54greg

My meter has 3 hookups. A red and black clips and a white clip.

Black to ground, red to negative coil and...........?

wombvette

Red to battery positive, black to ground and white to negative side of the coil.

66BlkBB

Just a simple question and not trying to be a smart a$$. Why the white wire at all??? My tach/dwell meter only has the black and red leads. Works just fine and has for over 30 years. What is the white wire for?

wombvette

Every one that I have ever used has power leads and a signal. How else is it to read the RPM or the dwell.

Dave Tracy

Mine has just 2 wires and will read the dwell and tach

MikeM

There are both two wire and three wire tach/dwell meters. I'm not sure but I think the two wire meters are later design circuitry and pick up their power off the ignition side of the coil.

Pilot Dan

Exactly!

1snake

I have two of them just like yours. Both are over 30 years old and still work perfectly. Never seen a 3 wire one. That would have me confused as well. I'd probably have to break out the instructions.

Jim

John BX NY

It's good to have more than one dwell meter since sometimes they are inaccurate. I got my last one a Sun at a garage sale for $5....

wombvette

OK, so I haven't bought one in over 40 years. Haven't paid any attention to the new ones.

JohnZ

I bought mine 45 years ago, and it has two wires - one to ground, the other to the coil (-); they don't make them like this any more - chrome die-cast housing, and glass lens on the meter.

plaidside

Some analog meters back then were multi-function, tach, dwell, volts and ohms. So you needed the extra lead to read battery volts or resistance.
Joe

wombvette

Yep, Thats the kind I have. You can check voltage and check point resistance.

MikeM

Well, I've learned something here. I have two meters. Both have two leads coming out of the handle. One of them is a tach/dwell meter and it works fine. The other is a "Milton 1212" brand meter and you can check point resistance and voltage. That is, if the meter would work and it doesn't.

Looking a little closer, it looks like there is a hole in the handle for another lead to come out and it's missing!

Never thought about this until now.

54greg

Thanks all

Wombvette- thank you