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Hour Counter Going Haywire


Victor Vectis

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Just had a quick jaunt out on the boat. Looked at the hour counter before I turned the engine off to see it was all over the place! No numbers displayed just segments of the LCD display lighting up at random. 

Tried turning the engine off and restarting it a couple of times but still the same random display. 

Any ideas what's wrong and how to fix it?

It's a Beta 43 engine and a Beta instrument display..

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Almost certainly due to condensation in the electrics on the back.    Mine is a Vetus which suffers similar problems - displays ok in the summer after a couple of weeks of hot weather (what chance of that!).

I gave up on it and fitted a Durite one inside the cabin with no problems.

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The hire fleet here are all Isuzu and just a few years ago they all gradualy died it was a well known fact that they are crap. I am expecting mine to go but at present its ok. I think the only safe way to count is to wire in a seperate one as above.

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Yep fit a second one and on good days the one in the rev counter may work. There was a post on here by a guy who had fitted a different display, as it is apparently the ribbon cable connectors that have the problem, but it looked like a lot of effort.  I only use the hour counter to guess fuel level and check service intervals.

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56 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

Just had a quick jaunt out on the boat. Looked at the hour counter before I turned the engine off to see it was all over the place! No numbers displayed just segments of the LCD display lighting up at random. 

Tried turning the engine off and restarting it a couple of times but still the same random display. 

Any ideas what's wrong and how to fix it?

It's a Beta 43 engine and a Beta instrument display..

Mine did the same - I let it dry out and then packed silica gel 'packets' around it - changed them every year and never had another problem - the instrument panel was inside the boat and I realise not all instrument panels are.  Beta 43 and a Beta display.

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Thanks for those replies chaps. 

The helpful man at Beta said the same that it was probably moisture in the rev counter. 

The problem sorted itself out overnight, everything was hunky dory when I started the engine this morning. 

Thanks again to all. 

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23 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

The problem sorted itself out overnight, everything was hunky dory when I started the engine this morning. 

Then perhaps there was nothing wrong with it - you just moored too close to a rip in the space-time continuum. CRT really should improve their signage! ;)

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On 09/03/2017 at 12:47, Victor Vectis said:

Thanks for those replies chaps. 

The helpful man at Beta said the same that it was probably moisture in the rev counter. 

The problem sorted itself out overnight, everything was hunky dory when I started the engine this morning. 

Thanks again to all. 

Don't get your hopes up too high because the problem will return again when damp gets in. There is a problem with these VDO units where the ribbon cable is bonded to the rear of the LCD display. This bonding is covered with a silicone rubber type compound which is supposed the keep moisture out, however this breaks down in time and lets the moisture in. The hours meter will still record and remember the hours. If you want to repair your unit, have a look at the pdf file below. Most modern engine marinisers use the VDO tacho  ie Yanmar, Barrus, Beta, Isuzu, Volvo, Canaline and others.

Repair of Yanmar Tach updated (2).pdf

Edited by Flyboy
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