Clay Brod wrote: > I'm trying to use a tiny tach on a VW engine with a Bosch 009 distributor. The readings are erratic and unreliable. > Has any one else had problems and how can they be solved?
If it's not a -X, you may never get it to work right! The "X" means it has an internal filter. I tried everything (one was to shorten the red wire so that you only get three turns, which minimizes it's "antenna" effect), and eventually they sent me an X (and then billed me for it). If you didn't buy it direct from http://www.tinytach.com/tinytach/gasoline.php, you don't have an X. One thing you might try is to wrap the red wire (which is wrapped around a plug wire) with aluminum foil and ground the aluminum foil. I just grounded a wire under a screw, stripped the other end, wrapped it around the red wrap, and wrapped that with aluminum foil. That's what it finally took to make mine work, but even that wouldn't work until I got the X rather than the standard. I'd make somebody eat the thing if it was bought within the one-year warranty period. Wicks and AS&S need to learn to sell only the X, and even then, it's not a sure thing that it'll work, but they don't tell you it's iffy. What irritated me is that they are supposed to have a "five year" battery (AS&S claims 7 years, somehow), and it died after 3.5, never having seen a single rev, and living in the comfort of my temperature-controlled basement. They are not replaceable. I bought another one, and it wouldn't work, totally erratic, just like yours. I called Steve at Tiny Tach and he gave me all kinds of stuff to try, but none of it did, so eventually he said "I'll send you an X". I figured it was free, since the first one (actually the SECOND one) didn't work, but after it was installed I got a bill for $42. I sent the guy a check and explained that I didn't think it was right to have to buy three of the things to get ONE that worked, but I'd leave it to his conscience to decide whether or not to cash it. He cashed it. If I weren't stuck with a hole in my panel that's made especially for the Tiny Tach, I'd have sent it back to him and bought something reliable... Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama N56ML "at" hiwaay.net see KR2S project at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford
