VDO catalogue

VDO Tachometers

A tachometer is only useful when its scale suits the engine. Diesel engines in trucks, tractors, gensets and boats normally sit on a 3 000 or 4 000 rpm dial, while petrol engines want 6 000 to 8 000 rpm, and the 10 000 rpm dials suit high-revving engines. The VDO tachometers listed here cover all of those spans across four ranges: Cockpit International in 52, 80 and 100 mm, Cockpit Vision in 52, 80 and 100 mm, SingleViu in 80 and 100 mm, and ViewLine in 85 and 110 mm.

Voltage matters on the older ranges. Cockpit International tachometers are built for either 12 V or 24 V, so a truck needs the 24 V part number, while the ViewLine and SingleViu tachometers listed as 12V/24V work on both. ViewLine also offers the tachourmeter, a tachometer with a built-in engine hour counter, which saves a second hole in the panel on plant and marine engines.

Before you order, confirm where the signal comes from. On most diesels it is the alternator W terminal, on older petrol engines the ignition coil, and on some engines an inductive sender at the flywheel. The gauge has to be set for the pulses per revolution that source gives, otherwise the needle reads double or half, which is almost always a setting fault and not a broken gauge.

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