faria gauge repair

212rowboat

I finally admitted defeat and sent my tach/hour meter back to faria for repair.. it was stuck at 150rpm and wouldn't budge, though the hour meter worked fine.. I went through every trick I could conjure, and, well, they have it back, now..

Have any of you guys sent a gauge back for repair? The lead time offered is 3~4 weeks.. I'm hoping it will be much quicker.. what we're your experiences if you have? Did the issue ever recurr or was it actually fixed?

TikiHut2

After all the inconsistency with faria gauges and the trade-in cost that they charge I just replaced my dead Faria tach/hr gauge with a new Teleflex(I'm pretty sure) unit from my local marine surplus dealer for $40. It works flawlessly but I do miss my hour gauge. Have to admit I wasn't too sure how to get the right number of hours on the new gauge since it's only a clock type and not able to read the actual accumulated engine time.

Any thoughts on how you'll get an accurate number of hours on the new gauge?

212rowboat

I considered something similar.. I considered purchasing two new multi gauges in the 4" flavor and fabricating a new dash panel, and getting rid of all the faux wood grain in the cockpit.. but, that may end up an off-season project instead.. the wiring for such could possible turn into a nightmare, depending on the gauges selected..

I documented the hours at 149.1.. my hope is that the hour meter will be retained, but that is just a hope.. the face and bezel of this gauge is apparently out of production, which is the only reason I sent it in, and in hopes they can simply replace the board and diode.. again, that is likely just a hope, too..

I have an oscilloscope at work.. a nice one.. I'm thinking I can attempt to overdrive the leads to the meter, and if that doesn't work, just program the scope to 149.1 hours, and leave it running during the work week.. I don't get much chance to run the boat during the week, anyway.

212rowboat

TikiHut2

I'd even mount a small hour gauge at the engine just to know my run time but again, it's down on the priority list. Great idea running it on an O scope to set the time. This can't be a unique problem. I wonder if anyone here knows if there's any other way that it could be set.

I have about 220hrs on my engine so that's 9-10 days on the clock unless you can pull off some sort of Matrix time shift thing with that O scope. Mike

mvn

Drew,

Check this out.

http://faria-instruments.com/index-military.php

 

Oh and BTW, I thought the input to an hourmeter was a simple 12vdc signal.  Why a scope?  Just curious.

Mark

Babyboomer

Took me 3 or 4 weeks but I pulled mine out in the fall so I didn't care

212rowboat

Mark, I'll use the scopes timing feature which will allow me to hit it with12vdc for a specified amount of time.. in this case, hopefully 149.1 hours.. :-) .... I'm almost curious enough to know if it can be overdriven beyond the capacitor to speed up the process, but doing so I'd have to crack it open.. I was hoping to avoid that...

Four weeks?!?! Dang it.. oh well.. live and learn, I guess..

Serenity

Hello Everyone,

Last winter I sent my Tachs and clock back to Faria to repair. I was also concerned about the hour meters and sent the tachs with a letter. I received the tachs back with the correct hours on them and the gauges have been working for this being the second season. I also thought about new/different manufacturer gauges but was concerned about having to change the sensors and wiring. I am going to re-arrange my dash during the winter-I want to move the Raymarine up front and center and move the gauges. The Raymarine is on the lower left of the steering wheel and I have to bend over and to the side to see it. I have a 2005 320 Fiesta Vee. That is the thought anyway.

TonyWalker

This is what I came up with to solve the Chart Plotter location problem.  Works pretty good.  The manila folder is ugly but effective.  I believe Mike of Mikes342 did the same thing on his 06 342.

Tony

Salt Shaker 342

 

 

 

Serenity

Thank you Tony,

I am glad it is not just me. Your setup was what I was thinking of but you have the 342 and the area near your Raymarine is a little more than my 320. I am afraid I will always hit it.I was also thinking of making a wedge out of Star Board in order to tilt it to the right and up. Maybe I will start a thread to see if other RBOs have corrected the issue. If I was 5 foot high--it would work where it is but I am 6 foot 1 and always stand when piloting the boat. Thank you.

browncbr1

I recently had a good experience returning my tach to faria... I just told them the number on the back and that it was on the used boat I just bought and they just said send it back and they would repair or replace.. a couple of weeks, and I received a new one... They didn't charge me, but maybe that isn't very normal i guess.    They transferred my hour reading to the new one too... so that was cool..

MIKES342

I did the same thing and I was very happy with the results.  It can be adjusted if you are sitting or standing and is not in the way to access the center window.

Mikes342

212rowboat

Got a new gauge back today.. with proper hours... How bout dem apples? Seeing as how the boat hasn't ran due to rain, its a good situation. :-)