Smartcraft Trim Sender Unit

BleednBlue

Member
Jul 22, 2015
163
Lake Of The Ozarks
Boat Info
270 SLX
Engines
Merc. 496 MAG Bravo III
Hello All,
My boat (2007 270 SLX) is in the shop to have the Smartcraft Trim Sender Unit replaced. The job was suppose to take one day (yesterday) but the shop called and said they were not able to complete because they were having difficulty getting the computer to recognize the new trim sender unit. The only other information I have is the tech. did say when they disconnect the cables the Smartcraft unit throws a fault. In short, the Smartcraft unit recognizes when the trim sender is NOT connected. The tech. also said that they believe they need to reprogram (not sure the terminology he used) the computer to make the new trim sender unit work.

Going into this, I was thinking plug and play. What are your thoughts?

Thanks for your time.
Rich
 
Last edited:
I have never heard of all that you are going through. I replaced both the trim sender and sensor myself. I did a lot of research before doing it and as you say, it was plug and play. I simply unplugged the ones that were not functioning, plugged up the new ones, adjusted them, and they work like new. Sounds to me like someone does not know what they are doing. I even did it w/o removing the OD.

Bennett
 
Thanks for the response. My understanding there is only one unit - a digital unit for smartcraft. It is also my understanding two unit trim senders are analog and are used on non-smartcraft applications. Maybe all that needs to be done is a master reset on the smartcraft gauge?
 
I have SC and 2-units-one senses the position of the OD and the other is the trim limit. The trim limit is on the port side and limits the upward travel until the trim to trailer is pushed. On the wiring harness, there is a plug for analog trim and digital trim. If you have SC, it must be plugged into the digital female plug. The trim sender is nothing more than a rheostat and you can watch it work with an ohm meter.

Hope this helps.

Bennett
 
If you have the DTS system with smartcraft, you only have one sensor, the other is not used. My guess is they are using the wrong one as they are not interchangeable. Smartcraft can have the two sensor system (one on each side of the lower unit) or with DTS only one sensor on the port side.

Do you have the digital throttle and shift (start button on throttle lever gives it away)?
 
Yes, I have DTS and the shop installed the single unit trim sender model. What I have not confirmed is the old part they removed. Is it possible to have two unit trim sender with DTS? Thinking the answer is no. Which tells me the shop is using the correct part.
 
When I spoke to Merc tech support when investigating replacing mine, no, they are not interchangeable.
Mine was plug and play, then calibrate, when I swapped it out.

Only other thought is they are so far out of position, it is generating an error on resistance values. I assume they are manually rotating it to see if it responds?
 
Quick update... Shop tech corrected himself and confirms plug and play - no surprise. Problem still exists. They believe it could be a bad trim sensor (the new one) or a bad trim gauge (one with the needle). The latter does not making much sense to me. But what do I know!?!
 
Not sure I understand the gauge comment from them. Disconnect the gauge and read it on the digital display - simple check. They are not sounding very competent....
 
Final Update: One of the pins on the new trim sender terminal was bad. Replace with a new, new trim sender and all is working!
 
Paul, would a bad trim sensor on a DTS system cause a single beep and momentary engine cut while running around. the LCD also switches to "Trim 0" momentarily following the half second engine cut; then switched back to the screen I had it on; Depth.
 

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