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Choosing the Right Hour Meter

What is an hour meter?

First, some basics. An hour meter, also called a time counter, is a device that records elapsed time. They are usually used to measure the runtime of equipment for maintenance purposes.

What types of hour meters are there?

Intermittent Hour Meters – Total Runtime

An intermittent hour meter measures total runtime for a machine by accumulating time when it’s energized and storing elapsed time when it’s not energized. They can be motor driven or electronic and are usually more expensive than continuous hour meters.

Intermittent hour meters are most commonly used for monitoring or metering applications such as monitoring municipal water supply or Life/Maintenance of pumps/motors, and factory equipment.

Examples include:

The Trumeter 3410 Series Electronic Timer

Continuous Hour Meters – Total Time

A continuous hour meter measures total elapsed time from the point the meter was started. They are usually designed to be low cost devices that work for many years of operation and use an electro-mechanical design.

Continuous hour meters are most commonly used to dictate service and maintenance timelines or to capture warranty information.

Examples include:

For an at-a-glance comparison between Trumeter’s extensive line of intermittent and continuous hour meters, check out our knowledge base article on choosing the right hour meter

The Trumeter 722 Series AC Hour Meter

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