bravo 3 smart craft trim sensors question

[billdorn]

I just bought a 2003 amberjack 290 with 5.0 mpi's with bravo 3's

there is no trim gauge. its supposed to go through the smart craft i guess. first thing i did is upgrade to vessel view.

However, the trim does not work on the smartcraft. after investigating i determined that each has only 2 wire analog senders on it. but i thought smart craft is supposed to have a 3 wire sender on port side (not sure what goes on starboard side). and 1 sender on each out drive is not even hooked up to anything. 1 motor is newer of 2007 vintage and i found 3 wires, 2 say analog, 1 says digital trim. the 2 analog are hooked up and 1 digital is not. Im guessing thats hooked up wrong anyways.

im guessing somebody serviced the outdrives and didnt understand modern technology.

could somebody help me understand what im supposed to do?

Bill

 

[jason78]

With few exceptions, Sea Ray did not start factory equipping boats with Smart Craft gauges until the 2004 model year. Even though your 5.0MPI engines are Smartcraft capable, it was probably rigged at the factory for analog gauges. I would assume based on your description, that is the root of your problem. When you say you upgraded to Vessel View, not sure what you replaced in the process. It is possible a previous owner did a Smartcraft "add on" rather than a full conversion, maybe because they did not know how and started disconnecting things.

A few here have done successful complete smartctaft conversions on 2002 and 2003 boats so they can better tell you what you will need to do.

 

[jason78]

Also, something else that just crossed my mind. Not all the early small block engine ECMs were compatible with VesselView. You may end up with a problem there as well. Did you call Mercury with your engine serial numbers to verify they were compatible with VV? If not you may want to check on that.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Bill,

I've done a complete conversion to our 02 DA. Your boat would have been built with Sea Ray's proprietary "Next Gen" analog gauges. It definitely would not have been built with a system view display. Since you are missing a trim gauge that suggests the dash was modified to fit the SV display. To get a System View on our dash I had to fabricate an entirely new panel from teak veneers.

To figure out your trim issue we need to understand what has been done to this boat. So first thing is photos of the dash showing the gauges, then an inventory of what gauge works and what does not. Matching that we need a cross reference with what shows up on your vessel view. For example do you have fuel on both gauges and vv? Engine temps, oil pressure etc.

Sea Ray apparently did not implement SmartCraft until 2004 because Mercury did not have the entire engine product line SC ready. We were lucky our 496 was designed from the ground up to be SC. What worries me is that your remaining 03 engine may not have been SC. I am guessing the conversion was done to your boat when the 07 engine was installed. The big question will be just how comprehensive it was.


Henry


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[billdorn]

double post

 

[billdorn]

I'm pretty sure its a stock set up. i just googled amberjack 2003 290 smart craft and they all have it on the ones for sell. plus the 2003 brochure says its standard equipment. apparently the Amberjack got special treatment

All I did is unplug the system view and plug in the vessel view. everything works the same. just my screen is better and bigger. fuel, water psi, oil pressure, etc. only thing doesnt show is trim. i assume its meant to work from the factory.

one engine is a 2007, with new wiring harness, but the other engine was just a new block with original ecm and wiring harness from 2003. everything about the smartcraft works perfectly and looks professionally wired and from searay. only thing in there that is messy is all the new gps and fish finder stuff thats been changed.

 

[jason78]

I'm pretty sure its a stock set up. i just googled amber jack 2003 290 smart craft and they all have it on the ones for sell. plus the 2003 brochure says its standard equipment. apparently the Amberjack got special treatment

Or was a gunea pig. Just kidding. Remember I said "few exceptions". This may be one.

The parts manual shows a revision date of 2/23/04 so it is possible your 2003 MY boat was produced in late 03 or early 04. Does not really matter but I agree it could be a factory setup.

FYI- There could still be a compatibility issue with your ECMs and VesselView. The 496 Big Blocks have a PCM (same purpose different design and name) which [apparently] were all compatible with VV. The Small Block ECMs, not so much. I spoke with a Merc tech (at Mercury) a couple years ago and asked if my ECMs were VV compatible and was told they were but had they been earlier than 05 they would not have been. Not trying to tell you one way or another but I highly advise you call them to find out because if they are in fact, not compatible with the VV you have installed, it could cause all kinds of problems. This is a free 10 minute phone call to Mercury. Have your serial numbers ready.

All of the ECM/PCM555 engines are Smartcraft "capable" but there was apparently something about Vessel View that had limitations with the early ECM555 Small Block engines.

Back to the original question, I will take a look at my rigging this weekend and let you know what I see.

 

[paulswagelock]

I have a newer Mercruiser (2007) setup with the Smartcraft gauges. My trim gauge and display have been erratic. I called Mercury to figure out what sensor I would need - 2 wire or 3 wire.

The 3 wire trim sender/trim limit combination is strictly used on the digital drive system (ie - has DTS drive by wire controls). If you have cable based throttle and gear controls, then you would use the traditional analog trim sendor - 2 wire. It makes it way to the ECM which serves it up digitally to the Smartcraft system.

So on mine, the 2 wires plug in to the ones labled "digital trim" in the engine bay, even though it is an analog sender.

 

[Henry Boyd]

I have a newer Mercruiser (2007) setup with the Smartcraft gauges. My trim gauge and display have been erratic. I called Mercury to figure out what sensor I would need - 2 wire or 3 wire.

The 3 wire trim sender/trim limit combination is strictly used on the digital drive system (ie - has DTS drive by wire controls). If you have cable based throttle and gear controls, then you would use the traditional analog trim sendor - 2 wire. It makes it way to the ECM which serves it up digitally to the Smartcraft system.

So on mine, the 2 wires plug in to the ones labled "digital trim" in the engine bay, even though it is an analog sender.

Paul,

That is not quite correct. The two wire sender that works with Smartcraft is also a digital item. The sender is located in the port side puck that is mounted to the gimbal ring assembly. The starboard side puck is just a cover. That's why it plugs into "digital trim" on the engine harness.

The original analog sending unit was comprised of two working pucks. The port side measured the drive angle and the starboard side acted to limit the amount of travel. With the SC controlling the travel limit, the starboard side function was eliminated.

Henry

 

[paulswagelock]

Paul,

That is not quite correct. The two wire sender that works with Smartcraft is also a digital item. The sender is located in the port side puck that is mounted to the gimbal ring assembly. The starboard side puck is just a cover. That's why it plugs into "digital trim" on the engine harness.

The original analog sending unit was comprised of two working pucks. The port side measured the drive angle and the starboard side acted to limit the amount of travel. With the SC controlling the travel limit, the starboard side function was eliminated.

Henry

Henry,
What you wrote is what I was told by everyone. Then I spoke to the Mercury factory folks at the 800 number last week and he told me what I posted above. I have digital Smartcraft gauges, no analog ones, but I am certain I have the two pucks, port for the limit, and position on the starboard. I didn't believe the factory technician, so I actually pulled my boat over the weekend to look - yep he was right.

 

[MancaveII]

Subscribed - I have limit sensors on both engines and trim sensors on both engines. Limit on Port side and Trim on the Starboard.

My understanding is there is a calibration process to get them to actually register correctly.

 

[paulswagelock]

Subscribed - I have limit sensors on both engines and trim sensors on both engines. Limit on Port side and Trim on the Starboard.

My understanding is there is a calibration process to get them to actually register correctly.

Correct. If analog only, they both rotate to calibrate. If smartcraft gauges, you use the trim calibrate in the cal1 menu in the gauge for position calibration. In both cases, you rotate the port one to set the trim limit. It is based on your drive. Bravo3 is 21.75" pin to pin on the rams.

 

[MancaveII]

I have the vessel view 7 installed and the 4 in 1 dash gauges that I believe get there data from the "smartcraft" module of the vessel view. Mine just show in the complete down position and I haven't really found the service manual instructions to actually do the calibration. I know it's something like rotating the trim sensor to achieve some ohm rating when in the down position? I haven't touched either of the trim limit sensors, but I did move the trim sensors back to what appeared to be previous impressions of the set screws and no change...just a high limit chk error for the trim, but no gauge movement. Sense I really keep the drives down with maybe a bump or two on the switches when I on plane, I haven't really fussed with it much. I have a feeling someone that has done it can fix this in about ten minutes

 

[billdorn]

boy this confusing. So I only need the standard ones. of course after the parts guy told me i needed the 3 wire ones, so i went and bought them elsewhere, since he didnt have stock.

How do I tell if there good or not, is there a way to test them? I've tried playing with the calibration and get nothing.

so the analog one will go to the analog wires on the 2007 engine. but on my 2003, I"m not sure where they go. there isnt a analog wire. I also have a rinda code reader and it has trim readings so i can also use it to view it separate from vesel view, so compatibility isn't my issue right now. it may be if i can see on reader but not VV, but i'm not even that far yet.