General Technologies TA100 SmarTach + : Digital Tachometer and Engine Analyzer - Manual (Page 4)

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3.3.4 Cylinders Increase and Decrease buttons
• Each time the ‘Cylinder Increase’ button is pressed, the number of cylinders
will be increased, and the selected number of cylinders will be shown on the
display.
• When the KV Adjust mode is activated, this button is used to increase the
Peak KVolt scale setting.
• Each time the ‘Cylinder Decrease’ button is pressed, the number of cylinders
will be decreased, and the selected number of cylinders will be shown on the
display.
• When the KV Adjust mode is activated, this button is used to decrease the
Peak KVolt scale setting.
3.4 Measurement Procedures
3.4.1 Tachometer function
3.4.1.1 Single cylinder RPM measurement
1- Turn the instrument on.
2- Select the number of cycles for the engine under measurement by pressing the
(Engine Cycles) button repeatedly until the display shows the correct setting.
3- Set the number of cylinders to “1”, by pressing the (Cylinder Increase) or
(Cylinder Decrease) buttons repeatedly until the display shows “1 Cylinder”.
4- If not already selected, press the (Function Select) button until the display shows
RPM.
5- Place the capacitive pickup over one of the spark plug wires (See Fig 3).
6- Read the RPM on the display.
3.4.1.2 Wireless RPM measurement
1- Turn the instrument on.
2- Select the number of cycles for the engine under measurement by pressing the
(Engine Cycles) button repeatedly until the display shows the correct setting.
3- Set the number of cylinders for the engine under measurement by repeatedly
pressing the (Cylinder Increase) or (Cylinder Decrease) buttons until the cor-
rect number of cylinders is displayed.
4- Select the tachometer function by repeatedly pressing the (Function Select) button
until the display shows RPM.
5- Position the capacitive pickup / flexible probe over the distributor, coil pack or a place
where all the spark plug wires run together (in order to receive signals from all the of
them at once).
6- Adjust the distance between the capacitive pickup/flexible antenna and distributor,
coil pack or the spark plug wires until display shows RPM reading.
Note: The optimal distance between the capacitive pickup/flexible probe and distributor,
coil pack or spark plug wires, will vary with each ignition system, spark plug wire
type and condition, etc., but in general a distance between 2” to 10” will produce
reliable readings.
3.4.2 Spark Plug Wire Peak Voltage Measurement
1- Turn the instrument on.
2- If not already selected, press the (Function Select) button to select the spark plug
wire peak voltage function (the display scale will shows “Peak KVolt”).
3- Place the capacitive pickup over one of the spark plug wires (as shown in Fig. 3).
4- Read the spark plug wire peak voltage on the display.
3.5 Additional functions
3.5.1 Maximum and Minimum functions
The TA100 holds the maximum and minimum values of the measurements for the function
currently selected.
• The maximum and minimum values are reset upon turning the TA100 power on,
changing function or by momentarily pressing the (Power On/Off and Reset)
button.
• For both, the tachometer (RPM) and spark plug wire peak voltage (Peak KVolt) functions,
the maximum and minimum values will be shown with the last digit rounded to 0.
3.5.2 KV Adjust function
The TA100 allows the user to adjust the scale used for spark plug wire peak voltage
measurements in order to match readings with other instruments (i.e. Ignition Scope).
To use the KV Adjust function:
1- Turn the instrument on.
2- To perform adjustments of the KV scale while performing actual measurements,
select the Peak KVolt function as described in ‘3.4.2 Spark Plug Wire Peak Voltage
Measurement’
.
Fig. 3 - Capacitive pickup on spark plug wire for single cylinder
RPM and spark plug wire peak voltage measurement.
Spark plug wire
Capacitive pickup
CAUTION
To avoid personal injuries and damage to the instrument carefully inspect the spark
plug wires, distributor cap, ignition coil and all other ignition system parts for damage
or leaks, and avoid using this instrument in case any damage or leaks are found. Never
touch the capacitive pickup or flexible probe during a test. Wear insulating gloves when
working around high voltage, and hot parts, and keep away from moving parts (fan, drive
belts, etc) and hot objects (exhaust manifold and pipes, muffler, catalytic converter, etc.)