Smartcraft SC5000

Scottster

Scottster

New Member
Sep 30, 2009
34
Lake of the Ozarks
Boat Info
2006 400 Sundancer
Engines
8.1 Horizon
V-drives
I just bought a 340 Sundancer. It came with a Smartcraft SC5000. It seems like a nice unit in concept but it is difficult to operate and a little hard to read. The buttons are really hard to operate and probably need to be replaced or repaired. Does anyone know where to send one for repair? Is it worth repairing or is there a better upgrade? Mercury's website is not a lot of help for support with this unit. Any Advice?
 
If the SC5000 needs repair contact Mercruiser customer service. I just call them directly. The navigation button with the up, right, left, down arrows is actually a cluster of tiny mechanical switches. The rubber 'button' has individual tabs that contact the plungers on the micro switches. Sometimes the tabs and the plungers get mis-aligned. When this problem happened to us I called MCM and they explained how to fix it and gave me the option of sending it to them, or doing it myself. I opted to do myself. I won't do that again and next time I will send it to them for repair during the off season.

There is an upgrade device the Vessel View display, BUT, it will only work with newer engines. again contact MCM to find out if your boat has compatible engines for an upgrade.

As for removing it altogether, the instrumentation is Mercury's Smartcraft technology. There are basically two types of gauges, the System Gauges and Link Gauges. The System Gauges recieve and process data from the engine computer and remote sending units, Link Gauges are dumb display terminals. The SC5000 and SC1000 tach and SC1000 Speedo are System gauges. The SC100 tach and speedo, as well as minor gauges such as fuel, volts, water temp, oil pressure, trim, water tank level, steering angle etc are link guages. The link gauges NEED a System gauge to function. The SC5000 on your boat could have been installed with a Link Tach and Speedo. In that case if you remove the SC5000 all of your gauges stop working. If on the other hand your boat has had a SC1000 System tach installed, the gauges will continue to work if they have been wired to the System tach.

Personally, I like the SC5000 as it provides useful trip and fuel consumption data. It can also allow you to have the additional display of things like fresh water levels, steering angle, trim etc. without having to add a gauge to the dash.

Henry
 
Thanks. Your reply is very helpful. The button misalignment sounds exactly like my problem. I can get the unit to navigate but it takes so much pressure to get the buttons to actuate it wears your finger out after a few pushes. I will try Mercury customer service again. Their website isn't the easiest to navigate and it is tough to get phone numbers that actually go to something other than an automated menu that doesn't help.

Thanks again.
 
I called mercury and they e-mailed me instructions and pictures of the switch repair. It took me about 10 minutes and I had it working perfectly.

Thanks for your help.
 
I "think" I have the SC5000 on my boat - haven't looked at the model number. It is the rectangular display centered on the dash. I can't find an Owner's Manual for thsi device in the stack of manuals that came with the boat, and I can't figure out how to switch the display to different views beyond the default display. Does anyone know where I can get an Owner's Manual?
 
Never mind - found a PDF of the manual under another thread. :smt038
 
Scottster said:
I called mercury and they e-mailed me instructions and pictures of the switch repair. It took me about 10 minutes and I had it working perfectly.

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Scottster, I realize this is a year old, but I'm having the same problem. Any chance you still have the instructions?

Called Mercruiser and they were not aware of anything I could do to repair the button/switch.

Thanks!
 
I just went through the same thing, took about 5 minutes to fix & works great. If you pm me your email, I will forward the instructions when I get home tonight.
 
Scottster said:
I called mercury and they e-mailed me instructions and pictures of the switch repair. It took me about 10 minutes and I had it working perfectly.

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Scottster,
can you send me the instructions how to fix the buttons on the sc5000
 
Well 3 years old, but worth a shot. Can you post or send me the instructions too?

Thanks
 
Henry Boyd said:
If the SC5000 needs repair contact Mercruiser customer service. I just call them directly. The navigation button with the up, right, left, down arrows is actually a cluster of tiny mechanical switches. The rubber 'button' has individual tabs that contact the plungers on the micro switches. Sometimes the tabs and the plungers get mis-aligned. When this problem happened to us I called MCM and they explained how to fix it and gave me the option of sending it to them, or doing it myself. I opted to do myself. I won't do that again and next time I will send it to them for repair during the off season.

There is an upgrade device the Vessel View display, BUT, it will only work with newer engines. again contact MCM to find out if your boat has compatible engines for an upgrade.

As for removing it altogether, the instrumentation is Mercury's Smartcraft technology. There are basically two types of gauges, the System Gauges and Link Gauges. The System Gauges recieve and process data from the engine computer and remote sending units, Link Gauges are dumb display terminals. The SC5000 and SC1000 tach and SC1000 Speedo are System gauges. The SC100 tach and speedo, as well as minor gauges such as fuel, volts, water temp, oil pressure, trim, water tank level, steering angle etc are link guages. The link gauges NEED a System gauge to function. The SC5000 on your boat could have been installed with a Link Tach and Speedo. In that case if you remove the SC5000 all of your gauges stop working. If on the other hand your boat has had a SC1000 System tach installed, the gauges will continue to work if they have been wired to the System tach.

Personally, I like the SC5000 as it provides useful trip and fuel consumption data. It can also allow you to have the additional display of things like fresh water levels, steering angle, trim etc. without having to add a gauge to the dash.

Henry
Click to expand...
 
Does someone still have these instructions? If so, could you please email them to me at bccal@msn.com? Or post them in this thread?

thank you
 
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