What is the Scag part number of your new hourmeter?
On Turf Tigers with a basic engine with a carb, the hourmeter will start clocking time with the engine running and the PTO switch is in the on position.
Scag hourmeters although having different part numbers are the same meter but with different electrical configurations.
There are three male terminals on the bottom of the hourmeter. Depending on the part number, one of the terminals will have a plastic covering on it and on the other part number, this terminal will be exposed and another terminal will have the plastic covering on it. The 3rd terminal is the ground.
In the Turf Tiger, the hourmeter is wired to the PTO switch and will clock time only when the PTO is on.
In the Tiger Cub/Cat, the hourmeter is wired so it will clock time when the charging system voltage is above 13 VDC~.
Having had hourmeter problems with my 2007 Tiger Cub, I bought and installed an analog meter and wired it to clock time when the key switch is in the on position.
Scag hourmeters have a non replaceable internal battery that keeps the LCD display alive. When either the battery dies or the LCD display fails, then the meter is useless. Having had these problems with two Scag hourmeters, I opted to install an analog meter and wired it to clock time when the keyswitch was in the on position. The analog meter that I have fits into the rectangular hole that the Scag meter was in, just needed to drill two small holes for the screws that hold the meter in place, removed the female electrical terminals from the connector and installed them onto the analog meter with the correct polarity.
I did run the time up on the new meter to where I thought the machine time would be, this took about five weeks with the meter connected to a small 12 volt battery and a trickle charger.
