Inexpensive handheld tach?

[dentheman]

I am looking for an inexpensive hendheld tach just to check the idle speed on my V-twin. I found a cheap volt/tach/dwell meter that has alligator clips, but it is for 4/6/8 cylinders, so I don't know if it would work on two cylinders. And where would the clips connect to? I haven't worked on a car engine since the 70's, and never on a motorcycle engine, so I am confused by the different 'modern' handheld tachs shown on-line.

Any suggestions?

[cayuse]

just a guess but if you set it for 4 cylinders you will get a reading that is 1/2 of your actual RPM.

[Water Warrior 2]

Maybe one clip to a good ground(battery is best) and the other clip on the spark plug wire. Just guessing but it does seem logical.

[dentheman]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

Maybe one clip to a good ground(battery is best) and the other clip on the spark plug wire. Just guessing but it does seem logical.

I was thinking either that or one clip to the end of the spark plug wire and the other to the plug itself. What I would like would be a digital readout tach that measures rpm through inductance from a plug wire. I don't know if there is such a thing, but it seems to me that there should be.

The one I am looking at is on Amazon and is an old school analog device, for about $24, it is ASIN: B00062YUUS. I will continue researching, and if I find one that I like I will mention it here in case others are looking for the same.

[5th_bike]

Originally Posted by dentheman

I was thinking either that or one clip to the end of the spark plug wire and the other to the plug itself.

No, I think one clip goes to the non-spark plug side of the coil (under the tank) and the other one to ground. But I could be wrong.

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by 5th_bike

No, I think one clip goes to the non-spark plug side of the coil (under the tank) and the other one to ground. But I could be wrong.

That makes more sense.