Adding Northstar GPS/Autopilot to Smartcraft?

[roger275]

I have the tach/speedo gauges that display all the many Smartcraft data by scrolling the "mode" buttons but the data is hard to read.
I do not have GPS yet but understand the fuel efficiency data SC calculates will get better if I tie a GPS to the SC system via an NMEA bridge device.
I must add GPS and hope to also add autopilot so the dilemma is do I add a NMEA GPS (Garmin, Ray Marine, etc) which sends its data to SC. Or, add a Northstar GPS (since theirs are the only ones compatible with SC) with multifunction display that does a better job of displaying all the SC data.

I'd like to hear what others have done to add GPS / Autopilot and at the same time improve SC data readout.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Roger,

I can't comment on the Northstar as all I know is what I have read here on CSR. Do a search on DaveS's postings. He has done this and posted a great detailed how to. Ditto for Garmin, although I don't know any CSR posts that are enlightening as DaveS's.

On Raymarine, I do know and have done the modifications. For starters, Raymarine passes some data out via NMEA. It will integrate with SC to give you better fuel consumption data. But you will still have your display issues. For this reason I opted to add a System View SC5000 display in lieu of the Sc1000 tach and speedo (the kind you have). Unfortunately the 280 dashboard does not have a whole lot of space available for electronics. This required a dashboard re-design to accommodate the SC5000, that will be re-done this winter.

After two years with the SC 5000 I can tell you that I use the vessel Navigation family of display screens the most, and rely on the gauges for engine functions. The compass rose with waypoint marker, table with TTG, DTG, GTG, table with overall trip data, and table with fuel consumption data are the most useful.

The SC5000 frees up the screen space on the GPS/ chartplotter from displaying the same data. I would think seriously about whether it was a good idea to ties up a GPS chartplotter display with engine management data. This issue gets even more serious if you also add radar to the equation. The Northstar display of Sc data is cool, but I could forsee a number circumstances where life might be too complicated having too much important data on only one screen.

Henry

 

[Dave S]

Many of Northstar's Chartplotters have capabilities to use the Smartcraft Data via their propritary Smartcraft Interface cable. As far as I know, Northstar is the only company supplying this interface capability. NMEA is not iinvolved in the equation at all but there is a NMEA interface if you need it.

If you have read my previous posts on the subject, you can get a good idea of the capabilities of the 550 and what you can display on it. Since you have twin engines the 550 display may be a bit too small if you want to dsplay the smartcraft data for each engine. Everything is plug and play and involves connecting in to the cables that are plugged into the back of your instrument panel. You may want to PM member SKOLBE since he has a 320 with twin engines and did the interface to a larger Northstar 567 model. He can go over the details of the install and provide some insights on the 567 as well

As far as how you would tie all that in to an Autopilot system, I don't have a clue.