Inaccurate Hour meter

[Mac11]

Though showing 247 hrs. on my 2017 B2601, only recently have I noticed (after doing side jobs for others), that the reading should be way more. I did 6.25 hrs. continuous work over two days and the tractor indicated just 4 hrs. So, I checked again by running it for exactly 6 minutes indicated on the meter but it was 10 minutes by stopwatch. The head mechanic at the dealer says he's never seen this before so, is this a faulty hr. meter or is there something I don't know about?

 

[MINICUP28]

What RPM were you running at?
Try the test again at 540 PTO RPM and see if the results are the same.

 

[07wingnut]

I am not familiar with your particular tractor, but a lot of tractor rate hourly usage at 540 pto rpm. This translates into 1 hour of watch time corresponding to 1 hour of tractor time at 540 rpm. Run that tractor for the same hour of watch time at half of 540 rpm and the tractor hour meter will show 1/2 hour.

 

[Dave_eng]

I have not looked but your tractor could be one which uses a signal from the alternator to measure engine rpm's.

If the hour meter is part of the tach then Minicup28's suggestion may have some relevance. The hour meter is not a clock in the pure sense of the word.

Dave

 

[Henro]

I have not looked but your tractor could be one which uses a signal from the alternator to measure engine rpm's.

If the hour meter is part of the tach then Minicup28's suggestion may have some relevance. The hour meter is not a clock in the pure sense of the word.

Dave

My BX2200 clocks hours in real time.

My B2910 clocks hours proportional to 540 PTO RPM. Use hours and clock hours are different, and clock hours are much lower than use hours on the B2910, since except for using the brush hog, I never run full PTO RPM.

MY guess is that the OP's tractor is similar to my B2910.

Edit: To the OP, if you are really concerned, run the tractor at full PTO speed for six minutes and see if the hour meter moves one digit.

 

[Mac11]

What RPM were you running at?
Try the test again at 540 PTO RPM and see if the results are the same.

Thanks for the suggestions ... haven't done that just yet but I will and post soon.
The manual indicates 540 PTO rpm at engine rpm of 2,800 - at which I've never yet operated, even with the backhoe. It states:

'The hourmeter indicates in 5 digits the hours the tractor has been used; the last digits indicates 1/10 of an hour'. No mention of 'type' of hours.

Most of the time recently I was running at 1400-1800 rpm which easily accommodated the spreading of topsoil and levelling with the loader and box blade.

 

[Mac11]

My BX2200 clocks hours in real time.

My B2910 clocks hours proportional to 540 PTO RPM. Use hours and clock hours are different, and clock hours are much lower than use hours on the B2910, since except for using the brush hog, I never run full PTO RPM.

MY guess is that the OP's tractor is similar to my B2910.

Edit: To the OP, if you are really concerned, run the tractor at full PTO speed for six minutes and see if the hour meter moves one digit.

Ok, you were all correct ..... I ran the machine at 540 PTO rpm for an intended 6 minutes but, the 1/10 hr. turned over at even 5 mins. 15 seconds ie. somewhat before the 6 minutes were up. So, now I know not to charge by the hours of machine use but by real clock time - some people have had a good deal, I'd say! Too bad the manual doesn't differentiate which 'hours' they're talking about.

Thank you, guys, for being so speedy in replying with suggestions. Hope I can be of help to someone else someday.

 

[GeoHorn]

That is common for mechanical tach/hour meters to be rated only at governed speed. Electronic ones are actual time.