Smartcraft Sea Temp Faulty Reading

[jason78]

OK, I need some advise on a faulty Sea Temp reading I am getting from Smartcraft. I have the SC1000 Speedo with Dual TACH setup. I have an Airmar tranducer which I have confirmed is setup with Depth/Temp. I have gone in to CAL2 on the TACS to make sure the Sea Temp Sensor was enabled. I get a constant -31 reading on Sea Temp. My dealer said they connected a new tranducer and got the same reading on Sea Temp.

When I went to CAL2 on both TACS and selected NO, the reading came back as "OFF". When I re-enabled the Starboard Sea Temp Sensor on that TACH, it read 129-131 degrees, when I re-enabled the Port TACH, it went back to -31 degrees.

Does anyone have any idea on what is going on here? The transducer is plugged in to the "DEPTH TRANDUCER" 4 wire harness on the Starboard engine. As stated before, I checked the p/n and Airmar said it is Depth/Temp enabled and was built for Smartcraft.

Any Ideas? :huh:

Thanks
Jason

 

[Henry Boyd]

Jason,

You don't say, are you getting reliable depth readings?

Henry

 

[jason78]

Jason,

You don't say, are you getting reliable depth readings?

Henry

Henry,

Yes, my depth readings seem to be fine. I called Airmar with the p/n off the tranducer tag and they said it was a "special" build for Mercury that included Depth and Temp.

Thanks
Jason

 

[Dave S]

I am not sure what this will prove, but try adjusting the water temperature to actual (page 2-28 in the manual). It was 55 degrees today when we were out.

Barring any solution, have one of the techs call Mercury and talk to them about it.

Dave

 

[Henry Boyd]

I am not sure what this will prove, but try adjusting the water temperature to actual (page 2-28 in the manual). It was 55 degrees today when we were out.

Barring any solution, have one of the techs call Mercury and talk to them about it.

Dave

+1, although you might double check your connections for cleanliness & fit.

Henry

 

[jason78]

Thanks for the help guys. I called SC tech support and they said I need to disable the temp sensor on port engine or the reading will be locked at -31. Once I do that, I can properly troubleshoot the transducer. I am positive the dealer did not do this and my gut tells me when I disable the port sensor and plug in the new tranducer they tried yesterday I will be in good shape. I will report back with my findings.

Thanks
Jason

 

[jason78]

On another note, I was also told my engines are compatible with Vessel View.

Jason

 

[carterchapman]

I don't have my SC manuals here at home - what is the # for SC Tech Support?

I have an sea/air temp issue I'm troubleshooting as well...

Thanks,

 

[Dave S]

I don't have my SC manuals here at home - what is the # for SC Tech Support?

I have an sea/air temp issue I'm troubleshooting as well...

Thanks,

Carter

I have the online version of the SC manual and I didn't see a phone number in the manual. You might want to call Mercury directly at 405-743-6566 and they can probably get you to the right group.

Dave

 

[jason78]

PROBLEM SOLVED!

As the tech support said, I went in to CAL2 on the Port Tach and selected "NO" for Sea Temp Sensor. After this, the reading went back to 129-130 degrees. Borrowed a new Transducer from the service department, plugged it in and the temp normalized to what it should have been. From what the tech support said, when the Port Sensor is enabled, it overrides the data from the Starboard (where the tranducer is plugged in) and goes to -31 which is the default. Basically I had two separate problems- SC setting and a bad transducer.

NOTE- You need to make sure your transducer *IS* equipped for temp/depth. From what I understand, not all were equipped and there is no rhyme or reason as to why. You can call AIRMAR with the p/n on the white tag and they can tell you. They were the OEM for the transducers.

Thanks for all the help.

Now if I can only find a Vessel View for a reasonable price.........

Jason

 

[Dave S]

Now if I can only find a Vessel View for a reasonable price.........

Jason

Jason

I'll be the first to say I don't know much about Vessel View but you may be better off with a Northstar Chart Plotter instead. The Northstar gets you GPS, Chartplotting, and the ability to display multiple Smartcraft Functions at one time. I don't think Vessel View will do all of this.

Just make sure you check out both choices thoroughly before making a decision.

Dave