Generator hour meter install

Picked up a pair of the Champion 2000/1600w inverter genny's and parallel kit to replace our contractor style single 4000/3500w model. With anything mechanical, regular maintenance is key to strong performance and longevity. Why manufacturers make a maintenance schedule in hours but won't include a simple hour meter has always frustrated me. I usually keep usage notes in the manual but decided to look for a cheap solution to add an hour meter. Below is a $13, waterproof meter that installed in about 15mins start to finish.

Front view of unit:


This meter type simply senses the motor is running via electrical current in the spark plug wire:


Remove the rear access panel to get to the spark plug wire:






Five wraps per the instructions and zip tie it tight:


I decided to route the wire straight up through the rubber grommet on top of the unit that is used to get access to the spark plug for service. This style genny is not designed to be sitting out in the rain so little risk of putting a small slice in the grommet. A little silicon on the top would make it better if you care to do so:


The wire simply fits in the bottom of the read out, nothing to connect:

Its always nice to have more of something than not enough so I opted to not trim the wire but instead just fold up and zip tie and pull to just under the grommet so it's not touching anything but plastic:
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The meter came with double sided tape and screws for a more permanent mount. I chose Velcro so it can easily be removed. I placed it just outside of the handle area where you won't bump it when moving the genny and it sits below the handle so it's perfectly protected when stacked together with the other genny. An accuracy check at 6 mins and again at 12mins showed she was working perfectly at 0.1 and 0.2hrs:
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cspot said:

I have the same generator and have thought about doing the same thing. Like you said it is crappy that manufacturers don't include an hour meter especially on a generator which tends to get run for long periods of time. It would probably cost an additional $5 for them to do it.

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Highly recommend the cheap investment. I messed with the wire connection to see if I could get it to not sense the motor running and it darn near needs to be fully disconnected before stopping. Time will tell.

JOHNROHIO said:

Keep us updated on how well it works. I've always though the same thing, but at least on my blue one it calls for an oil change every 100 hrs if I recall right. Not that I follow that real well but if that was the case, I'd be changing the oil just about after every real use of it.

We carry hondas at work on all our trucks with the halogen light adapters for on scene portable lights. They only get serviced once maybe twice a year, and they seem to keep ticking along. Hell we still have a few of the old 650's sitting in storage that still run.

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Yep 100hr intervals after the initial 5hr break-in period. I agree you can get away with doing it after a long weekend of use and I most likely will but also knowing total hours to help base the next buy decision is useful. I will never knock the red and blues who dominate this market but 2 champions and the parallel kit didn't cost as much as a single blue or red. It makes sense the FD is used reds, tried and true!

giles said:

I need to dig mine out and probably work on it...I don't think I've ever fired it up. Fuel has to be 4+ years old...idiot. $1,000 investment going to waste.

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Drain the carb and tank, switch out plug, add fresh fuel and a healthy dose of sea foam and Hopefully she purrs. Good luck!

Two good summers on the pair and they are meeting expectations. One has a slight raddle to it when running full tilt, will look into it if it gets any louder.

100hr intervals with normal operation, 50hrs. with extreme/dirty usage. I follow the 50hr schedule or change after each trip that goes above 50hrs.

They only take 0.4qrts of standard automotive 10w-30 ea.

Both ran nonstop for the camper A/C straight thru from Weds 7:30pm - Sunday 8am at BG pulls. 3.5 days and they didn't miss a beat.

5w-30 full synthetic or regular 10w-30 for our temp. ranges is acceptable.