Updated My Gauge Panel

Here's a couple of pics of my new gauges. The Black Rhino gauges I had in there quit working, ironically, at almost the same time. They were ok, but I never was crazy about the 90 degree sweep resolution. 

This time I opted for a set of digital gauges. These are from a company called Glow Shift. They are not waterproof, but with a little silicone, they now are waterproof! LoL

I'll see about getting a better pic in the future, but you get the idea. They look really cool in person and are easy to read.





This is with the ignition off:







And here you see a pic with the ignition on:

looks good

Pretty cool looking seems like glow shift has some good products.

Nice. What size gauge fits those cut outs?

very nice...now i need new switches...lol

your out of gas.......

Show  us how they look after you go under water lol

nice setup, Chris!
what does your wife say about the pole dancer?

Denny, I am not sure that switch really activates a pole dancer, but maybe...

nice looking setup Chris.

Nice, mine went crazy after goin in some serious water, took a week to start workin right again. Think ill avoid the water from now on if possible

That's a real nice setup!!!

what about in day light can you see them ok or does the day light mess with seeing them

banchee6 wrote:

Show  us how they look after you go under water lol

 Why didn't you tell me these gauges were utter and complete

JUNK!!!

After one ride, they died. Eventhough I made a silicone sealed tomb around the backside and wiring, they died. There were fine out riding and riding in a lot of water. I'm not snorkeled so I can't go over the seat deep, but were were in the river all day making some serious splashes at high rates of speed. The gauges were fine all day. They died later after I washed it. JUNK!!!

I purchased a set of Autometer gauges. I am going to attempt to seal them up on the back side and the front side. I am guessing the Glow Shift gauges weren't sealed up on the front because there was no way any water could have got in the back side.

DO NOT BUY GLOW SHIFT GAUGES IF YOU RIDE IN WATER!
(or wash your Rhino... lol)

I need one dem thar switch panels and some neato switches..

dat thar switch panel is one of mah favorite mods

That looks good! Maybe if James does that , he will go faster and be able to catch up

ChrisH wrote:

........... After one ride, they died. Eventhough I made a silicone sealed tomb around the backside and wiring, they died. There were fine out riding and riding in a lot of water. I'm not snorkeled so I can't go over the seat deep, but were were in the river all day making some serious splashes at high rates of speed. The gauges were fine all day. They died later after I washed it. .........

Here is a thought: Use electrical grade RTV of the self-leveling viscosity (very runny), and seal every seam and opening (electrical terminals, etc.) on the gauge. The electrical grade is non-corrosive and will not harm any electrical stuff inside of the gauge (no vinegary acid smell). It will be ugly after you are done, especially if you have to seal the seam around the front window.

Now it will be sealed, but pressure will be able to build up (or down) inside of the case. This will likely cause it to suck in air (and water) at the smallest little gap that you missed when you cool it down after being warm (like when you blast cold water on it when washing). The fix here is to drill a small hole in the case and poke a very long length of small diameter hose ( 1/16" ID, or so, polyurethane is very good here) into that hole. The hose should be a snug fit so it stays in the hole when you tug it lightly. Put a gob of that RTV around the hose where it enters the case to ensure a good seal there.

By this time it has taken you a few days (to let each application cure half of a day, or so), as you have to work on each surface with it facing upward such that the goop does not run off. That makes this a good winter project, where you have nothing better to do........

When you mount the gauges, have those hoses hanging down a few feet below the level of the gauges. Water will have a very hard time working its way up and into the gauges unless perhaps the gauge is deep under water. In that case maybe you need to run the hose to the top of the roll cage and then loop it back down at least a few feet. They will keep your snorkels company on those dark and stormy nights......

Update on the gauge panel:

I took Steve's advice and attempted to seal up another set of gauges. I really took a gamble, too, because these 270* sweep Autometer gauges were not cheap! The great thing about the digital gauges was their resolution. You could easily tell, for example, what was going on with the electrical system. 1V or even 0.7V is a big change in the charging system. The 90* sweep gauges are difficult to tell what's going on. Likewise with the water temp. But the digital gauges didn't work well for my riding. One ride and they were toast. These 270* gauges have much better resolution as you can tell in the pic.

So to my door comes a set of Autometer UltraLite II gauges. I chose these because of their LED backlighting which actually projects through the numbers of the gauges vs the UltraLite I gauges that use incandescent perimeter lighting (light comes from around the gauge face).

I sealed the back side of the gauges completely: the mounting studs, wire harness, etc. I also took a steady hand and ran a bead of clear silicone around the glass face and the bezel. 

I don't have any in-progress pics because it was a mess of di-electric grease and silicone sealant. But here you can see the finished pic in the daytime:



I also replaced my switches. The rockers are the same, but I changed the actual switches for some different lighting backgrounds. These new switched have an upper and lower LED. The lower LED is red and illuminates when the switch is in the ON position. Therefore, the text "DOME LAMP" lights up red when the dome lamp is on. The upper LED is greed, kind of like the dash. This LED is wired independently, but shares a common ground with the lower LED. I wired the upper LED to come on when the headlights are switched on. I like this, because sometimes at night it is difficult to see where the switches are without turning on the dome lamp.

The Autometer gauge backlight turns on when the headlights are turned on, as well. 

I will get a pic of the dash after dark so that you can get a sense of how it looks at night.

Thanks for sharing,I now have plenty of good ideas.

Here are a few evening/nightime pics. You will have to excuse the dirty Rhino. I went out riding a few days ago, and I haven't had a chance to wash it. As I always preface my low-light photography... it sucks, lol! I am not that good at finding the right f-stop and iso and shutter speed. Things aways look so much cooler in real life.

Anyway, you get the pic [all puns intended]
 




Here's a pic of the whole dash layout. You can see how, once the switch is on, the text illuminates red:





Closeup shot of the panel in the dark:









Thanks for looking!

Nice!!! What you talking about that thing is clean! 

I wash mine then I see Chrises and I rewash mine.

Your Rhino dash is cleaner than my truck's!

I decided to do one last mod while I had the wires all pulled. I went ahead and put a fan override switch in. It's really weird to be able to force the fan on at will. My Rhino engages the fan at 210 or slightly under. If I switch the fan so that it does not turn off, it will cool the motor way down. Just messing around and cruising around my neighborhood this evening with the ambient temp in the upper 80s, I was able to take the water temp from 210 to 180 pretty easy. 

I've never had an overheat problem, heck I've never even got the stock over temp light to illuminate before I had gauges. This is just one of those mods I did because I could and it was cheap. All it really cost me was the price of the switch and a little 14 gauge wire. I already had a fused, switched 20A source from my Painless block. So why not? LoL!