Cruzpro instruments -- any experience?

creeble · #1 02-14-2010

I put my fist through the glass tach cover for my 4-108 a couple of days ago. It was sticky, and banging on the face always got it to get closer to working. Banged a little too hard

I could live without a tach; after 10 years I think I know where 2100 RPM is (it's got a Velvet-Drive, so 1:1). Then again, it's kinda nice to have.

All the other instruments "work", where "work" means they seem to indicate nominal operating temp / oil pressure / fuel level / charge amps, but they fog up quite nicely in colder weather and I have no alarms on anything. I have overheated twice because of this (fortunately, not for very long).

I'm considering replacing the whole panel with some Cruzpro digital gauges. Yes, I know what you're thinking, DIGITAL -- UGH! But hey, if my GPS, autopilot, depth, speed and all other gauges are digital and still work after 10 years, so should these.

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this Kiwi company. A new set of gauges would cost me about $500, plus building a new panel. But I could use them on another motor if I repower, or if I rebuild my 4-108. And *every* gauge has an alarm, which is nice. There are other little things that I could do with the new gauges, like making the ammeter use a house shunt and measure both charging current and battery draw. But mostly it's fixing the tach and getting alarms.

Anybody ever try these? I know the company's been around for a good 6-10 years because I've been pondering replacements for that long, but I hadn't broken anything yet...

Eric.

Stu Jackson · #2 02-15-2010

Sounds like a very good idea. One thing disturbs me: you mention the ammeter in the cockpit. This means that ALL of your boat's power has to go to the cockpit before it goes anywhere else. If it was my boat, even before you change your gauges, I strongly recommend that you replace the ammeter with a voltmeter. Why run all the power from charging sources all the way back to the cockpit panel, in usually small wires, and then back to the batteries, when charging? In Catalinas, for instance and many other boats, those ammeters were replaced in the early 90s by a new wiring harness which included a voltmeter. Those old wiring harnesses, besides wasting precious energy, were undersized for the current flow and presented a fire hazard because of the trailer type connections used at both the engine end and the panel end. Those of us who knew about it always cautioned new owners of older boats to do this upgrade. If you'd like more info, I can point you to some links.

Also, if all the new gauges have alarms, how would you tell the difference? One alarm should suffice, but if each comes with one, the more the merrier!

creeble · #3 02-17-2010

Thanks, Stu. But these days you use a house shunt at the battery and just a twisted pair coming from it to the ammeter. The twisted pair only carries about 50mv full-scale, and you size the shunt to your max draw/charge current.

Yes, each of these Cruzpro gauges has an alarm, and they flash their display when the alarm goes off.

I'm just wondering how good these things are -- I did read on another forum that a customer was fairly unhappy about this alternator regulator that they produced a few years ago, but I haven't read anything about their gauges.

Still haven't decided...