Waterproof Switches for Recreational Watercraft

 

We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about how you can’t kill our waterproof switches and how the navy, and commercial marine industries come to us for their most demanding and critical waterproof control sensing applications. But it turns out that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and folks in the recreational boating industry are saying “why not us too?”

Because our switches come in so many different mounting configurations, they’ve been used for panel mounted manual control, or completely submerged mechanically actuated position sensors on boats and watercraft for applications like:

• Engine start/stop, kill switches
• Horn and light activation switches
• Trim motor adjustment
• Bilge pump control
• Marine Crane Cable Limit Switches
• Flow control sensing on Bilge pumps
• Hatch open/closed detection. (J4 Plunger/Ball Switch)
• Jet Ski Power Controls and Kill switches

Again the common thread here is folks who want a quality solution to replace whatever poorly made, failed component was originally used to provide the cheapest possible switch solution. But “cheap” is just another kind of expensive when it comes waterproof switches that detect or control fail-safe conditions. Saavy boat owners and OEM’s know that this isn’t the place to save a couple of dollars at the expense of a system costing thousands to repair or replace.

A New Member of the CPI Recreational Boat League – Wake Wedges!

For Wakeboarders around the country a wake wedge has become a necessity for elevating the thrill and skill of riders in this sport. As the name suggests, the wedge is a metal flange that moves on a motor to various depths and angles below the stern of a wake boat. By setting the depth and angle of the wedge, a variety of heights and shapes of wake can be produced for different rides.

“Critical to wedge operation is sensing the position of the wedge in the water, to know when it’s fully extended or retracted” notes Pete Gagliardi, one of CPI’s waterproof application engineers. For this task a major manufacturer of wakeboats and related equipment, designed in the CPI E1008-503.

This assembly consists of both a mounting plate and our B-7154 normally open, high pushbutton and low force momentary switch. Both the switch and the leads are sealed in santoprene for 100% waterproofing (not just water resistant), and the panel is 100% stainless steel.

For this application clients developed a custom actuation system for our switch. By placing the assembly directly in the water with the “swing step” of the wake wedge, the switch is mechanically actuated when the wedge is at end of travel.

Since the application involves a wet, often submerged and pressurized environment, switch durability and true waterproof operation is a must. The CPI line of true-waterproof momentary switches is one of the only reliable choices in the world.

For your recreational marine vehicle application, please call us today.

This blog was originally published at https://www.cpi-nj.com/waterproof-switches-for-recreational-watercraft/