Troublesome EIM switchpads

ProConMan

ProConMan

Member
Jun 17, 2021
51
Chesapeake Bay
Boat Info
2003 Sea Ray 280DA w/ 5E Kohler
Engines
Twin 4.3L MPI w/ Alpha 1 Gen II Drives
Hi all,

After having trouble with my 280DA starboard switch pad and also not feeling like spending 4 grand to fix it, I am toying with the idea of just making a kit myself using traditional wiring and carlings. If I used my manufacturing contacts to have units produced at a lower cost, would anyone be interested?
 
ProConMan said:
Hi all,

After having trouble with my 280DA starboard switch pad and also not feeling like spending 4 grand to fix it, I am toying with the idea of just making a kit myself using traditional wiring and carlings. If I used my manufacturing contacts to have units produced at a lower cost, would anyone be interested?
Click to expand...

It would seem the price would be a big question. Someone here did a cost analysis of the FP product but don't remember the outcome, but it is not a cheap undertaking...
 
MonacoMike said:
It would seem the price would be a big question. Someone here did a cost analysis of the FP product but don't remember the outcome, but it is not a cheap undertaking...
Click to expand...

+1 and consider a lot of labor time to professionally build the harnesses if you are building a product for resale. If you are doing it for yourself and have the time at a zero cost basis it probably is much less expensive but the parts and cable will add up quickly.

-Kevin
 
Certainly if I was doing it myself I would count time at zero. However that said I do product and system design for a living so I have plenty of contacts for creating wire harnesses, doing assembly, laser cutting parts, injection molding, etc.

I'm probably going to do one for my boat by myself, I'll then evaluate how much a low vol. production would cost.

I also have a couple friends that could design a custom PCB for me for it, but I'm looking to see if an OTS relay breakout board will work first.
 
If you have those kind of resources, just replace the communication chips on your existing system. It's a 2-wire (probably RS-485) quasi CAN bus. That's what I'm going to try if/when mine ever goes down.
 
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JimG said:
If you have those kind of resources, just replace the communication chips on your existing system. It's a 2-wire (probably RS-485) quasi CAN bus. That's what I'm going to try if/when my ever goes down.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression it was a potted assembly and therefore to remove and replace you'd have to destroy it basically. Dunno I'll take a look. In addition then I'd have to get a CAN analyzer and interpret the signals, but now that I have a broken keypad, I cannot do that.

In addition any/all chips are usually only made for 10 years. So I could not likely replace the exact chip and that may require modifications. All this made me think converting to traditional would be easier.
 
ProConMan said:
I was under the impression it was a potted assembly and therefore to remove and replace you'd have to destroy it basically. Dunno I'll take a look. In addition then I'd have to get a CAN analyzer and interpret the signals, but now that I have a broken keypad, I cannot do that.

In addition any/all chips are usually only made for 10 years. So I could not likely replace the exact chip and that may require modifications. All this made me think converting to traditional would be easier.
Click to expand...

Or just replace with another PDS that can be sourced. The original CANBUS based system removed a lot of wiring and complexity to troubleshooting along with reducing the multiple points of potential failure. The only issue now is that since parts are scarce the replacement is expensive. In the past a failed panel was easy to purchase and swap out relatively inexpensive.

Blink Marine has a similar system however trials to date have yet to result in a fully compatible implementation. Sea Ray eventually stepped up to provide a replacement system but again it is expensive.

-Kevin
 
ProConMan said:
Searay offers new switchpads?
Click to expand...

Yes, but part of a full system retrofit.
New Keypad and EIMs.jpg

-Kevin
 
One of the other CSR members named pyro was trying to analyze the CAN signals to reverse engineer and repair the EIM and pads. It might be worth reaching out to him before you reverse engineer this thing
 
I had to replace both of my EIM switchpads a few years ago. I think at that time I paid around $300 for each one (at different times). In any case, I'd be interested to know what you come up with if you move to traditional switches. I've never liked these switchpads at all...
 
Does anyone know how much the searay OEM system replacement costs?

I ran this up the pole at work, we are considering building a system as a company, preferably we want to provide a system that allows drop in replacement of the original system parts, instead of doing a whole system install.
 
ColoSR said:
One of the other CSR members named pyro was trying to analyze the CAN signals to reverse engineer and repair the EIM and pads. It might be worth reaching out to him before you reverse engineer this thing
Click to expand...

Yes I have a working prototype of a keypad communicating back and forth to an EIM. I am quoting out my design to evaluate ROI. Initial tooling cost is very expensive for a reliable good looking product - prob more than you think, and is questionable with low volume. Plus the landscape is getting crowded, FP, Blink systems, Blink repairing existing units, boat owner's custom jobs, SeaRay manufacturing another batch, and others like you. More to come soon...
 
pyro said:
Yes I have a working prototype of a keypad communicating back and forth to an EIM. I am quoting out my design to evaluate ROI. Initial tooling cost is very expensive for a reliable good looking product - prob more than you think, and is questionable with low volume. Plus the landscape is getting crowded, FP, Blink systems, Blink repairing existing units, boat owner's custom jobs, SeaRay manufacturing another batch, and others like you. More to come soon...
Click to expand...

... and there in lies the problem. We ran through this process years ago running down the rabbit hole talking to many vendors and after Sea Ray and Flounder Pounder announced solutions we could not come up with a viable ROI to compete.

-Kevin
 
ProConMan said:
Hi all,

After having trouble with my 280DA starboard switch pad and also not feeling like spending 4 grand to fix it, I am toying with the idea of just making a kit myself using traditional wiring and carlings. If I used my manufacturing contacts to have units produced at a lower cost, would anyone be interested?
Click to expand...
I'd be interested. I'm thinking of building my own now
 
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