My first Tachometer

That's great you got one now! I have a Intelli Tach GloBee. It works great. It seems to be quite accurate!

I had a little hobby co one and that was great but I lost it

So far it's been a disappointment. Wouldn't register my engine. Good battery, sunny day.....

Sorry you're having trouble...just a note: My GloBee has a tough time "seeing" white props...if you're running black ones though, guess that's not the problem.

Kim wrote:Sorry you're having trouble...just a note: My GloBee has a tough time "seeing" white props...if you're running black ones though, guess that's not the problem.

Yep, black 6x3 Cox prop. would painting it some other color help? Can;t think of anything easier than black, though.

Nope...black is the best color ( I suppose). Did you get it new-with warranty?

Kim wrote:Nope...black is the best color ( I suppose). Did you get it new-with warranty?

Hey, something else...if you take it inside and point it at a florescent lamp, does it register anything?

Hi I think it should register 360.

Kim wrote:

Kim wrote:Nope...black is the best color ( I suppose). Did you get it new-with warranty?

Hey, something else...if you take it inside and point it at a florescent lamp, does it register anything?

Indra is right, registers 360. My electric motor registers 10,000 which is about right.

I bought it used, and the seller said it worked fine. Wish I had seen the Hobbico one earlier.

Maybe try it with an incandescent lamp shining through the blades. A halogen if you have one. Those filaments probably don't cool and reheat quickly enough with the AC cycle to register.

My Globee registers 3600 when pointed at a regular incandesent bulb,, which is correct.

One thing I did try is to use a little 60 lumens led flashlight pointed at the pickup eye on the Glowbee thru the spinning prop, with the eye of the Glowbee pointed at a black background. Black prop.

I have had enough of this piece of crap. Randomly decides not to turn on, especially when you have an engine running.

I'll try a Turnigy Mini.

Rant over.

RknRusty wrote:Maybe try it with an incandescent lamp shining through the blades. A halogen if you have one. Those filaments probably don't cool and reheat quickly enough with the AC cycle to register.

Just for the record, when I got my tach, I debunked that theory. Even my LED flashlight gave false readings. An incandescent(not LED) Mag Lite works great for indoor use if you turn off the nearest shop lights. And I wouldn't bother with a laser tach either because you have to put a sticker on the blade ruining the balance.

Tach fun! Wow, 28,600 PeeWee with a muffler! Yeah, I know.

Bob

You guys are scaring me. I need to buy an accurate one for the TD tach race. Anyone know of an accurate one that won't break the bank?

Ron

Yo Matt
Almost certainly there's a dud battery in it.
If you've got a local Maplin/Tandy/Radioshack or whatever they're called over there
buy a new Batt before coughing up for whole new unit.
The Turnigy's are fantastic (I've had 3/easy to loose/so small) but they are very easy
to leave switched on in error and because of where the power button is situated it's very
easy to knock it and switch it on/hence how I know how they 'operate' with a dud batt
in them.
They don't like direct sunlight or dim conditions if operating dim (at dusk say) stick a white
piece of paper/card behind engine/prop and it'll work perfectomundo.

Don't forget to select the correct No of prop blades.

dckrsn wrote:Tach fun! Wow, 28,600 PeeWee with a muffler! Yeah, I know.

Bob

Must be that "Ghost Prop"

John Goddard wrote:Yo Matt
Almost certainly there's a dud battery in it.
If you've got a local Maplin/Tandy/Radioshack or whatever they're called over there
buy a new Batt before coughing up for whole new unit.
The Turnigy's are fantastic (I've had 3/easy to loose/so small) but they are very easy
to leave switched on in error and because of where the power button is situated it's very
easy to knock it and switch it on/hence how I know how they 'operate' with a dud batt
in them.
They don't like direct sunlight or dim conditions if operating dim (at dusk say) stick a white
piece of paper/card behind engine/prop and it'll work perfectomundo.

Don't forget to select the correct No of prop blades.

I did, multiple times. It seemed to go through batteries rather quickly. I don't know what possessed me to pay $20 for it, probably lack of knowledge.

I got the TGY for 10 bucks. New, from a US member.

RknRusty wrote:

RknRusty wrote:Maybe try it with an incandescent lamp shining through the blades. A halogen if you have one. Those filaments probably don't cool and reheat quickly enough with the AC cycle to register.

Just for the record, when I got my tach, I debunked that theory. Even my LED flashlight gave false readings. An incandescent(not LED) Mag Lite works great for indoor use if you turn off the nearest shop lights. And I wouldn't bother with a laser tach either because you have to put a sticker on the blade ruining the balance.

Since I usually run my engines during the day, I rarely ever have any issues with light. When I was running them at night a long time ago, I used a 50 watt 12v bulb in a caged work light connected to a 12vdc boat battery. I just hung it up in the trees and it would light up the whole area that I was in.

I would guess that you get what you pay for. Ones with a tube encompassing the sensor cell will eliminate erroneous light sources. Good electronics is a necessity. I have only one tach, a TNC that I bought from the late Tony Chriscimagna. An updated version is available from Fromeco http://www.fromeco.org/products/05frctnc/default.aspx

But you ain't gonna get it for $20.00.

George

cribbs74 wrote:You guys are scaring me. I need to buy an accurate one for the TD tach race. Anyone know of an accurate one that won't break the bank?

Ron

Hey Ron, I would try a Turnigy Micro Tach. Up to 9 blades, holds the peak RPM, and reads 5 digits.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10783



Only problem is it ships from China, and could take up to 3 weeks to arrive. When mine comes, and if it works, I wouldn't mind lending it to you.

Matt

lol, jeez for 13 bucks shipped, what can you lose? I just ordered one! That close to what it would cost to replace all the button cells in the old tower/hobbico tach...

Glad I could help.