unit. Have to install a nmea network, will cost me around $160, and seems like a pretty easy install. Very interested to find out how many hours are on the motor 😂. Will also be nice to have all my engine diagnostics on my head unit.


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## Fairweather (Aug 17, 2020)

Capt Moose, thanks for the NMEA suggestion. I'm going that route. Way more expensive than I anticipated because my Hummingbird model requires the black box, but way better.


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## Fairweather (Aug 17, 2020)

Just in case anyone else is interested in going down this path, after installing the rather expensive NMEA 2000 network, I discovered my Tohatsu 40 4 stroke doesn't report engine hours on the NMEA network. That was quite a disappointment, so now I'll get a dealer to read the hours and then I'll set an hour meter to match it.


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## Fairweather (Aug 17, 2020)

OK, it's time for me to eat crow about engine hours and the Helix 7. I got it to display. An Internet search of various forums seemed to confirm the Helix 7 won't show engine hours, but that is not the case. As I was throwing away the packaging for the Helix Ethernet adapter today, I discovered a little sealed pouch affixed to the backing which contained an instruction manual. It's amazing what a little time reading the instructions can do. It showed how to set up the Helix data boxes to show various engine parameters, one of which being hours. The instructions were kind of sketchy and didn't exactly follow my particular model, but it gave me enough to go on to whack my way through it and find the correct setting.


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