Rugged Routes has come up with a great plug and play system that links directly into a Lowrance HDS or Elite Ti GPS unit. It simply connects to the N2K network just like a Point-1 Baja Antenna, and displays your CVT Belt Temperature right on the Lowrance GPS screen. The sensor is infrared so rather than measuring the ambient temperature of the entire housing it is measuring true belt temp giving you an accurate reading. This new easy to install infrared heat sensor is sold standalone. If you already have a Point-1 Antenna on your UTV, then you will just need to add an N2K ‘T’ Connector and extension cable. Otherwise, a N2K Starter Kit will be needed.


The tool that made our lives easy was the right angle drill which allowed us to easily drill the required hole in the belt housing. First we pulled off the belt housing cover. Then we just lined up the hole in the middle of the belt towards the secondary clutch and drilled a 3/8″ inch hole for the sensor to line up with.


The infrared temp sensor has a waterproof sticky mount on it that you just peel back, stick down in place & hold for 30 seconds. The adhesive is a high strength product by 3M. Optionally you can also use a couple of self-tapping screws with coarse, sharply angled threads which you can find at any hardware store. We screwed the sensor down, then put the outside housing back on and started threading the connector cable up through the cab of the UTV.


The great thing about the design of the UTV is the center console tunnel that runs right through the middle of the car allows you an easy path to run the connector cable to the font of the car. Once we got the cable through we connected the power harness to the Lowrance connector cable and started working on wiring the power. You can wire the power cable to a switch so you can turn it on and off, but we wanted ours to be on at all times when the car was on so we just wired it directly to the main bus bar. After we got power to the unit we turned on the Lowrance unit to get the unit to recognize the sensor.


One of the cool features about this unit is you can set the temperature scale and redline of the on screen gauge. When you hit redline, you know it’s time to slow down.


We can change how we see the belt temperature displayed between analog and digital numbers, right in the settings of our Lowrance gps.
You can move the readout around the screen to where you want it and scale it to your preference. Like I said earlier we have had this technology in off-road racing via the Motec system that most of the racers run nowadays. They have dozens of sensors that give racers info on everything from engine temps to tire pressure so they can predict when they are about to get a flat. They even have visual and audible alarms to help alert racers when there is a problem. Knowledge is power and this system allows you to ride more and avoid the hassle of changing belts.


This sensor is $197.00, so considering a new replacement belt is about $180.00 the math is easy to figure out here.


For more Information, visit: https://ruggedroutes.com/UTV-belt-te...-gauge-sensor- lowrance-off-road-gps