Counting The Hours
 

Ran across a short plug for this product in Michael Fremer's Analog Corner.

If you've ever wondered, as I have, how many hours you've put on your stylus, wonder no more.

https://www.stylustimer.com/

Shipping if free. Mine should arrive later this week.

I'm excited about this since I have very few hours on my new Soundsmith cartridge.

A great and cost-effective tool. I won't mention something digital next to my all analogue deck [emoji1787][emoji6]

I use a custom made ENM elapsed minute/hour timer, that is triggered on with my phono pre. This way, I never have to worry about turning it on or off etc. The meter is triggered on/off by a Niles CS-1 (current sensing device-outlet).

I’ll post a photo of it, when I get a chance.

Cool, I'd love to see photos of it.

So is it clocking up-time for the phono pre? Wouldn’t that overstate the hours of cartridge use if you warm up the pre, or leave it on when done?

Not really, since I don’t do either one. This configuration could easily just be triggered by the turntable.

That's probably the way I would do it. Would like to see the pics when you get a chance. I have a Niles switching device, but not the one your talking about. They make good quality devices.

Just an update: The StylusTimer came in yesterday. One AAA battery and it's up and running. Looks like it's going to do the job quite well. It doesn't count minutes, only hours. So for the first hour it looks like it's not doing anything. But it is.

I will get around to posting photos this weekend. Mine displays hours, and minutes and will never lose track of elapsed time. Nor can it be accidentally reset.

I've had the stylus timer for about 6 months, when it was released. It does work , but starting and stopping manually can be a pain. I've fallen asleep listening to vinyl several times late at night and the timer keeps ticking. (Tru-lift is a savior) For me, the best way is just leave my "played" albums in a separate pile as my others and keeping a spreadsheet updated.
I also built the timer in Dan's old thread for tube hours on my MC2301 amps.