SmartCraft

[ylwjacket]

Is anyone still selling SmartCraft? I was looking at hte system view 5000 a year or so ago, but it seems like they've vanished.

Are they still around, or has something else replaced them?

 

[Dave S]

I don't know the answer on the System View but if you are looking for a relatively inexpensive way to display Smartcraft data, check out the Navman 5505. I interfaced my Smartcraft to my Navman as shown in this post. http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1065

 

[ylwjacket]

thanks, i'll look at it.

 

[caymancanuck]

Hi

This link is dead, any other way to get to this post?

 

[Dave S]

Hi

This link is dead, any other way to get to this post?

If you were talking about my link above, I changed it so it will work now.

 

[jrcinnh]

Northstar sells Navman in the USA under the Northstar brand. The Explorer models are the Navman products and the M84/M121.

http://www.northstarnav.com/

Navman supports Smartcraft because they were once owned by Brunswick. Here is the whole story from Wikipedia:

"In 2004 Brunswick purchased Northstar Technologies, a leading marine electronics provider based in Acton Massachusetts, from Canadian Marconi Corporation. Brunswick then merged Navman, based in Auckland New Zealand, with Northstar. The idea was to make Northstar/Navman supplier to the Brunswick Boat Groups. Eventually Mx-Marine also became owned by Brunswick. When George Buckley, CEO of Brunswick, left to join 3M in 2006 the new leadership decided to sell Northstar/Navman/Mx-Marine. Navico now owns Northstar, Navman, and Mx-Marine in addition to the Eagle, Lowrance, B&G, and Simrad brands"

 

[caymancanuck]

Thanks, i want to replace the Navman 5500 on my 270 as I could not understand why the smartcraft data wasnt uploading, but thanks to CSR I now know I need to upgrade. I am looking at the Northstar 550, would I have to change the external antenna to the northstar or would it work off of the navman antenna?

 

[Dave S]

Thanks, i want to replace the Navman 5500 on my 270 as I could not understand why the smartcraft data wasnt uploading, but thanks to CSR I now know I need to upgrade. I am looking at the Northstar 550, would I have to change the external antenna to the northstar or would it work off of the navman antenna?

You do not have to change your antenna if you go with the 550. But if you go to any of the newer models such as the 557, the connectors are different and you will wind up swapping out your GPS antenna plus you will need an extra cable to hook up to your Smartcraft System.

By the way I had a chance to test a Northstar 557 which is a newer model and I didn't like it. The graphics were smaller than the 550 and the back lighting wasn't nearly as good either making the 557 difficult to view in bright sunlight.

 

[caymancanuck]

Is the 550 a straight swap for the Navman 5500, do I need any other cables and or connectors?

 

[Dave S]

Is the 550 a straight swap for the Navman 5500, do I need any other cables and or connectors?

Assuming your boat has Smartcraft Gauges like my 260DA, you will need to purchase three things. A Northstar/Navman single engine Gateway AA005020R, a four plug junction box (I don't have a part number for this one), and a Smartcraft cable 84-879979T from Mercury Marine. Your dealer can order all of this for you or you can look for it on the internet.

 

[MC1600]

If you were talking about my link above, I changed it so it will work now.

Dave - where did you get that interface cable?

 

[Dave S]

Dave - where did you get that interface cable?

I got the junction box and the Mercury cable from my dealer. I was able to find the Smartcraft Gateway a lot cheaper on the internet.

 

[estebanj]

Note that on my 260 the junction box was already there from the factory (in the helm, to the right of the fuses, behind the cup holders. I got the gateway online at a reasonable price, as well as the 557 unit and Y cable (which you may or may not need).

I'm very happy with the SmartCraft integration with the 557.

Esteban

 

[JV II]

Does anyone know if the Raymarine ST70 will integrate with Smartcraft to do what the Sea Ray System View does?

 

[CJ Martin]

Smartcraft will not talk to Raymarine stuff. About all you can do is pass GPS data to Smartcraft over the NMEA interface.

To answer the original question that started this thread - Merc has replaced the SC5000 display with the VesselView display. SC5000's are getting pretty rare on eBay and I have yet to see a VesselView display there. SC1000 stuff is still common.

-CJ

 

[skolbe]

With twin engines you need a 6 way junction box to replace your 4 way junction box.

 

[Dave S]

With twin engines you need a 6 way junction box to replace your 4 way junction box.

...........and a dual engine Smartcraft Gateway.

 

[caymancanuck]

Dave

Thanks for your input on this, they just finished the install of my Northstar 550 to replace the Navman 5500 and so far so good except that the installer didnt hook up whatever is needed to get the depth data from the transducer into the GPS. Also it looks like there is a lot of calibration to be done to get the fuel data and trim sensor set-up properly.

Scott

 

[skolbe]

Yes you do have to get the right gateway. The depth gauge does not come over to my Northstar GPS. I have a 567

 

[estebanj]

The trim sensor needs calibration, but it's very easy.

The fuel sensor as well, more options, but easy to figure out as well.

Depth data is NOT supported via the SmartCraft gateway on the 550/557/567, so you cannot display that from the Sea Ray depth sounder. Whichis why I normally display depth in my tachometer's SmartCraft LCD display.

Esteban