SmartCraft to NMEA interface

Thanks for the reply Scott.
 
Updated link -> MercMonitor

This one has more engines listed. The other link doesn't show support for the 8.1s. This one does...
 
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Here is another alternative that I installed on my 260DA three years ago http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1065&highlight=navman

I am more than happy with this set up. And you can set up both single engine and dual engines with the gateway interface (SKOLBE has a larger Northstar unit he uses on his twin engine 320DA). All of the Smartcraft guage functions are individually programable on the chartplotter to suit your taste. Plus there is a real time fuel computer and the capability for storing and reporting engine faults as well.

Dave
 
Dave S said:
Here is another alternative that I installed on my 260DA three years ago http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1065&highlight=navman

I am more than happy with this set up. And you can set up both single engine and dual engines with the gateway interface (SKOLBE has a larger Northstar unit he uses on his twin engine 320DA). All of the Smartcraft guage functions are individually programable on the chartplotter to suit your taste. Plus there is a real time fuel computer and the capability for storing and reporting engine faults as well.

Dave
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I'm hoping to do the same but with my Lowrance HDS unit. If nothing else I will just mount the guage under the dash, rumor has it that there will also be a straight SmartCraft NMEA2000 interface unit without the guage. Will see.
 
66pony said:
I'm hoping to do the same but with my Lowrance HDS unit. If nothing else I will just mount the guage under the dash, rumor has it that there will also be a straight SmartCraft NMEA2000 interface unit without the guage. Will see.
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Hey 66pony,

I know that this is an old post, but I have been researching the SmartCraft interface question and the Lowrance HDS unit that replaced the Navman/NavStar units is what I am specifically looking at. Were you able to get the interface to work? I was shopping Turtle Marine and on the page for the NavStar unit was a link to the required Gateway adapter, but no such reference exists for their listing of the Lowrance HDS unit.
 
That MercMonitor looks really cool. A good way to 'confirm' all my gauges...

I'm sure this won't work on my '98 Sundancer though... I don't think it has SmartCraft... damn!
 
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psubill78 said:
That MercMonitor looks really cool. A good way to 'confirm' all my gauges...

I wonder if this would work on my '98 Sundancer 310....
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Unfortunately it will not work unless you have repowered with newer MPI engines. The Merc Monitor ties in to Smartcraft which is on Mercury ECM555 engines. In Sea Ray that is 2002+ boats.
 
Will not work unless you have SmartCraft. Works great though if you do. Mine is networked into my HDS unit and I have had a lot of people look at it and comment on how well it works. Also, it sends GPS data to the SmartCraft side from the HDS unit, I get speed from both the pitot and GPS. a poor man's current calculator
 
Just a side note but my MercMonitor has paid for itself in allowing me to view error codes and what the code stands for. I recently got up on plane only to have the engine shut down on me. Checking the MercMonitor showed I had a problem with the Idle Air Valve and it needed to be changed out. Since I was in the San Juans and heading to Victoria, BC, I continued there to find a Merc Dealer that had the right part. Cost me $150 and 5 minutes to install. Saved me a ton of money being away from home for someone to diagnose the problem and then order parts, etc. I figure that one issue would have cost me well over a few boat bucks. I have had other alarms that saved me more time and money too. I think the MercMonitor is a great tool for some of us that can and want to keep the boat on the water, not in the shop in the middle of boating season...
 
Go Aweigh2452 said:
Just a side note but my MercMonitor has paid for itself in allowing me to view error codes and what the code stands for. I recently got up on plane only to have the engine shut down on me. Checking the MercMonitor showed I had a problem with the Idle Air Valve and it needed to be changed out. Since I was in the San Juans and heading to Victoria, BC, I continued there to find a Merc Dealer that had the right part. Cost me $150 and 5 minutes to install. Saved me a ton of money being away from home for someone to diagnose the problem and then order parts, etc. I figure that one issue would have cost me well over a few boat bucks. I have had other alarms that saved me more time and money too. I think the MercMonitor is a great tool for some of us that can and want to keep the boat on the water, not in the shop in the middle of boating season...
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Rub it in for those of us without the ability to use it :)
 
So does that mean I have to spend $550-$600 on a MercMonitor to interface with my $600 Lowrance HDS-5? Seems a little rediculous. But then again, it is Mercury. I seem to remember that with the old Navman/Northstar units that you could use a simply gateway cable that ran about $125. But then again, Navman/Northstar was a Brunswick company...
 
unlvrebel said:
So does that mean I have to spend $550-$600 on a MercMonitor to interface with my $600 Lowrance HDS-5? Seems a little rediculous. But then again, it is Mercury. I seem to remember that with the old Navman/Northstar units that you could use a simply gateway cable that ran about $125. But then again, Navman/Northstar was a Brunswick company...
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I am afraid so.
 
Tonka Boater said:
So you're saying that you can't get SmartCraft data into the Lowrance via a gateway cable? I thought the SmartCraft could send the NMEA data to the unit.
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Mercury uses proprietary software and must be converted to work with NMEA, either 2000 or 0183. MercMonitor does that.
 
66pony said:
I get speed from both the pitot and GPS
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I have been able to get everything between SmartCraft and Garmin to work via the MercMonitor/NMEA2K except for pitot and GPS speeds. GPS speed won't show up on the MercMonitor, nor will pitot speed (so it won't display pitot speed on the Garmin, obviously). Did yours just work when you plugged it in?

One other thing. I replaced my factory speedo with the MercMonitor and since the speedo had the air temp input, I lost that. Any work-around to get an air temp sensor input?
 
There was a setting on the MercMonitor as to what to set the Speedometer to. I chose GPS. My temperature sensor is on the tach and that is still attached to the SmartCraft CAN BUS line. I just removed the speedometer and installed the MercMonitor in its place. I get both speeds on my HDS unit and not the MercMonitor.
 
66pony said:
There was a setting on the MercMonitor as to what to set the Speedometer to. I chose GPS. My temperature sensor is on the tach and that is still attached to the SmartCraft CAN BUS line. I just removed the speedometer and installed the MercMonitor in its place. I get both speeds on my HDS unit and not the MercMonitor.
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I can't get any speed to register on the MM or the Garmin no matter what source I select. The really strange part is the COG / position from the GPS registers on the MM, and the same NMEA2K PGN is used for those and SOG (speed) but it doesn't read it. I have a call into Merc.

At some point Sea Ray must have changed the air temp sensor. My factory speedo has a separate, dedicated input for that sensor that looks different than the other CAN BUN connectors. I wonder if there is an adapter.
 
bajturner said:
I can't get any speed to register on the MM or the Garmin no matter what source I select. The really strange part is the COG / position from the GPS registers on the MM, and the same NMEA2K PGN is used for those and SOG (speed) but it doesn't read it. I have a call into Merc.

At some point Sea Ray must have changed the air temp sensor. My factory speedo has a separate, dedicated input for that sensor that looks different than the other CAN BUN connectors. I wonder if there is an adapter.
Click to expand...

I am thinking that there was a Temperature connection on the Harness. I am not near my boat, and the manuals are in it.
schematic.jpg
 
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