Installing a tacho in my mk 7 Minibus

[bazdriverbus99]

I operate a small taxi and minibus firm. I have bought a very low mileage 10 plate 17 seater RWD minibus to replace my 500,000 km 56 plate but it doesn't have a Tachograph fitted as it was owned by a school. I have a Siemens VDO from another Transit to fit. I also have the 2 aperture cowling for it to fit into on the dashboard. I will need to fit a tacho drive sensor in the side of the gearbox after removing a blanking plug I understand. I have read on another thread that the 2 plugs for the tacho are secured within the dash, near to the heater controls/pipes. Once i have fitted the tacho sensor do i need to purchase a cable to connect to another plug which goes to the tacho head? Also I have read on a thread that a fuse or switch has to be altered to give priority to the tacho drive? Alternately, if there are already detailed instructions on how to do this job I would be very grateful to see them. Any help would be very much appreciated.

[Wadey]

Iv not fitted on in a transit for ages and ages but I might be able to find out for you
I know it will need a permanent live and an ignition live I think the last I did I taped into the stereo for the feeds if you get the right leads you will only need to run the sender lead right to the head as it’s mot factory the rest of the van don’t need to know it’s there
Just make sure the battery is good in the vdo unit and what ever you do don’t take it out without the unit being plugged into a vehicle or power supply
If the battery goes flat the unit is dead and will be scrap
Also you if the mileage is higher on the vdo unit you can’t wind it back but you can wind it forward to match
Once it’s in you will need to get it all calibrated and sealed by a taco Center

[v8dave]

Check which bcm you have, electronic tachographs are only supported by B, C or D variants.
Get it fitted by an approved VDO agent as they can do the calibration properly.
There are legal restrictions in some countries on who can do the wiring and programming, check up on that.

[Wadey]

Check which bcm you have, electronic tachographs are only supported by B, C or D variants.
.

If he runs it as a stand alone system with a separate sender that won’t make a difference to the bcm will it??

[v8dave]

Check which bcm you have, electronic tachographs are only supported by B, C or D variants.
.

If he runs it as a stand alone system with a separate sender that won’t make a difference to the bcm will it??

Transits with those bcm variants apparently have the wiring to power the tacho already, but you still need the speed sensor and it's cable as that only connects to the tacho.

[Wadey]

Check which bcm you have, electronic tachographs are only supported by B, C or D variants.
.

If he runs it as a stand alone system with a separate sender that won’t make a difference to the bcm will it??

Transits with those bcm variants apparently have the wiring to power the tacho already, but you still need the speed sensor and it's cable as that only connects to the tacho.

Ah I get you now I was thinking it was wired for the speed sensor using canbus