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New Perfect Pass gauge issues


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I got the new multi-line perfect pass display and 6.5NG chip installed. Everything seemed to be fine.

Took the boat out a few weeks ago and drove about 100 feet down the lake and the gauge went blank. I pressed buttons and they beeped, but the screen was blank. I shut the motor off. Turned it back on and the gauge displayed fine for a minute, then blanked out again.

Called Perfect Pass and they immediately said, they have had an issue with a few gauges not being soldered correctly? and sent me a new gauge. I installed the replacement gauge and the same thing is happening.

When I installed the gauge, I made sure to place the wire from the new gauge as far away as possible from all other gauge wires to eliminate the possibility of electrical noise interfering. This made no difference. I have been on and off the phone with Tech support at PP over the last week and none of their suggestions have resolved the issue.

They had me:

re-ground the PP directly to the battery - did not help

remove servo cable from PP module - did not help

check cables to make sure there is no other cables near the PP gauge's cable - did not help

The last thing they want me to try is to cut power to the depth finder. Both the depth finder and PP are powered directly to the ignition switch. I plan to do this later today. If cutting power to the depth finder resolves the issue, how do I re-wire the depth finder to the ignition without interfering with the PP power? This is perplexing. I guess I need to wait and find out if cutting power to the depth finder even works before asking... :unsure:

I'm almost at the point of sending all this crap back to PP and putting my old gauge back in. I've spent way too much time under my dash in the form of a pretzel and am about sick of it.

Edited by areamike
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:unsure: I'll be very curious to see what you learn here. I'm expecting to find a package on my doorstep when I get home today that has the new gauge along with the StarGazer upgrade. Hope to install it this weekend, but we'll have to wait to see what the weather does. Right now looking pretty rainy. :cry:
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:unsure: I'll be very curious to see what you learn here. I'm expecting to find a package on my doorstep when I get home today that has the new gauge along with the StarGazer upgrade. Hope to install it this weekend, but we'll have to wait to see what the weather does. Right now looking pretty rainy. :cry:

One thing I have learned so far is that every single upgrade or modification I have ever made to my boat has NEVER gone smooth. EVER!!!!!!!!! :mad:

Even when I installed new stainless cup holders. One was so loose in the hole I had to wrap it in electrical tape to make it snug and keep it from rattling. :Doh:

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I had the same problem with my new PP Gauge. Fortunately for me the new one fixed the problem, but I do not have a depth finder. I have heard of the problem with the depth finder before, just can't remember which website I saw it on. I will do some searching to see if I can find the discussion.

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Put your old gauge back in so you can :footing: instead of :Frustrated: which will lead to :beer: !!!

I can agree with that. And to be honest. I have NEVER used the Perfect Pass since I have owned the boat. My boat holds speed very well with little user intervention. The only reason I upgraded was because I thought the old gauge was flaking out. It kind of was, but at least it worked.

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DONE!

New gauge is out. Old one is back in. I'm done troubleshooting. Got an RA# and will be sending the new stuff back. Oh well.

Like I said, I never used the PP anyway. Don't really know why I decided to upgrade to begin with. :unsure:

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Mike,

So the problem occurred right away?? As you know, I just upgraded to v6.5 chip and new gauge as well because my analog tach had died.

Been out two times since upgrade w/ no problem...but I still need to calibrate it (its off by 2 mph). I do have a depth finder, and tried to keep the PP cable away from it...as the directions instructed.

Edited by davemac
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DONE!

New gauge is out. Old one is back in. I'm done troubleshooting. Got an RA# and will be sending the new stuff back. Oh well.

Like I said, I never used the PP anyway. Don't really know why I decided to upgrade to begin with. :unsure:

Was getting ready to upgrade also. May make me rethink as my current pp works fine.

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Mike,

So the problem occurred right away?? As you know, I just upgraded to v6.5 chip and new gauge as well because my analog tach had died.

Been out two times since upgrade w/ no problem...but I still need to calibrate it (its off by 2 mph). I do have a depth finder, and tried to keep the PP cable away from it...as the directions instructed.

Yes the problem occurred right away. I too was very careful to keep the PP wires away from everything else. It made no difference. I never got a chance to calibrate the speed. IT would not stay on long enough for me to do so.

The analog tach with single line display is back in and it works JUST FINE. :)

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Yes the problem occurred right away. I too was very careful to keep the PP wires away from everything else. It made no difference. I never got a chance to calibrate the speed. IT would not stay on long enough for me to do so.

The analog tach with single line display is back in and it works JUST FINE. :)

So the Perfect Pass wires are supposed to be away from the other wires? My wire is zip tied to the rest of the wires under my dash.

I had to dig around a little because my Perfect Pass would come on, but none of the buttons worked. They sent me a new membrane switch, and when I went to replace it, I noticed one wire had become unsoldered from the circuit. I resoldered and everything works fine.

What is the downside to being ziptied to the rest of the wires? Everything seems to be working fine. I have PP Stargazer...

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So the Perfect Pass wires are supposed to be away from the other wires? My wire is zip tied to the rest of the wires under my dash.

I had to dig around a little because my Perfect Pass would come on, but none of the buttons worked. They sent me a new membrane switch, and when I went to replace it, I noticed one wire had become unsoldered from the circuit. I resoldered and everything works fine.

What is the downside to being ziptied to the rest of the wires? Everything seems to be working fine. I have PP Stargazer...

Yeah. My old gauge's wires were zip tied to everything else too and it never had any issues. Maybe I just got a couple of bag gauges sent to me. Regardless, I'm done messing with it. If I ever plan to upgrade again it will be to a regular analog tach and I'll tear the PP out of my boat.

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What is the downside to being ziptied to the rest of the wires? Everything seems to be working fine. I have PP Stargazer...

There was a Troubleshooting memo included w/ my instructions that indicated the PP may pick up interference from depth finders, and the wires should be kept separate if possible, to eliminate the potential problem. Not sure if the same even holds true for Stargazer.

The hardest part of my upgrade was that I had to carefully cut the 20 or so zip ties that were there.

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i had that same problem Mike, that is how i ended up with 2 gauges. you need to keep the wire from the pp module to the gauge away from the rest of the boat wiring (as much as possible anyway). That fixed the problem.

good luck

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i had that same problem Mike, that is how i ended up with 2 gauges. you need to keep the wire from the pp module to the gauge away from the rest of the boat wiring (as much as possible anyway). That fixed the problem.

good luck

I did. It didn't resolve the issue. The new gauge and chip is heading back to PP. Old gauge is back in. Problem solved.

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for anyone with v6.5 and single line display there is no need to 'upgrade' to the bigger display, its the same pull and program. just looks different.

IMO, save your pennies for a new boat with zero off. PP is dead. :(

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for anyone with v6.5 and single line display there is no need to 'upgrade' to the bigger display, its the same pull and program. just looks different.

IMO, save your pennies for a new boat with zero off. PP is dead. :(

I actually have the 6.4. But again, I never have really used it. In the end, I actually prefer a mechanical tach versus a digital one.

Edited by areamike
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My P.P. worked fine for the first year, then last year went blank. Tried new gauge but that didn't help. Based on P.P. recommendation I disconected the depth finder and everything has worked fine since then. Old depth finder just flashed all the time anyway so no big loss.

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