Lumitec Lighting Install

pyro

Active Member
Dec 4, 2018
287
CT, Long Island Sound
Boat Info
2008 Sundancer 290
Engines
Twin 5.0L MPI Bravo III
Kohler 5ecd
Planning to share my lighting upgrade installation. First the plan:

2008 290 Sundancer
- Replace 2 arch and 3 cockpit lights with Lumitec RGB Mirage
- Add 3 underwater Seablaze X2 Blue/White
- Control all with Lumitec Poco system in series with Sundancer EIM system
- Add some various RGB strip lighting with Lumitec RGB C4 expansion module
- Add swim platform accent lights

This boat has a CAN bus controlled EIM relay system. I want to keep the helm controls as is. But after the EIM relay add in the POCO so that the POCO can send the high frequency power line instructions and control the colors if wanted via Bluetooth, TCP/IP, NMEA, etc. In other words you can think of two switches wired in series: the EIM and Poco. Both need to be on to turn on. The key here is to setup Poco such that it turns on only certain channels on power up. Therefore when you press the helm switch the corresponding light will turn on. It took a long time to figure out if this is truly possible. In fact Lumitec customer service wasn't even sure. My prelimary tests show it is possible to configure. Hoping for no surprises when it's all installed.

To access the EIM wiring I choose to build a breakout harness and connect in series with
boat harness and the EIM itself. This is a massive 40 pin 20 Amp connector from Deutsch (TE). Attached is the planned wiring diagram. Here is a picture of it
PXL_20210323_023400430.jpg


The poco normally comes with just 12 pigtail wires, so I added this 12 pin Deutsch DT series connector. It's a really nice easy to use connector. Next I could have hacked away some of the massive boat factory harness in 2" split wire loom and attempted to access the 4 wires needed. But I instead went this route such that it can theoretically be unplugged and the boat can be restored back to it's original. That means I needed to jump through about 36 wires. It also is simpler said than done. It took me prob 30 minutes just to unscrew the allen key connector to remove this connector due to impossible access.

Not shown here is a few additional wires that will plug in from the front EIM for the arch lights and a new wire for transom accent lights. These will get added to the 12 pin connector when fitted in the boat.

Here's hoping I don't blow up anything! Assuming the boat still works after I plug this in, I'll be cutting in my underwater lights soon. Planning to oversize the holes, including the 3 mounting screw holes, then filling with MarineTex (thickened epoxy). Then re-drilling the correct size. A lot of extra work, but this ensures that if these things were ever to leak I don't destroy the wood transom.
 

Attachments

  • Lighting_Breakout_Cable.pdf
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Well I can see I don't have to ask what you do for a living, very nicely done.
 
Indeed my background is electrical engineering of computer systems. I have previously requested any old/damaged EIM or more importantly the keypads as I have a CAN analyzer and can likely reverse engineer the objects/commands so they can easily be recreated by modern electronics. If anyone has anything they would let me borrow, PM me. I thought about tapping a wire off my harness to hook up to the analyzer, but it's not worth the slight risk of a working system.
 
A little more progress on installation. First harness installed in line with factory harness going to rear EIM. Length was a little longer than needed, but better than short especially since the factory harness and connector does not want to bend.
eim_wired.jpg


Then to get into the front EIM, I tapped into the connector connecting into the arch.
arch_lights_tapped.jpg


POCO installed to the engine compartment ceiling.
poco_installed.jpg


Next to mount the lights on the transom. I choose to oversize the drill holes and fill in with MarineTex. So 1/2" center went to 3/4", and the #10 screws went to 3/8". This was to protect the inner plywood layers so they would never rot if these leaked. Surprised to find that the two outer lights were solid fiberglass, so I did not oversize the screw holes.
initial_drilled.jpg


I then filled a large syringe with MarineTex and filled from the back of the hole outwards, taping it off.
epoxy_taped.jpg


Final installation
stern_installed.jpg


Connecting the interior wiring now, and should have them turned on in a few days. I am repurposing the "compartment" switch for new underwater lights. The actual compartment light will be connected to bilge lights. So I did have to pick out this wire from the harness behind the engines and cut it. Probably the least professional part of the whole installation!
 

Attachments

  • arch_lights_tapped.jpg
    arch_lights_tapped.jpg
    123.9 KB · Views: 309
Wayyyyy over my head. What’s the point of all the extra wiring?
 
So yea...maybe I went a bit overboard with this project...

Lumitec Mirage Spectrum
PXL_20210415_013050528.jpg


Can control arch and cockpit lights seperately, including colors.
PXL_20210410_001329977.jpg


Controlled by app or soon to be integrated into MFD
Screenshot_20210407-215403.jpg


Screenshot_20210407-215320.jpg


And finally Seablaze X2 blue/white which seems a bit much out of the water :) Picture doesn't do it justice.
PXL_20210414_011945137.jpg


Next will install a few RGB tape light accents. I prob should stop, but already bought the Poco extension module so why stop now. I really like the fact that I can control the lights from the helm keypads and then fine tune either brightness or colors via app/MFD. And the dimming capability is crucial since at least the cockpit lights are very harsh.

Next I'll post some info on the Poco system config which I'm not done with, current measurements and soon in water pics.
 
Holy crap. This is so money. I have a bunch of Lumitec stuff on the boat, but limited the install to the switching options that they have available.

I have a whole house full of Philips Hue stuff with the HT system triggering bulbs and light strips through their Sync box, but don't have the skills/knowledge to do what you did on the boat. I may need to expand my knowledge here.
 
Finally getting around to posting a few pictures. Raymarine finally got some Axiom+ 12 in stock so I was able to install that and connect POCO to the MFD. It looks identical to the phone app.

I still need to play around with the POCO app configuration a little more, so more to come eventually. But the good news is, I can now confirm that it is indeed possible to configure POCO for a power on initial configuration.

PXL_20210731_012025184.jpg


PXL_20210606_023003286.jpg


PXL_20210706_010206165.jpg


PXL_20210729_015748520.jpg
 
Wow! Great work and great planning. I was just looking into exactly this system and thinking about doing the same on my 280DA and you've already done the lifting on the schematics. Would you be able to share the PN's for the connectors you used so I can make my own harness and did you need to buy a special crimping tool for the pins?
 
Just realized the PN's are in the schematic. Silly me! Ordered all the parts to do a similar install except I'll be hooking the underwater lights into pin 1 so they can be turned on by the aft accy button instead of the light compartment button. Also pin 21 is accy 2 per my boats schematic and pin 1 is aft accy but I suppose mine might be slightly different.
 
Just received all my wire, connectors, crimpers, and parts. Cant wait to bust this out after work!

I'm also changing the cabin stair step light to a halo, adding 2 halo transom lights, and then will RGB strip light out the cabin. Planning on hooking all new circuits to unused accy buttons on the boat and may tie into the fwd EIM harness as well to do so.
 
haha, you might realize it takes way longer to create this harness than you expect. Then, twice that time to get the old connector out of the EIM - at least in my boat. Will have a few more tweaks over this winter to share. And need to get some pics of the Helm with the Poco app on the MFD. But I still find myself preferring to reach for the phone and connect to it using Bluetooth. Maybe with a 2nd screen I would use it more. I'll let you know next year :D
 
Has anyone successfully integrated the Poco system with other lumitech lights on the vessel that's currently controller by a rocker switch? More specifically a 3 way switch?
 
OP, why did you opt for turning the poco on/off instead of using the s8 module? Is there a ‘boot-up’ delay in the time you flip the switch to when the poco turns the lights on?
 

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