An hour meter is an instrument or a gauge used to track or record the elapsed time. Usually, the hour meter displays time in the form of an hour or the tenth of an hour. The majority of hour meters are used to record an instrument’s running time or a piece of equipment to ensure that maintenance of expensive machines or systems is performed at the proper time. Thus hour meters are simple devices that assist engineers and technicians. Although they are simple, they provide an inexpensive source of equipment reliability insurance that manufacturers can offer with their product.
Typically hour meters are used with engines consisting of gas or electric motors. In addition to that, various medical and recreational equipment track and record time, but the bulk of the applications involve engines and motors. This article will thoroughly assess the working and various other aspects of an hour meter and discuss how it is used in a lawnmower.
How Does a Lawnmower Hour meter work:
The hour meter on a lawnmower acts as a counter. It is meant to track the entire run time from the mower, so you know when specific maintenance tasks have to be performed. The hour meter on a lawnmower is attached to the electrical system, so it only runs when the lawnmower is used. A lawnmower hour meter is also used in specific professional use cases where the user has to pay for the amount of time the lawnmower is used.
Contents
A few important aspects of an hour meter for a lawnmower
● Why use a lawnmower hour meter
Hour meters are versatile and can attach to almost all lawnmower brands, including Ariens, Husqvarna, Honda, and Toro. If you like to use one on your lawnmower, it is recommended that once you buy the lawnmower, consult the dealership and ask for an hour meter that is best compatible with the specific model you had purchased. The small investment can have long-term benefits as the hour meter ensures timley mantainance, saving an individual from cumbersome damage and repair costs in the long run.
The term engine hours refer to the number of hours your engine has been running since it was new. Many machines spend a lot of time idling have a meter that tracks these engine hours. A distance meter would not track this idling time. The goal is to know when specific maintenance has to be performed that otherwise can easily be forgotten. Tracking the time you use a machine on paper is not that trivial as it seems and is often neglected.
● Importance of hour meter for our lawnmower
The primary reason for using an hour meter is for maintenance. If one relies on an engine’s actual running time to schedule maintenance for the prior service, rather than just relying on calendar dates or miles driven. Using an hour meter helps you get a greater correlation to the equipment’s actual operating life, and there is way less guesswork involved.
- Service and maintenance in time: In the case of a lawnmower, performing regular and scheduled service and maintenance is critical as it works in harsh situation when it comes to mowing your lawn. If not well maintained, one can lose the hefty investment he just made to buy a lawnmower. Tracking running time to ensure that the oil, belt, filter, and spark plugs change and calibration checks are made are critical to keeping your lawnmower running. Thus, one needs to monitor the running time judiciously and perform the service at regular intervals must be made for. A lawnmower and hour meter assists in this regard.
- If the warranty is on hours used: Most of the lawnmower companies’ equipment types are warrantednot by the days or years since the date of purchase but by the running hours. Thus to make certain that the equipment is under warranty would depend upon the elapsed time.
- Better resale value: Certain lawnmowers resale based on age, condition, and logged hours. Thus, an hour meter helps keep track of the logged hours on your lawnmower that would further help in the machine’s resale. Therefore knowledge of accurate accounting of elapsed time can make a significant price difference when selling your lawnmower.
- Rent: Lawnmowers could be rented as they are expensive tools. Other than that, lawnmowers are also rented for various projects and tasks regarding event management. Thus, franchise operations that rent to professional crews could rent equipment at the hourly rate if an hour meter has been installed in your lawnmower. This could prove beneficial in monetary terms and could also be helpful when it comes to maintenance.
● Types of hour meters.
Hour meters have various types depending upon the power, display, shape, and data they carry.
- AC or DC powered: They can be AC or DC powered. A lawnmower that is supported electrically uses Direct current-powered meters according to its battery. Simultaneously, AC-powered hour meters are preferred for riding and non-electrical versions of lawnmowers.
- Mechanical or LCD: They can have electromechanical or liquid crystal displays. Generally, lawnmowers use electromechanical hour meters to indicate running hours and tenth. These hour meters look-alike the car’s odometer and is vastly used for outdoor machines.
- Rectangular or round: They can have rectangular or rounded shapes.
- Hours or min: Some hour meters can take measurements in the form of hours or one-tenth of an hour, while others could show a combination of data such as volt/hours.
● Factors when specifying an hour meter
Most hour meters are accurate and are quite affordable. One could decide upon the design and the analog or digital display depending upon his personal preference. Besides the styling, one should consider various other factors before installing the hour meter on his lawnmower.
- No Power: In an electronic digital meter, a power outage could hamper an individual from doing readings, although the units will be recorded, and the total time elapsed will be saved. At the same time, electromechanical hour meters are free from these constraints. Thus, one should prefer an electromechanical hour meter for his lawnmower.
- Ruggedness: When it comes to ruggedness, both the analog and digital hour meters are comparable when it comes to accuracy, power consumption, shocks, vibration, and temperature resistance. Both are also sealed and tamper-resistant.
- Panel profile: Regarding the panel profiles,LCD meters have a shorter depth than analog ones. Due to their relatively more detailed profile, they can fit into skinnier panels. This helps in somewhat bigger machines such as airplanes, while in the case of a lawnmower, analog meters would work just fine.
- Noise: When it comes to noise and on/off cycles,analog ones are not as silent as the LCD hour meters. But this factor is not important when considering a lawnmower.
- Terminals: Most AC meters have three styles of terminals. The spade terminal uses a fast-on attachment feature on a ¼ inch blade. The lead wire is held on the screw terminal with a screw. The wire lead termination style is simply a plain wire.
- Accuracy: Because electromechanical hour meters are designed and intended to track equipment’s total elapsed time, they will be more accurate over longer periods. Some are using an instant start LCD meter if the application requires the hour meter to switch on and off rapidly. An LCD meter also has the advantage of low depth, styling and quite operation. But the disadvantage is that it is only visible when the machine is on.
● The relation between miles and hours for an hour meter
The hour meters usually take readings in the form of hours or tenth of an hour. As the machine we are using is a lawnmower. Thus we need to know how much distance or miles it has been used in addition to its operating time. For this, it is necessary to realize the relationship between the miles and the hours. The distance will differ significantly between the type of lawnmowers, the maximum speed, and the type of lawn. If the lawnmower has a distance meter, you can use that. An alternative would be to use an exact GPS on your phone to track the distance, but this will probably not that accurate compared with a distance meter. On most phones, the GPS is not that accurate and will fluctuate near buildings or under trees.
Final Remarks:
In this article, we briefly studied various aspects of an hour meter for a lawnmower. An hour meter is a tool for lawnmower owners to improve their machines’ proper maintenance schedule. One of the biggest benefits of an hour meter is that it saves a person from a lot of guesswork and allows him to schedule service based on the machines’ real data.
We discussed the initial installation of your lawnmower’s equipment initially, and later on, we had an in-depth analysis of the importance of an hour meter for our lawnmower. We looked at factors that one should consider before buying an hour meter for your lawnmower. To conclude, hour meters are helpful and affordable tools with benefits for your lawnmower’s maintenance and service.