Club Homepage Forums Classified Ads Buy & Sell - Everything But Airplanes Looking for a new tachometer

Happy new year everyone! I am looking for a new tachometer since my tachometer is showing 2000ish when the engine is off and showing 3500ish when i start the engine. My current one is a digital one. I am based in Pitt Meadows, BC, Canada and my mechanic said the gauge need to be sent to US to fix it. It is likely because of the moisture messing up the RPM gauge. After I waited for two months, they said it is all good to go. But today I was planning to fly with my instructor and realized the same problem exists. I am wondering how much would the new one cost. I would like to get another tachometer rather than sitting at home for another two months.

Please give me some advice. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you very much!

If you want to replace only the tach, your best and easiest move is to install a tach from Electronics International.

Several members have them and are well pleased.

Several engine monitors have tachs as well if you'd ever consider going that route.

This is the unit Jim is referring to: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/in/tachometers_ei/ei-digitalgraphic1.php

I have this in Woodstock and love it.

What digital tach do you have? Sounds like it may be another issue in the system. Alan

I was thinking the same thing.

This is the one that I have

Thank you for the recommendation. I will discuss this with my mechanic.

That is the R-1 built by Electronics International. I would call them and talk with a tech rep. They have an excellent customer service group. Make sure ALL the electrical connections are solid. This includes grounds and your P-leads. And the starter/Mag switch is good nd not faulty/

Yep, sounds like somethings up with the airplane, wiring, electrical noise, localized rf or emf, poor grounding, etc. E.I. stuff is pretty good from what I've seen. Installed their R-1 tach in several airplanes and never had one fail. Two of them have been in service 15+ years with no issues.

Check it out one step at a time and see if you can identify where the problem is.

Try pulling the tach and power it up on the workbench, see if it reads zero. If it does then connect it to your airplane's power without mounting it to the airframe. If it still reads zero then connect one of the leads from the mag switch, if that's fine then connect the other lead. Still reading zero? Then try mounting it in the panel.

Hopefully one of these steps will reveal where the 2000 rpm indication is coming from.

Thank you everyone's responses. The mechanics could not figure out the problem so they called the manufacturer. The manufacturer said they will send a new one to me.