Who Has Added Smartcraft to their Engines?

scooper321

Well-Known Member
Jul 4, 2015
1,849
Baltimore, MD
Boat Info
2003 Sea Ray 400DB
Engines
Twin Cummins 6CTA-8.3
Hi,

Looking to add the Smartcraft cables, junction box and NMEA2000 to my 320 (twin 5.7L 350 MAG MPI) to get engine data to my helm via NMEA2000. I'm curious what length Smartcraft cables (CAN data cables, p/n 879981T__) I should get. What did you use?

Thanks,



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I did it years ago, and I can't remember how long of cables I used. I'd guesstimate at least 18 feet though. (2003 320DA)

Thanks. That does help. Based on that length, I assume they travel from the engines all the way up to the helm, where they meet the Smartcraft instruments (or, in my case, the Mercruiser Smartcraft/NMEA gateway)?

How/where did you route the Smartcraft cables? Do you remember?
 
I did this years ago myself, mostly with parts cobbled together from eBay.

Routing the cables up from the engine compartment to the helm is pretty simple. Pull the plastic pocket that is outboard the helm area (this is where a drink holder and a speaker are located, down by your feet when you stand at the helm). Should be four screws. When you pull that out you will find a big area with lots of cables in it. The ones heading aft and down are heading to the engine compartment.

If you are going to hook the fuel tank level sensor into Smartcraft, you will have to run new wires to each tank (1 wire each) and disconnect the 12vDC power to that sensor or you will burn up the ECM. Youo will also have to source pins and a connector to tie the new wire into the right connect on each engine. The Merc manual will tell you which wire. You will also need a Merc service tech to set your system up the first time with their magic laptop. After that you will be good to go.
 
I did this years ago myself, mostly with parts cobbled together from eBay.

Routing the cables up from the engine compartment to the helm is pretty simple. Pull the plastic pocket that is outboard the helm area (this is where a drink holder and a speaker are located, down by your feet when you stand at the helm). Should be four screws. When you pull that out you will find a big area with lots of cables in it. The ones heading aft and down are heading to the engine compartment.

If you are going to hook the fuel tank level sensor into Smartcraft, you will have to run new wires to each tank (1 wire each) and disconnect the 12vDC power to that sensor or you will burn up the ECM. Youo will also have to source pins and a connector to tie the new wire into the right connect on each engine. The Merc manual will tell you which wire. You will also need a Merc service tech to set your system up the first time with their magic laptop. After that you will be good to go.

I was thinking of adding fuel sensors, but then realized the ECM outputs fuel burn rate and the MFD's can use that to compute fuel remaining in the tanks. That's good enough for me. I just want to know how much fuel I have (I won't run to close to empty) and get an ideal of efficient operation RPM's, trim, etc. Adding fuel sensors looks tricky and costly for minimal gain. So it's just the SC to NMEA Gateway. I called Mercruiser today to confirm all the parts I need. See below. Time to start spending money!

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SO how did this turn out?

debating this on my 2002 340... since I am about to pull the trigger on a new GPS.
 
SO how did this turn out?

debating this on my 2002 340... since I am about to pull the trigger on a new GPS.

I don't think smart craft was available in 2002 unless your motors have the can plugs.
my 2002 310 doesn't have them.
Here is a another alternative
http://fox-marine.com/index.php?route=common/home
Fox engine gateways plug into the diagnostic connector on each engine.
You still have to make a nmea 2000 network (purchased separately) to plug into your new chart plotter
Garmin sells a nmea starter kit for 80.00
 
I don't think smart craft was available in 2002 unless your motors have the can plugs.
my 2002 310 doesn't have them.
Here is a another alternative
http://fox-marine.com/index.php?route=common/home
Fox engine gateways plug into the diagnostic connector on each engine.
You still have to make a nmea 2000 network (purchased separately) to plug into your new chart plotter
Garmin sells a nmea starter kit for 80.00

Yes and no on Smartcraft. SmartCraft is a derivative of the CanBUS system and was available in the 90s. Sea Ray had some engines in the line up in 2002 that were SC capable, but not rigged with it. It seems that SR didn't offer it, although it was being billed as the hot next thing. My feeling is that they wanted to get the industrial engineering squared away, and may have also had purchasing contracts into the future that had to be honored. I also think some of the power packages had not been upgraded to accommodate SmartCraft.

As it was, when I went to do our 496 very little was known. On a number of occasions I had to hang up on the Merc CS people and call back to get someone who knew something about it.

Henry

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So I was under the impression anything 8.1/496 2001 on was smart-craft capable. but my boat was not rigged with it. so I woul dhave to plug into motors, then junction boxes, and then together, and then run line to helm, and power the backbone, and then tie into the NEMA 2000 on the new GPS. but once I did all that it would work?

is that not the case? not all 8.1s work?
 
So I was under the impression anything 8.1/496 2001 on was smart-craft capable. but my boat was not rigged with it. so I woul dhave to plug into motors, then junction boxes, and then together, and then run line to helm, and power the backbone, and then tie into the NEMA 2000 on the new GPS. but once I did all that it would work?

is that not the case? not all 8.1s work?
Your motors are EFI so the fox gateways will work.
Search the forum a few members have done the fox gateways on their engines.
Once you setup a Nmea 2000 network you can put multiple devices on it.
I have my fusion stereo on it to which i can control frommy chart plotter as well as my Vhf radio which transmits the AIS info to the chart plotter.
 
So I was under the impression anything 8.1/496 2001 on was smart-craft capable. but my boat was not rigged with it. so I woul dhave to plug into motors, then junction boxes, and then together, and then run line to helm, and power the backbone, and then tie into the NEMA 2000 on the new GPS. but once I did all that it would work?

is that not the case? not all 8.1s work?

Short version is yes. A couple small twists. To get fuel consumption you need to tie the fuel tank sender into the SC system. The existing tank sender will work, but you can't continue to use the existing helm gauge. The gauges work off of 12 CDC, Smartcraft is a 5 vdc system. Introduce 12 intro the SC system and you cook the EIM. You can either convert all of your gauges, or live without the OEM dash gauge functioning.

I also think you will need a "System" level device and something to convert the data stream to nmea2000. There are two types of SC gauges and devices. The System versions read the raw data from the network and interpret it. The Link version is a simple display device. I don't know if the SC gateway device functions like a System device, or whether it acts like a Link device. If the gateway device reads and "understands" the data, and then translates it to nmea2000, then you are done. If the gateway only translates data that is provided by a System device, then things can get a little more complicated.

The above is moot of course if you re do all your helm gauges with SC with at least one being a System version.

Henry


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I was planning to leave all factory gauges, and just let it show fuel burn from the injector duty cycle. Fuel consumed may not work.
 
OK so after more research. I have seen the smartCraft system set up a few different ways.

P motor > junction box A
S Motor > Junction box B
Junction box A > Junction box B (linking both boxes)
Y cable connecting both junction boxes A and B, to single Smartcraft cable
Single smartcraft able to Gateway... (this seams super redundant and not correct)

I have also seen

P motor > Juction Box A
S motor > Juction Box A
Gateway > Juction Box A
(No Y needed? just let the junction box connect aboth motors and the gateway)

and also

P motor and S motor to Y cable... and single smartcraft cable out to gateway.. no junction Box, just the Y cable ( Does this work too?)

So the last 2 are alot simpler.. but do they all work?

and then once out the gateway its all NEMA 2000 network to the backbone, and so on, understand that part pretty well i think.
 
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I was really hoping someone knew the answer to this one. I just bought a mercruiser NMEA 2000 gateway and am trying to figure out the best way to wire it up. I may just try the single junction box idea and see how it goes.
 
where did you get the gateway and how much? SO far the cheapest I have found is 365... looking for a better deal ha
 
There are all types of setups .. I have dual motor, mechanical shift and I have one 6 way junction box , all 10 pin connectors are taken up on that. Junction box. I want to install vessel view mobile, so I bought another 4 way junction box and the CAN link harness. The thought is to take the data harness' from engines to 4 way junction along with the VVM and link the existing 6 way junction to the 4 way junction with the CAN harness.. I have not tried it yet however.

Edit : It worked, pretty cool and for $275, it's worth it just for the code scan ... no more scan tool needed
 
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Just got done ordering the rest of the parts (finally) as shown in Post #5. That's how I'll soon be wiring my two engine system. More than $275, even with buying most of the parts off eBay.


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Sorry I was talking about vessel view Bluetooth module @ $275 ... the can bus was $29 and the 4 way junction was $65, so yes total was just under $375
 
There are all types of setups .. I have dual motor, mechanical shift and I have one 6 way junction box , all 10 pin connectors are taken up on that. Junction box. I want to install vessel view mobile, so I bought another 4 way junction box and the CAN link harness. The thought is to take the data harness' from engines to 4 way junction along with the VVM and link the existing 6 way junction to the 4 way junction with the CAN harness.. I have not tried it yet however.

Edit : It worked, pretty cool and for $275, it's worth it just for the code scan ... no more scan tool needed


I re-powered and have SC cables coming from the engines up to helm where they are connected to my analog gauges via analog adapters. I also have dual control mechanical shift. Ultimately I would like to do away with the analog gauges and add a single VV702 but in the interim would a 6-way junction with the engines coming into 2 ports, analog adapters coming out of 2 and the VV Mobile out of 1 work and provide me with the alarm codes, etc.? Under $400 vs +/- $2,700 for the 702 kit & new dash panel seems like a good short term solution. Likewise, for another $100 could I use the same setup but swap out the VV Mobile for a NMEA Gateway and display the data on my HDS?
 

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