Inliners International Forums General Discussion Electrical Is there a 6 Volt Tach???

Man, am I just standing to close to the trees to see the forest?
Does anyone make a 6 volt tach or will I just have to use a 12 volt with a voltage reducer?

If you can find one, Sun used to make them back in the day. I have seen them at some swapmeets, otherwise try looking at Ebay. Make sure the "brown box" is correct for your application. (volts and # of cylinders)

Dear Tim;

Try a lantern battery (6V) in series with the power source.

If you have a 6cyl 12V one that is.

Good luck, John M......

Thanks for the info.
Seems like it is not an 'off the self' item and that's what I thought.
Just making sure I wasn't missing anything.
Will continue my quest to locate one.

If you end up using a 12V tach and want to use a voltage reducer I think I'd spend the extra money to get what is known as a dash gauge voltage reducer or regulator instead of a simple resistor type. Don't forget to change the light bulb in the tach to a 6V one or you will think your eyes are going when you look at it at night.

The green trigger wire that connects to your distributer needs no modifications or add ons, just hook it up.

Mike

PS: If you use a resistor in the circuit that will reduce your 6V source. You need the resistor if using a 6V unit on a 12V vehicle.

You'll find one.

My truck is 6 volt.
OK: let me make sure I got this right.
12 volt tach with "a dash gauge voltage reducer" but I don't need a 'resistor' on it since I am 6 volts anyway.
Also, make sure it has the adjustment for 6 cyl.

John & Timmer are both right. In reading the original post it asks if you had to use a voltage reducer with a 12 volt tach. Of course you don't, you'd need a voltage increaser or inverter to run 12 volts off a 6 volt system or a seperate source of 12VDC to power the tach's circuit.

( Man, am I just standing to close to the trees to see the forest?
Does anyone make a 6 volt tach or will I just have to use a 12 volt with a voltage reducer? )

It sure caught me off guard and I didn't mean to post misinformation.

Mike

Dear Tim;

That's right.

You need to raise the source voltage to 12V. This can be done by adding a small 6V battery in 'series' to the tach circuit.

You may need a diode (one way valve) in between the two.

Now I'm not sure on the values of the parts & you will have to charge the second battery every now/then as well. Your 6V system charges @ 7.7. I stated "lantern bat." but they are dry cells & a lead/acid motorcycle one may be needed.

An 'isolated' 12V source will work also as Mike sugested.

You could check with Jason Sternhagen #287 on all of the fine points.

This will work until you find one on e-bay or the local 'swap meet'.

Good luck, John M.....

Here's one on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4532337571&category=34206

Tim;

That's the one, get it. There are places that can repair if needed.

BTW: On the 'black box' there's an adj to calibrate.

good luck, John M.....

Smokin' -
I'm watchin' this on ebay.
Thanks guys for all the info. This sure would solve this in a heartbeat if it works.
Timmer

I won the tach on ebay.
If it works, problem solved.
Look for a post about how to hook this thing up once I get it.
Timmer

Dear Tim;

It's easy, everything is marked.

JM.......

Most tachs are standard wiring....Black is ground, Red is switched power, White is dash lights, Green goes to neg side of coil...Good Luck...

Thanks guys -
I am anxious to get this and see if it works, & to hook it up.
No more guessing on the rpm's or if I am running my 235 too fast.
Timmer

OK, no colored wires!
See Pics that follow -
1- Tach Box:
http://img225.exs.cx/img225/2772/mvc344s0gc.jpg
2- Right side of tach: http://img225.exs.cx/img225/9953/mvc345s4gt.jpg
3- Left side of tach:
http://img225.exs.cx/img225/8163/mvc347s4xt.jpg

So now what??????

Dear Tim;

Okay; Dist. primary is the one that connects to the side of the coil and then connects to the points/distrbutor (low voltage).

The wires that go in front of Tach's face plate are for the light.

The one that goes inside the Tach. may be (+) and the one leaving the light may be (-) using the light as a fuse (in series).

Please open up the unit & check the +/- connections to see if I guessed right etc....

Good luck, John M.....

Thanks John - I'll give that a shot and see what happens.
I'll get back here ASAP with an update.
Timmer