Adding Hour Meter to a Honda EU2200i Generator

Bradley Sturkie -

I like to camp a few times a year and one item I've never had was a portable generator. With everything happening in the world currently, what better time to sink some money into portable power. Out of the box, the Honda EU2200i does not come with an easy to use hour meter. Moreover, all maintenance schedules are predicated on hour intervals. What gives? Granted, it does have an LED indicator that will display hour ranges, but nothing in any detail. Being a new generator I wanted some more granularity for the hour reading moving forward. Enter the Hardline hour meter. This device works on all sorts of motors and is right at home working with the Honda. Here's what you will need to get started.

Tools

  • Phillips screwdriver
  • 8MM socket

Parts List

Now, let's get to installing. Take off the side and top maintenance covers. You only need a Phillips screwdriver on the side. The top maintenance door requires no tools.

...and the top cover

With the maintenance panels removed, we can get started. Remove the two 8MM bolts that hold part of the air intake assembly in place.

With those bolts out of the way, let's unbox our stuff.

The hour meter comes with a few items but we won't use the double-sided tape of the tiny screws. The stickers are a nice touch.

In order to mount the Hardline hour meter to the mounting plate, I used #8 1.5" machine screws with a nut. The setup looks like this:

Before I could mount the meter to the plate, I had to run and connect the wire. That process is straightforward as the wire snakes into the meter and then loops into a housing. Pull the slack firmly but not too hard.

After the wire is run, we can then snake it through the plate and then bolt down our meter. The result is shown below

...and the back (I had to trim the nuts with a hacksaw because they were too long. 3/4" is the right size!)

With the plate and meter now combined, I affixed the duo to back on to the generator, like so:

Next, I ran all the slack up behind the air boxes and towards the spark plug maintenance door.

This is a ton of slack for this application. Next, pop-off the spark plug boot as this makes it easier to wind the meter wire around the cable. Essentially, pull out any extra slack in the meter wire and make a few loops around the spark plug wire. I did about four loops and came up with the following:

As you can see, there is a ton of slack. Hardline says you can cut off this excess, so I did with this result:

Next, let's reattach the spark plug wire.

With everything all connected and tied, it's time to test. The hour meter displays tenths of hour, so six minutes. I ran a quick test and the meter works! It's hard to see but the meter incremented to "0.1" hours. Replace your panels and you're all set. Happy power generation!

Overall, this is a simple modification that adds a ton of usefulness. The meter should last for several years. Hardline states on their website that the battery should run for 10 years. Why Honda does not include this functionality out of the box is odd. While not super cheap, at over $40 for both parts, this mod is well worth the peace of mind year after year.