Replacing Push Switches in 2001 Tige' 2100V Limited

[T75murph]

I have scoured the posts and have been unable to determine the appropriate steps forward for replacing the push switches with Rocker switches (type needed?) and how to wire to the system? the "terminal strip is shot" and cant be replaced. Does anyone have a list of the parts necessary and steps to follow to get my boat back on the water? I have reached out to Tige' and they have not been too helpful. Thanks

[IDBoating]

Need more info. What kind of push switches? Are they on-off alternating action? How many circuits (single or dual pole)? Are you trying to fit into the existing dash holes or are you willing to do a bit of surgery?

The more you tell us (pictures are a big plus, both front and back of switches) the more we can help!

[T75murph]

Thanks, I am attaching photos of the existing panel of switches. I would like to place Rockers in the existing panel holes.

IMG_3152.jpgIMG_3153.jpgIMG_3120.jpg

[IDBoating]

Hmm, some mysteries here.

The four wire connectors means some sort of encoding is going on. Also, that particular four pin connector is used for CAN networking. So those PCB's are probably putting those switches on the CAN network, right?

Except look at the silkscreening on the PCB's. The copyrights are 1999 - well before CAN networking was prevalent on boats. Nothing says they couldn't use CAN to connect up the peripheral stuff, but I think CAN started showing up on boats when marine engine ECU's started supporting it.

It's possible to multiplex four switches across four wires, but based on the pinouts of those switches I think they're up/down switches like car window switches. That means you need to communicate eight conditions (up/down on each of four switches). Just a lot of unknowns here.

[Peadad1]

Yours is a touch different from mine, so should be a bit easier. I used Carling V series switches that I already had with actuators from www.otrattw.net and chpthril. I made a plate to replace the push button mounting panel to install the Carling switches into. The individual breakers and fuses should be after the orange wires you have in the pictures, so all you would need to do is identify each wire's connected function and connect it to the load side of your switch. To provide the switches with power, I added three terminal studs since I've got a dual battery set up, so one positive cranking, one positive house, and a combined ground. The main functions I powered from the cranking battery (ignition switch, blower, bilge pump, nav/anchor lights), and the rest via the house battery.

This would be the quickest way to get you back to 100%. The only thing I don't particularly like is having the breakers and fuses after the switch (even though this is how the EMI box handled it). I may in the future spend the time to rewire everything through the breaker/fuse before the switch, this way if a breaker or fuse pops the switch will not light up when activated and give you a quicker idea of a problem or what might be wrong.

Pic of the switch plate:
IMAG1676.jpg

[IDBoating]

Did your switches have those printed circuit boards behind them? I can imagine wiring straight to the individual switches but then you're completely bypassing whatever is intended by that four-pin connector coming from each PCB.

I see the four-pin connectors from the switches, and I see the orange wires coming from the terminal block, but how do the two connect? When you replaced the OEM switches with the Carlingswitch units, did you just skip the whole PCB assemblies and wire the orange wires straight to the switch terminals? How does that compare to how the original four-pin connectors interacted with the orange wires?

Again... something isn't adding up here. Anxious to know the details.

[Peadad1]

In short, bypassed the entire EMI setup.

Your assumption that these switches were CAN based, or otherwise some other form of multiplexing is correct. The larger box with the orange wires is the controller/relay unit. Power comes in on the red wire as a common for all the circuits then the relays for each function are turned on based upon what the operator does with the push button switches. There are actually multiple states for some of the switches with the label back lighting changing color to indicate what has been selected (Nav/Anchor back light is normally off, then turns red with one push for anchor, and green for the second push for nav).

Yes, the orange wire for each function would just be run to the load side of the corresponding new rocker, and you now have a manual version of the previously 'smart' controlled system.

Mine was a bit different, it didn't have the large terminal block, and instead had one of the older AMP PT 9-pin connectors for the outputs. Also, my ignition input was jumped from the power to be 'on' all the time, and looked to have been this way stock. It would seem preferable to me that at least several of the functions would be available without having the key on (radio, pump, anchor lights, blower). Mine started to drop out which buttons or relays would work, and to keep running through the last summer before the switch I had to repin different functions to correspond to a working button.

[lee]

Shortly after the switches came out there was a retro fit to change over the rocker switches as the push buttons were failing.

[Ashields2209]

Hey all, wish I had seen this thread before I had to figure it out all on my own, but I just went through the same process. Tige was absolutely zero help, ("Call West Marine"), which is crazy since its not really that hard to do this install.

Another suggestion/different view on how to do this:

Materials (all can be bought off amazon) ~$120 if you already have the tools
- 8 Contura iii switches (could use others, but I liked these), I only used 6 and added a usb charging port and a battery voltmeter since I didn't have a shower. You'll want the SPST (single pole, single throw) switches, these just mean that they are on-off.
- 4 blue sea "end pieces" mounting brackets
- 4 blue sea "middle pieces" mounting brackets
- box of glarks electrical spade type connectors https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- Dremel
-Soldering iron
-Solder
-Wire Strippers/Cutters
- I also recommend buying two really cheap 5 pin prewired 4 or 8 switch system just so you can steal the piggyback wiring, the 5 pin systems usually are the light up ones you get from china for cheap on amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Look under the dash and locate your relay, as stated before. Your relay will have 9 orange wires going to a weird squarish looking plug. This plug/wires was originally the one that sent power to each of these 9 wires to turn things on - radio, bilge, etc. i.e the "load wire". The relay has a black and red power and ground wires as inputs that will no longer be connected to it once you remove it, obviously. DON'T THROW THE RELAY AWAY. You will need to plug that the 9 wires were connected to to make the installation easier.

Mark each of the 9 orange wires, and cut them halfway between the relay and the plug. You are going to strip the end of the wires on the plug outlets and hijack it so you don't have to rewire everything.

Take the plug with 9 loose wires on it (looks like a sentinel from the matrix), strip the wires, and solder electrical connectors on them (need to add some length to the wire as well) - you can buy these connectors, or hijack them from other prewired sets. The $20 is probably worth the time savings.

Alternatively, if you hate soldering, you could crimp the spade connectors on the loose wires then just put the opposite connector on a length of loose wire. On the other end of the extension wire, you will need to make sure to have a female spade connector, since this will be going to dash switch's "load" terminal.

Remove the old push switches, but not the whole dash piece. Take the Dremel and SLOWLY hollow out the old mounting parts. You are going to be putting 4 switch slots (2 end pieces and 2 center) on each side. If you accidentally Dremel out too much, the mounting brackets won't have a tight fit. You will also need to Dremel off a little bit off the corners of the mounting brackets to get the fit right. Once your brackets are inserted, mount the new switches in them by pushing.

Remember those positive and negative wires coming from the battery? You need to connect (I recommend soldering these) to the red and black piggy back wires that are the positive and negative wires on the newly mounted switches. The switches will have wiring diagram on the back. Its pretty simple - the positive of each switch needs to be connected somehow (recommend piggy backs) to the positive wire from the battery, same for the negative and black wire. Wrap these soldered battery connections with electrical tape so they don't short out. Wrap all solder connections with electrical tape if you haven't already.

You'll notice you have 3 pins on these switches. The load pin connects to the output wires from that square plug that you hijacked from the relay. When you switch the switch on, power will flow through the load wire to each of the items that were previously running through that switch. You'll have to do some trial and error as to which switch is which function. Red is radio, yellow is blower, brown is bilge I think, etc. etc.


Because you've lost some of the light up and multi-push functionality of the old system, you may find yourself with only 6 or 7 functional wires. In this case, you can put in usb chargers or a battery voltmeter in those final slots.
When you are done, your panel will look like this guy's.

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...Panel-Problems

My Cut relay:
IMG_1715.jpg


Voila! Your boat now has better looking and more robust switch systems than before! For much cheaper than the Tige factory replacement they ran out of a long time ago.