Generator meter

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Ramonhernandezjr

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Aug 25, 2019
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How do I read my meter? By that I mean how do I know how many hours have my generator has ran? The current numbers on my meter reads 1249.
 
Generally known as a "Hobbs" meter,,  As an example, mine reads 2665 hours,,that's accumulated over 23 years of service. does your meter advance when the genny is running?? It should if working properly.>>>Dan
 
You mean one thousand two hundred twenty nine hours? Because I would find that hard to believe. It hasn?t ran that long. The reason I say this is because I ran the generator today and the reading started at 1241 and when I got home it read 1249. It ran for less than 30 minutes.
D
 
Sounds as if there should be a decimal point in there. Perhaps the rightmost digit is a different color than the other three? If so, then that's 124.1 and 124.9, though eight tenths of an hour is more than 30 minutes. Most of those hour meters DO have a tenth's digit. (Hobbs is a specific brand, but far and away the most common).
 
There is a recall for a missing diode on the hour meter, causing incorrect readings. I received a recall notice, but no information as to what models are included in the recall.
 
Usually the last digit is a different color and that is N/10th of an hour.

HOWEVER the meter is an electric clock, it will run for a short time after the generator shuts down.  Now. for a fact.. it should because the "Wear and tear" on many things continues even after the rotation stops (IE Oil).

So you know how electric (DC) clocks work

A magnet "Winds" a spring and then releases the winder. the clock ticks off the hours just like an old hand wound alarm clock. when the spring is "Unwound" far enough the magnet reactivates (electromagnet) and re-winds it.

Like a buzzer.. only it only windes like once a period of time. if it's quite you will hear teh click
 
The last digit of the common brands of hour meters represents tenths of an hour.  There may or may not be some indication of that, e.g. a painted decimal point or a different color for that digit.  Shouldn't be hard to determine that - run the generator for 6+ minutes and see if the last digit advances.

The hour meter doesn't come with the generator, so genset brand name, e.g. Onan, doesn't tell us anything about the meter in use. The meter is whatever the RV manufacturer chose to use. Some Rvs don't even have one..
 
Ramonhernandezjr said:
You mean one thousand two hundred twenty nine hours? Because I would find that hard to believe. It hasn?t ran that long. The reason I say this is because I ran the generator today and the reading started at 1241 and when I got home it read 1249. It ran for less than 30 minutes.
Click to expand...
Good info about the diode recall and how the meter works.  That might be the answer.

If you're positive it's reading hours and not tenths of an hour, did you read it 30 minutes after you started running it, and the meter had advanced from 1241 to 1249, or did you run it for 30 minutes and later in the day noticed that the meter had advanced from 1241 to 1249?  In the former case, that means the meter is running too fast.  If it's the latter, and eight hours had elapsed, that means the meter is continuing to run even though the generator isn't on.

I have a Generac, and one day noticed a ticking sound and traced it to the meter on the generator even though the generator wasn't running.  It turned out the insides had gotten wet when I washed it, and that made the meter run, and I didn't notice until it had added 600 hours to the meter.  I opened it up and dried it out, and it stopped.
 
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