Smartcraft Gauges anyone retrofitted?

[J1mmy]

I have a 185 sport (2002) and looking at the engine number I could retro fit the smartcraft guages to my boat. Has anyone done this and if so any problems/additional sensors required to ensure you get full data. I have the 4.3 MPI engine. Thanks

 

[J1mmy]

Thanks Scott, will discuss with my local Mercury agent.

 

[Henry Boyd]

I've done it, and there are a number of threads covering the topic. There are a couple of points.

The party line from Mercruiser is that converting to Smartcraft should be considered an all or nothing proposition. All gauges, or none. The rationale is that SC feeds off of the ECM, and the ECM runs on 5 vDC. Feed the ECM 12vDC and you will fry it. ECM's cost on the order of USD $ 1500.00.

Because of the above, they may simply tell you it can't be done basically because they (Merc) don't know how Sea Ray wires boats.

The other thing I suspected was that both the Sea Ray dealers (at least mine) and Mercruiser did not know exactly what was installed on SC compatible engines in the way of SC harnesses. I was told by my dealer's service guy they would have to re-wire the entire engine. However I could see all of the unused harnesses attached to the engine, so I did it myself.

Adding to what Scott has mentioned, you will also need a tank harness to connect the fuel tank sending unit to the system. This is a case of making sure you isolate the existing sender wire (12 volt). I simply cut into mine and capped the boat power end and then spliced the sending harness to the wire running to the sender.

On basic wiring the idea is that there have to be terminating resistors at each end of the trunk lines. This can be accomplished by using cables that have resistors built into them, or by using a junction box and a junction box port with a resistor cap. My recommendation on a single engine application is to use the CAN cables with resistors on each end. One, it will save you the need to mount a junction box to link the CAN cable and engine harness because the CAN cable will just plug into the engine harness. This saves you USd $ 45 for the box. Any sensors (depth, speed, steering nagle, etc.) you might want to add in the engine compartment plug into the engine harness.

Under the helm, you should go with a junction box, but with the resistor in the CAN cable, you will now have three ports for gauges and such.

Henry

 

[Gunn]

This is a great, timely topic for me as I have 2003 twin 4.3MPI's on my 280DA and though they don't have SmartCraft gauges, I have finally found out definitively that they are SmartCraft capable/compatible. I've talked to Henry privately about this and was getting ready to post a forum thread on it.

I've got more questions and info to collect, but...can we get this topic moved to the Engines forum? I don't have a Sport Boat and this really doesn't apply specifically to sport boats.

I'd really like to know a ballpark estimate of what this may cost for single and (in my case) twin engines. I've found the SC1000 tach and speedo gauges for ~$650.00 per set. Double that for twin engines. Haven't found any of the other modules, junction boxes, cables, etc. that are needed, yet.

Tom

 

[Two Peas]

I did it with much help from both Scott and Henry. Here's a link to my wild ride (in the end my conversion would have been rather straight forward if I hadn't had an incorrect main SC harness to begin with...)

http://www.clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27511

I encourage you to read the whole thread...

 

[surfinjoe]

What exactly does the smartcraft system do? My gage on my 2007 SD tells me a bunch of info if I scroll through the mode select menu....GPH, oil pressure, h2o pressure....Is that the same as smartcraft?

What I don't understand is why the controls on my steering wheel do NOTHING....

I've done it, and there are a number of threads covering the topic. There are a couple of points.

The party line from Mercruiser is that converting to Smartcraft should be considered an all or nothing proposition. All gauges, or none. The rationale is that SC feeds off of the ECM, and the ECM runs on 5 vDC. Feed the ECM 12vDC and you will fry it. ECM's cost on the order of USD $ 1500.00.

Because of the above, they may simply tell you it can't be done basically because they (Merc) don't know how Sea Ray wires boats.

The other thing I suspected was that both the Sea Ray dealers (at least mine) and Mercruiser did not know exactly what was installed on SC compatible engines in the way of SC harnesses. I was told by my dealer's service guy they would have to re-wire the entire engine. However I could see all of the unused harnesses attached to the engine, so I did it myself.

Adding to what Scott has mentioned, you will also need a tank harness to connect the fuel tank sending unit to the system. This is a case of making sure you isolate the existing sender wire (12 volt). I simply cut into mine and capped the boat power end and then spliced the sending harness to the wire running to the sender.

On basic wiring the idea is that there have to be terminating resistors at each end of the trunk lines. This can be accomplished by using cables that have resistors built into them, or by using a junction box and a junction box port with a resistor cap. My recommendation on a single engine application is to use the CAN cables with resistors on each end. One, it will save you the need to mount a junction box to link the CAN cable and engine harness because the CAN cable will just plug into the engine harness. This saves you USd $ 45 for the box. Any sensors (depth, speed, steering nagle, etc.) you might want to add in the engine compartment plug into the engine harness.

Under the helm, you should go with a junction box, but with the resistor in the CAN cable, you will now have three ports for gauges and such.

Henry

 

[Henry Boyd]

Smartcraft is Mercury Marine's implementation of the CAN Bus data network that is used by a number of automotive companies. Since modern engine computers have to be hooked up to various engine sensors (water temp, oil pressure, volts, etc) just to manage making the engine run, the idea was to develop analog looking gauges that would display this data to the operator.

For boat manufacturers this is a huge labor savings because all they have to do is run one cable from the engine area to the dash board and instant gauge wiring for as many engines as you want.

Joe, There is a good chance your boat has Smartcraft. By 2007 all of the larger Sea Rays had it installed, I'm not sure about how and when this implemented on the sport boat series.

Henry

 

[CJ Martin]

Tom, talk to Dave at Washburn's boat yard - he helped walk me through this when I added Smartcraft to my boat. We both learned a lot in the process. It's a pretty straghtforward job with one gotcha that has been pointed out - the fuel tank gauges.

In fact, I would be willing to give you a sweet deal on a year old pair of Smartcraft SC1000 tachs and a matching speedo - I bought them new when I first converted, then later found a set of SeaRay gauges to replace them. Or you can do what I did - watch and wait on eBay for a good deal. Just be sure all the firmware in the gauges match or you will have issues.

Another thing you may want to consider (and talk to Dave about) is picking up a set of the new MercMonitor gauges...this will give you a NMEA 2000 gateway allowing you to display engine data on any chartplotter that can support that.

Do a search if you are looking for details on my conversion, I've documented it here.

-CJ

 

[Gunn]

Tom, talk to Dave at Washburn's boat yard - he helped walk me through this when I added Smartcraft to my boat. We both learned a lot in the process. It's a pretty straghtforward job with one gotcha that has been pointed out - the fuel tank gauges.

CJ, thanks for the tips! That's a great lead if/when I decide to perform the upgrade.

there is a lot of info to be learned here by doing a search. However, while I found quite a few posts of yours helping out others, I couldn't find one of you talking specifically about your upgrade? Do you happen to have a link?

I've read that Henry said that it's an all or nothing gauge replacement; either SC compatible gauges, or not. So if I replace my tachs and speedo gauge, what do I do with the rest? Fuel gauge, engine trim indicator, etc.? Do you replace them with "link" gauges. Even though the LCD on the tach or speedo may show this info, I don't really like the ideal of "dead" gauges being in my cluster...

Tom

 

[Henry Boyd]

In order to get the benefit of the MPG functions you will have to connect the fuel tank sender. Yes Link gauges are the way to go. The good news is that because they are basically meters with a specific face they are relatively inexpensive. The small link gauges are about $ 40.00 each. (vs 150 for the Sea Ray) I bought mine on eBay. You can also shop flounder pounder marine (fpmarine.com) for the actual SR gauges.

Henry

 

[jason78]

This is a great, timely topic for me as I have 2003 twin 4.3MPI's on my 280DA and though they don't have SmartCraft gauges, I have finally found out definitively that they are SmartCraft capable/compatible. I've talked to Henry privately about this and was getting ready to post a forum thread on it.

I've got more questions and info to collect, but...can we get this topic moved to the Engines forum? I don't have a Sport Boat and this really doesn't apply specifically to sport boats.

I'd really like to know a ballpark estimate of what this may cost for single and (in my case) twin engines. I've found the SC1000 tach and speedo gauges for ~$650.00 per set. Double that for twin engines. Haven't found any of the other modules, junction boxes, cables, etc. that are needed, yet.

Tom

Tom, if adding these you will come out WAY cheaper buying the standard Merc SC gauges. That Sea Ray logo and blue backlight easily double the cost and the electronics are identical. The standard Merc gauges have a red backlight which is supposed to be better at night on your eyes anyway. Occasionally you can find used SR gauges at a reasonable price but you never have any guarantees with those.

 

[CJ Martin]

Tom, I can't find my old post either - I am pretty sure I wrote up the fuel sender thing but can't seem to find it now.

In short, I was able to order the helm insert from SeaRay (my old Tachs were much larger than the Smartcraft guages). I was able to get SeaRay/Smartcraft link 4-in-1 guages from Flounder Pounder Marine, they were like new and I got a great deal on them. My first set of gauges I bought new, they have the Smartcraft logo on the gauge face instead of the SeaRay logo, and the backlighting is red vice blue.

The Merc service manual for my engines had the wiring diagram I needed to figure out which plug I needed to run the fuel sender wiring to. That plug was empty on my boat, and the dust cover is really just the other side of the plug with rubber inserts instead of metal pins. After a bit of a search, I found the pins I needed on eBay (only needed two, on for each engine). I ran a new (pink) wire from each fuel tank to the plug on the respective engine (i.e. starboard tank to starboard engine). BE SURE TO CUT AND CAP THE ORIGINAL 12vDC WIRE FROM THE SENDER. Leave the ground wire attached to the sender.

Once everything was connected, Washburn's was able to update my engine firmware using their laptop and got everythig working.

Hope that helps - PM me if you need more details.

-CJ

 

[Gunn]

Tom, I can't find my old post either - I am pretty sure I wrote up the fuel sender thing but can't seem to find it now.

In short, I was able to order the helm insert from SeaRay (my old Tachs were much larger than the Smartcraft guages).

Nice, so when you ordered the helm insert, did it not have the holes drilled out for the OEM gauges? I assume it didn't, and that's pretty cool. I feel a little better now with this option, and the link gauges. This will remove the gauges I no longer need, and they'll all have a red backlight...at least look consistent.

I took some time and looked up the new "MercMonitor" system gauges...those are nice! The twinengine compatible gauge was about ~$1k though. I assume I'd need two. :wow:

Good stuff.

Tom

 

[jason78]

Nice, so when you ordered the helm insert, did it not have the holes drilled out for the OEM gauges? I assume it didn't, and that's pretty cool. I feel a little better now with this option, and the link gauges. This will remove the gauges I no longer need, and they'll all have a red backlight...at least look consistent.

I took some time and looked up the new "MercMonitor" system gauges...those are nice! The twinengine compatible gauge was about ~$1k though. I assume I'd need two. :wow:

Good stuff.

Tom

A single twin engine Merc Monitor gauge handles data from both engines. The real benefit there is passing Smartcraft Data to a NMEA2K display. This upgrade is on my to-do list this year. You could buy two but you would be better off just passing data to a Plotter for display.

 

[Henry Boyd]

I'm not sure about the Merc Monitor, but I would imagine they are the same as the other System level devices such as the Vessel and System Views. These devices interpret the data from the ECM. So you don't need to spend the big bucks on the System level tach and speedo, You can use the Link speedo and Tach.

Henry

 

[jason78]

I'm not sure about the Merc Monitor, but I would imagine they are the same as the other System level devices such as the Vessel and System Views. These devices interpret the data from the ECM. So you don't need to spend the big bucks on the System level tach and speedo, You can use the Link speedo and Tach.

Henry

That is a great sugegstion Henry. The MM functions similiar to the Vessel and System View. I am not sure how it interfaces with Link gauges though. On a Twin engine setup, Merc told me I could replace the SC1000 Speedo with the MM and keep the SC1000 Tachs. It will also work stand alone fromt he SC1000 gauge set but you have to upgrade to the larger junction box. That is the route I am taking with it.

The big advantage to the MM is that it includes a N2K gateway to pass all that info to a plotter for display.

 

[CJ Martin]

Nice, so when you ordered the helm insert, did it not have the holes drilled out for the OEM gauges? I assume it didn't, and that's pretty cool.

Actually it did have the proper holes for the SC1000 tachs and speedo, as well as the 4-in-1 guages. My original tachs were much larger that the SC1000 units, and it didn't have a speedo in the center - instead there was a engine sync gauge. The insert I got was for a later year boat with the Smartcraft gauges installed.

The end result is that my helm looks factory.

-CJ

 

[Gunn]

A single twin engine Merc Monitor gauge handles data from both engines. The real benefit there is passing Smartcraft Data to a NMEA2K display. This upgrade is on my to-do list this year. You could buy two but you would be better off just passing data to a Plotter for display.

I'm not sure about the Merc Monitor, but I would imagine they are the same as the other System level devices such as the Vessel and System Views. These devices interpret the data from the ECM. So you don't need to spend the big bucks on the System level tach and speedo, You can use the Link speedo and Tach.

Henry

Great idea guys. But the one MercMonitor gauge, then the system link gauges to replace all the others. I like it. :smt001

 

[Henry Boyd]

Gunn,

There may be a caveat with using the Merc Monitor that you should also have it hooked up to a display that can show the NMEA 2000 data otherwise you might be limited to only seeing what you have gauges for.

Henry

 

[Gunn]

Gunn,

There may be a caveat with using the Merc Monitor that you should also have it hooked up to a display that can show the NMEA 2000 data otherwise you might be limited to only seeing what you have gauges for.

Henry

Good point; my current GPS (a Garmin 3210) supports NMEA 0183...so that would be another thing to consider. I need to go smaller anyway, the 3210 is too big for my boat.

I think I read the SC1000 gauges supported the 0183 standard though...