Z20 touchpad conversion

[Mcjenson]

I’ve been bellyaching about my touchpad controls for a while (on my second set), so I decided to go for a toggle switch install. Nearly $600 dollars in parts later, got it done. Figure hanging onto my boat for a while and fixing the only things I dislike is far cheaper than a new boat. Here’s a few pictures of the install.

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I currently have my touchpad controls disabled, but would be easy to wire them back in parallel if I ever sell the boat. In hindsight probably not the best location, I had to add the starboard spacer to clear the wiring.

feel free to ask any questions!

[1stindoor]

How did you disable the TouchPad? Just disconnected it?

[Mcjenson]

How did you disable the TouchPad? Just disconnected it?

I wired the switch legs from my new switch panel directly onto the outputs coming off the ecm. The touchpad still turns on / works, but the outputs aren’t hooked to it. If I wanted it’d be easy enough to parallel my touchpad outputs to my new switch panel outputs, but I don’t want rain honking my horn anymore

[wildkat7]

Is yours the digital touchscreen? I have a 2021 z21 with a digital touchscreen and I'm sure it'll become problematic in the future.

[Mcjenson]

Is yours the digital touchscreen? I have a 2021 z21 with a digital touchscreen and I'm sure it'll become problematic in the future.

Mine was regular touchscreen, not digital like the new z21.

[ZReel]

I've been wanting to get rid of mine and go to a key on my 06 929cdx, .

[Mcjenson]

I've been wanting to get rid of mine and go to a key on my 06 929cdx, .

It all depends on your knowledge base. I'm an electrician by trade, so that made things a bit easier. That said, I deal mainly with high voltage and relay schemes, so the automotive / boating style wiring was still a bit of a challenge.

The biggest thing I did that helped was buying a 12V probe. Using that I was able to identify circuits from the output wiring harness on my ECM. The biggest surprise to me was how few things were actually wired to the fuse block, most of the pumps / lights / horn etc have inline fuses for overload protecting. I did wire everything through circuit breakers on my switch panel, if I was doing it again I might skip that step. Also probably would've gone to a ten position switch panel and installed a few blank rockers just in case I wanted to add something later. The other thing I would've done is bought a different color wire for the switch legs to distinguish them from the 12V hot inputs and jumpers. Just would've looked cleaner.

Another option that probably would've been cleaner looking is completely removing the touchscreen, making a blank panel, and installing push button controls in that same area. Tough with the limited space, but do-able, especially if you add a few buttons over by the key switch.

[terribleTED]

Been wanting to do this to mine ever since the first time I tried using the touchpad with wet fingers. Are the red cylindrical parts in the 4th pic timers for the live well pumps?

[Mcjenson]

Been wanting to do this to mine ever since the first time I tried using the touchpad with wet fingers. Are the red cylindrical parts in the 4th pic timers for the live well pumps?

Yes, I bought 4 livewell timers. Unfortunately not adjustable in length, they are one minute on 3 minute off only. Typical cold weather I'll keep fill and recirc on timer, and hot weather I keep recirc on constant, so it will work fine for me. It was a significant portion of the installation cost, $200 in timers. You could probably figure out a way to use less timers, but I wanted near factory functionality.

[jimscia]

Going to do the same thing when my ecm fails