Are Rapair CDI switch boxes good?

[dstarok]

Are Rapair CDI switch boxes good? Anyone experienced with them? They look like they can be had for about 1/2 price of Mercury and have a 2 year warranty.
Thanks

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: Are Rapair CDI switch boxes good?

Everyone here on the forum swears by them.

 

[jpollman]

Re: Are Rapair CDI switch boxes good?

Are Rapair CDI switch boxes good? Anyone experienced with them? They look like they can be had for about 1/2 price of Mercury and have a 2 year warranty.
Thanks

I don't want to "bash" CDI but I'll just give you my limited experience with their product and let you decide for yourself. A few weeks ago I had a bad regulator/rectifier on my '92 90hp Merc so after looking around I too found that a new CDI regulator could be had for about 1/2 the cost of an OEM replacement so I ordered one. It came in and I installed it and figured I was good to go. The very next time I took the boat out I had the very same problem I'd started with. It was putting out almost 17V ! I took the boat right out of the water and headed home.

I spent a lot of time over several phone calls to both boatfix.com and CDI trying to figure out what was wrong. I was told by both of them that the regulator was fine and it was my battery causing the problem. Well I tried three different batteries and still had the same problem. I finally got them to agree that the regulator wasn't functioning and they agreed to take it back.

I then ordered a new OEM Merc. Red Stator Kit and regulator and installed them. Put the boat in the water and ran it for six hours without a problem. Sure I like to save money, but at this point I think I'm done with cheaper aftermarket repair parts for my outboard. It just isn't worth the hassle!

Good luck!

John

 

[NBE]

Re: Are Rapair CDI switch boxes good?

Opinions..........everyone has at least one.

I bought two from them in the past and never had a problem with either one. Both are still going strong today last I heard.

Like any other company and product, you can get a bad one but it is usually very rare that you do.

Lots of top techs here on this forum highly recommend them.

 

[andy6374]

Re: Are Rapair CDI switch boxes good?

CDI/Rapair ignition components are much better than OEM for OMC and Merc engines. The japanese know how to make electronics so with Yammy and so forth I'd stick with OEM.

 

[andy6374]

Re: Are Rapair CDI switch boxes good?

John-
I had your same dilemma. They told me it was probably my battery and that I needed a true lead acid battery with thick plates. At any rate what ended up fixing the problem was good solid soldered connections and making sure the heat sink was big enough and that the rect/reg was connected to the heat sink with plenty of dielectric grease. I never go above 14.2 volts now!

For the heat sink I used a 1/4" thick aluminum plate that was bigger by 1 1/2" on all sides of the rect/reg. This plate was then mounted to the block behind the flywheel.