Review: Centech Didgital Tach/Dwel Meter

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Pfranck331

Active member
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This is available at Harber Frieght. Price is $30.00 + tax.
I purchase this to monitor/set rpm while timing my 154 loboy, and verify point gap/dwell angle.
FAIL ON BOTH COUNTS.
After several attempts and repositioning the ct sensor and meter I was not able to obtain a stable repeatable measurement of either.
The Volt Ohm Amp functions seemed to work but I did not verify accuracy against my Fluke 86.
I did not open the k type thermocouple to test the thermometer before returning this for a refund.

My recommendation is : DON'T WAIST YOU TIME OR MONEY ON THIS. You might as well guess at rpm , and use your feeler gauge as you will still be guessing while staring at a nice large LED display with tHis.
There are better VOMs with thermometer out there in this price range, I only wanted this for the Tach / Dwell.
 
Digital multimeters don’t work well on old tractors. I suspect the same goes for this one. I use an old analog dwell meter on my Cubs and it works fine as well as an analog multimeter. The old ignition systems drive digital meters bonkers with interference.
 
It does not read dwell, but if you work on ignitions much, including magnetos I have an item that is great. It is not cheap though, just under $150 on Amazon. It is a GTS TA100 Smart Tach. it reads both rpm and spark voltage, and also displays high and low readings for each. It replaced an OTC 3141 that I go to close to the end of a spark plug wire and when the spark jumped to it the OTC failed and was not repairable. The same thing has happened with this unit, but it did not bother it. It reads spark voltage and RPM on 1-12 cylinder, 2, 4 cycle and DIS (wasted spark), but I have found the DIS setting to not be stable and just use the appropriate 2 or 4 cycle setting and divide by 2.
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Since the spark voltage is combined by a combination of condition of points, condenser, coil, rotor, cap, plug wires and spark plugs, including width of spark plug gap, I have combined it with an adjustable spark gap tester and an extra spark plug wire so I can control the spark gap to see if there is a problem and to help isolate where it is.
https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-20700-Coil ... ark+tester

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Outdoor, I used a mechanical Tach just like that one at work over 20 years ago.. Upgraded to a Photo Tach, much safer. Wish I had one now.

Denny, that was my conclusion as well , not shielded from rf caused by ignition,

John, that's a nice pice of equipment for sure, but I can't justify it atm.

Has anyone tried one of these Didgital Tach / hour meters? I have one similar to this on a motorcycle.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Utility-Digita ... 31&vxp=mtr
 
Do an e-bay search for non contact/ infra-red / photo tach, thre are some small, inexpensive one available that actually work pretty well. I picked up one a few years back and it works fine. About $30 if I remember right.
 
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