Hour Meter

[68Slalom]

Most hour meters are hooked up to the alternator, they are designed to measure hours of the motor not how long your key is on. If it is counting the hours when the key is on then, they (who ever did it) attached it to the wrong connector on the alt. I had this same thing happen to one of my boats when I left the battery on and that is how I found out. I bought a new meter and did the same thing, hooked it up to a battery charger and ran it in the garage until I had 370hrs. it took me 15.4 days to do it. I then hooked it up right so that wouldn't happen again.

In a perfect world, this would be true. But this has been an issue with some Malibus for a long time. Supposedly sometime around 2000 they were supposed to change this to where it wouldn't run with the key in the on position unless the engine was running, but it's spotty at best. Malibu doesn't have a wiring loom that is comparable to the auto industry & things like this make me think that they should seriously consider that.

Is my 06' like that ? Not that I have left the key on yet, but I'll need to fix that. No likely, I have left my key on other boats before.

[uk_exile]

what about the perfect pass hour meter ? Does it still record when 0rpm ? It definitely powers up once key is in run postion so I'm guessing it records hours on, not hours running. It's the only place my hours are recorded (310 carb motor)

[SacRiverRat]

I have an '06 iRide. I've never tried it but the dealer was pretty clear when the told me that when the key is in the "on" position (as if the engine was running) that the hours are clicking.

There is a different key position (accesory only) for listening to the radio.

Same dealer told me if my key was on the hour meter would run - even if the motor wasn't running. 2003 Sunscape LSV.

I'm in the process of getting a stereo and trying to decide whether I want to have to key turn on before the stereo works. I can imagine trying turning the stereo way down to hear someone and forget it's on. I never forget my boat keys. I hate to have the extra hours rack up on my boat, but would rather be safe than sorry.

On the flipside - you don't want someone going to turn the stereo on and having to turn the key to listen to it.. seems like risk with having someone start the engine accidentally etc..

You just need to batteries, then you don't have to worry if you leave it on, and nobody has to touch the key unless they intend to start the engine

[Scottman]

I took apart the dash last night and removed the hour meter. Tried to hook it up backward to see if it would run in reverse. This DOES NOT work. I wnt online and found the manufacture of the hour meter (ENM Co. out of Chicago) and ordered a new one ($51). When it comes I am going to hook it up to the battery charger and run it to the correct hours 497. It doesn't bother me personally, but I want it to be correct when I sell the boat down the road. I don't want to be a scammer, because I would hope that someone selling me a boat would be honest with me.

Lesson here. I will be taking the key out of the ignition and putting it into the cup holder when I'm done using the boat so it doesn't happen again.

Thanks to everyone advise and help.

Scott

[68Slalom]

I took apart the dash last night and removed the hour meter. Tried to hook it up backward to see if it would run in reverse. This DOES NOT work. I wnt online and found the manufacture of the hour meter (ENM Co. out of Chicago) and ordered a new one ($51). When it comes I am going to hook it up to the battery charger and run it to the correct hours 497. It doesn't bother me personally, but I want it to be correct when I sell the boat down the road. I don't want to be a scammer, because I would hope that someone selling me a boat would be honest with me.

Lesson here. I will be taking the key out of the ignition and putting it into the cup holder when I'm done using the boat so it doesn't happen again.

Thanks to everyone advise and help.

Scott

Make sure to hook up the power from the alt. so that it only starts when the motor is on. It is really easy you can use a ohm meter to find the power source and then shut the engine off and make sure you have no power when it's not running.