PRODUCT REVIEW: FOZ 8050 Digital Tachometer

Based on years of experience selling their popular Viper 1180R digital tachometer, FOZ Racing recently announced a new digital tachometer – The FOZ 8050.

The FOZ 8050 is the perfect addition to your race car's dash. It delivers important information including RPMs, water temperature and battery voltage. It's 3 guages in one.

During the years we operated Speed Partz, one of our most popular selling products was the Viper 1180R digital tachometer – a product we developed for the motorcycle powered race car market.  We sold several hundred of these units for mini sprints, mod-lites, TQs and other scale race cars, in addition to other users on all forms of motorsports.  Late last year we began working on a new version of the product aimed at addressing the number one request of our Viper customers, a larger, easier to read display, explained Scott Fasse of FOZ Racing. (www.fozracing.com)

The FOZ 8050 is actually more than just a tachometer.  In addition to it ability to register up to 20,000 rpms, the unit also captures water temperature and battery voltage—and even has an open position for one more temperature reading.  Alerts can be set for RPMs (shift light), water temperature and battery voltage – providing racers a visual warning (flashing light) when the user programmed value is met (i.e. screen flashes red when programmed RPM range is met).  Data from the racer’s previous session can be viewed with the click of a button post session.  Although it is important to note that the FOZ 8050 is not a data logger.  This is important because it makes it legal for racing groups that don’t allow data loggers.  Finally, the unit allows the racer to easily choose between three different screen colors, orange, blue or classic black – making it easy to optimize the display for day or nighttime racing.

The FOZ 8050 provides one of the easiest to read displays available. The tachometer's screen measures 3.75 inches wide by 2.25 inches high.

Installation

Installing the FOZ 8050 is an easy task. The unit comes with its own mounting bracket, bolts and wiring harness.

For most applications, there are only 4 wires to connect:

1. Red Wire - The red wire should be connected directly to your master power switch.

2. Black Wire- The black wire is the ground wire and should be grounded directly to an unpainted metal surface on the engine or chassis. It is very important that you establish a good ground or the tachometer will not work. Do not hook to the master switch, coil or other ground wires.

3. Yellow Wire- The yellow wire picks up the RPM signal. We recommend identifying the wire on the engine/ECU that provides the signal and connecting the yellow wire to it. If the wire can’t be identi ed or doesn’t exist, the yellow wire can be wrapped around a plug wire. We recommend wrapping tightly around the plug wire 5-6 times and applying electrical tape around the wrapped wire. (the yellow wire should not be stripped when doing this).

4. Brown Wire- The brown wire is the units constant power supply. It allows to hold session data for extended periods. It should be connected directly to the battery.

5. Water Temperature Probe - The water temperature probe can either be placed inline with a radiator hose using an adapter, or screwed directly into the radiator if a bung is present. The inline water temperature adapter is available through the FOZ Racing website, or can be purchased from any of the big box racing retailers.

Configuration

Although the FOZ 8050 is basic and easy enough to use each racer will develop their own preferences on how they set-up the unit. Here are our recommendations for getting started with the unit.

Setting the unit up is easy.  Key functions are configured right on the units screen using two push-buttons on the front panel of the unit.

1. Configure the unit for maximum RPMs.  We recommend just going ahead and setting for maximum RPMs (20,000)

2. Configure the number of ignition pulses.  Most are 1, 2 or .5.  This information is commonly available for most engine models right on the internet.  If not, the instructions included with the unit will help you easily determine how to set the proper number of pulses.

3. Configure the Redline/Shift Light value.  This is the RPM value where the screen will flash.  This can either be used a flashlight or a visual indicator of redline or even a specific RPM value.  Fasse explained, “when I was racing, I would set the value to the RPMs I was hoping to hit at the end of the straightaway (oval dirt track racing).  Instead of having to focus on the RPM reading, I could see the unit flash and judge where I was on the straightaway to judge the appropriateness of my gearing.  There is a lot of flexibility in how this function is configured and used.”

4. Configure the value where you want the water temperature alert to flash.  Again this is a great way to not have to focus on the actual gauge, but know if you are too hot just from your peripheral vision.  Whether you choose to heed the warning is up to you…LOL.

5. Configure the voltage where you want the low battery voltage warning to come on.  While there is probably not much you can do about it while you are on the track, it might be nice to know since voltage can affect engine performance in some configurations.

6. Finally choose the screen color that suits your fancy or is easiest for you to read – choose from orange, blue or classic black.

Racer's can choose from three different screen backgrounds, classic black, bright blue or high intensity orange. These backgrounds make the unit easy to read day or night. Choosing between screen backgrounds is easily done with the click of a button.

That wraps the most important points of configuration to optimize what the unit can offer you.  Now it’s time to head out on the track.  If you wire the unit according to our instructions, it will automatically come on when you fire the engine. 

On the Track

As soon as your engine fires, the easy to read display comes to life providing you current RPMs, water temperature and current battery voltage readings.  As you drive the unit will flash the appropriate part of the screen when you reach a certain RPM level, water temperature level or battery voltage. For example if you had the RPM value set to flash at 12,500 RPMs, the screen on the unit flashes when 12,500 RPMs are met. If you had the water temperature value set to 210 degrees, the portion of the screen displaying water temperature flashes when the water temperature reaches 210 degrees.

Off Track

After you finish your session and pull into the pits, click the right button and you are provided with a single easy to read screen that tells you the five highest RPM values you reached during the session, the average high RPM for the session, and the highest water temperature registered for the session.  Pushing the left hand button allows you to reset all of these values so that you are ready for your next session.

The FOZ 8050 provides data from your last on track session at the click of a button. Information is available on a single screen. However, since the unit only holds the items displayed above for a single session, it is not considered a data logger making it legal for groups not allowing data loggers.

Although the unit only holds the data from your last session, there is a little trick that we have used to track the information collected.  Snap a picture of the screen with your phone.  Most phones automatically capture the date, time and location of the photo.  Go into the photo notes and add name of the track and any other relevant data you would like (track conditions, gearing, etc).  What’s cool is all of that information as well as the picture is now searchable.  Next time you are going to a track where you have run before, just search on the track name and data from your previous sessions can easily be reviewed.

The FOZ 8050 is currently available for $229 through the end of the year, however prices will be moving to $249 at the new year (sorry tariffs kicked in after the first shipment of units). The FOZ 8050 can be purchased online at www.fozracingc.om.