Boating Education: CZone one-touch innovation

Embracing technology has always been central to Riviera’s philosophy that boating should be simple and pleasurable. In 2007 Riviera installed the first CZone system in the 43 Offshore Express, and so began the era of digital switching.

With 13 years of enhancements, CZone and Riviera today present a superior technology that has become indispensable in luxury motor yachts globally.

The CZone touchscreen very effectively replaces a complicated circuit breaker panel – that large panel which typically takes up space in the saloon. In its place, CZone’s low-profile touchscreen is sleek, intuitive and simple to use: a single press of a button will energise a motor yacht’s electrics at once.

This one-touch system works by combining multiple circuits and functions through a single mode selection.

Pre-programmed modes

One of the most attractive features of CZone is its pre-programmed modes. This one-touch mode system prepares all the motor yacht’s electrics for a set purpose: Cruising, Entertaining, Dock Unattended, Sleep Time and Service Mode.

In Cruising mode, for example, items relevant to being under way are automatically powered, such as the helm station, house lights, appliances and the freshwater pump. In Entertaining mode, the helm station is powered off, along with navigational equipment such as the radar and chart plotter, but appliances and lights are powered. Dimming the lights can also be managed through the touchscreen.

Sleep Time keeps 12V outlets and courtesy lights powered but turns off all entertainment devices to help conserve battery power overnight, while Service Mode switches the entire motor yacht off and ready for hauling out or maintenance works. Dock Unattended mode leaves only 24-hour items powered, such as the bilge pump, fridges, and in typical Riviera attention-to-detail-style, is programmed to leave the cockpit lights on for a few minutes to allow the crew time to get safely onto the dock in a well-lit environment.

A customised experience

The standard pre-programmed modes have been designed to provide owners with a comfortable and relaxed boating experience, which is at once mindful of power consumption and battery charge. The programmes are highly customisable to suit a yacht owner’s particular style of boating – whether that means having the cockpit coolbox and icemaker powered while under way, or keeping the helm powered while at anchor.

A Riviera dealer representative can customise the modes via a laptop without the need for hard rewiring. And a skipper’s most-used items and functions can also be accessed more easily by being listed in a Favourite menu.

Alarms too can be programmed to suit the more or less safety conscious, for example, Low Battery, Bilge Pump Operation, Circuit Over-Current or Low Water Tank Levels.

Monitoring and control

The CZone touch screen offers a yacht’s electrical status at a glance, and can be seen from any mode. Further, the ability to monitor the individual current consumption per circuit is effective for understanding battery usage and its conservation.

Controlling a yacht’s power source is also managed with CZone, giving a skipper the option to manually choose whether to use a diesel-powered generator or shore power. Alternatively, the system can be programmed to automatically select one or the other based on the real-time availability of either shore power or a generator.

Having complete oversight of a motor yacht’s electrics relies on easy access to CZone. For this reason, Riviera owners frequently opt to place a large touchscreen in the galley, a smaller one at the helm and occasionally another in the master stateroom – especially convenient for monitoring a boat’s battery status at night. Even more handy is the CZone app for iPad, which enables a skipper control and oversight from anywhere within the boat’s WiFi. So, whether it’s from the comfort of the foredeck sun lounger or the saloon or entertaining on the alfresco deck, using the Czone through a wireless iPad offers remote control of any function in the system as well as the ability to monitor house battery status, voltage and current usage.

Installation

The CZone touch screen is essentially an intuitive interface – output modules still exist, though now installed out of sight and allow for the manual override for individual circuits, important in the event of a particular circuit or component failure.

It is also worth noting that every CZone module making up the full installation retains the system’s program, not just one master component, meaning that in the event a component must be replaced, it will learn the program from the remaining modules.

This versatility is integral for Riviera as future owners may have different electrical requirements, expectations and experience.