Hour meter for tubes

[jdandy]

Joe......The ENM elapsed time meter only uses battery power when it doesn't have power on its leads. The battery is rated for a minimum of five years without external power. These meters were not designed to be a resettable timer, but strictly an elapsed time counter. When I change power tubes in the future I will simply log the indicated elapsed time, and continue counting from there.

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by jdandy

I will simply log the indicated elapsed time, and continue counting from there.

Dan, thank you. That's what I thought. I was entertaining dusting off my Thor tube amp/preamp in the meantime and playing around.

[jdandy]

Joe.......The leads that come attached to the elapsed time meter are short (6"), so you will have to attach an AC cord to these leads long enough to get to your switched power source. I used a AC cord off an old box fan that stopped working. I used heat shrink to insulate the solder joints, and another length of heat shrink over the two small leads from the meter to the power cord.

[joeinid]

Thanks Dan. Excellent tips. I'll make that a weekend project.

[salmtpa]

ARC preamps come with a built in elapsed tube hour timer. Don't know about their power amps.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by salmtpa

ARC preamps come with a built in elapsed tube hour timer. Don't know about their power amps.

Sal.......That is one of the Audio Research preamp features I like. I don't know why McIntosh hasn't included it in the operating software yet.

[vintage_tube]

Just thought I'd bump this thread --- sure is a nifty gadget you can build yourself for less than $40. Can be used to track tube or system run time, new speaker burn in duration, etc.

Bob

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by vintage_tube

Just thought I'd bump this thread --- sure is a nifty gadget you can build yourself for less than $40. Can be used to track tube or system run time, new speaker burn in duration, etc.

Bob.......This may have been the hour meter project you were wanting to bump. This hour meter project uses a 12 volt meter and can be reset.

12 volt Hour Meter
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[vintage_tube]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Bob.......This may have been the hour meter project you were wanting to bump. This hour meter project uses a 12 volt meter and can be reset.

12 volt Hour Meter
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Yes sir, that's the one w/the pictures.

Thank you sir,

Bob