FYI MERCRUISER GATEWAY FOR SMARTCRAFT ENGINES.....good news!!!!!

[rodrigo]

This is what i've been looking for for my boat, I have smartcraft compatible motors that now with this gateway nmea 2000 I can connect them to my raymarine c80 chartploter, this will give me all the info I need to know about the engines while underway... I will let you know fellow maxum owners how this works, I've been waiting for this for a while, I even considered installing the smartcraft display on my boat, No need for that anymore... I hope this helps other captains in this forum....

[Painter]

Hey Rodrigo you say your motors are smartcraft compatible. Are they hooked to standard gauges and throttles. I have an 04 3100 that is all manual but the motors are also labled as smartcraft. Will this allow me to connect to my Garmin with nmea 2000. Do you have any more info? I am going to start looking this up for myself this sounds great.

[Painter]

I have added some info for hose who are interested. It is the MULTI ENGINE N2K GATEWAY, Merc part # 84-8M0065208 this number is for multiple engines. Can be purchased fromVeradoClubParts (cheapest I have seen) $368 for both single engine or multi engine version. http://www.veradoclubparts.com/category_s/48.htm

Spec sheet http://www.brunswick-marine.com/medi...ll%20sheet.pdf

My understanding is that all MPI Mercruiser engines are Smartcraft capable. They started equipping in 2001.
There is not a lot of info out there, But if you search there are boaters using it now and working out bugs. Was launched in October of 2012.
If anyone finds info on a setup with Garmin can they pass the info along. I will continue looking for more info but I think it is great.

[rodrigo]

Hi Painter, I ordered the part for it, after I install it I will let you know how it works....wish me luck!, that is the part number, and thats about what i paid for it, if it works for raymarine it would definately work for garmin...

[rodrigo]

Painter this is diagram and all the parts you need to do it.... the only thing I need to figure it out is where the harness connect to the engine to transmit all this data to my Raymarine... i will let you know when I know...

[Painter]

Hi Rodrigo, where did you find that picture info? The wiring is updated from the info I have. Send some pics too when you get the install started. I'm going to start measuring cable lengths and put my list together so a can solidify pricing. Unfortunately I am in the midst of replacing both of my couplers right now. Just getting organized to start pulling out both engines as there is no room to replace while in the boat.
Keep me informed.

[rodrigo]

Hi Painter,
I got it from Mercruiser, I just have to figure it out to connect it to the engines since I could not find a connector on the engines, it sounds like a $600-700 project including all, worth it!. good luck with those couplers.

[rodrigo]

Here is an update on my project, I got most of the parts from mercury, I missing a couple of parts from Raymarine, so far I have installed all the mercury parts, once I have everything I will need to have a mercury dealer come out to the boat with the computer to label my port engine to "port", now both of them are starboard since I didnt have smartcraft gauges before.....here are some pictures of my progress.

[Painter]

Hey Rodrigo just wondering how the Gateway for Smartcraft is working out. What information are you able to recieve on your Raymarine?

[rodrigo]

Hi Painter, I did all the connections and I had a mercury dealer come out to the boat to label the engines, I get rpm's, alternator, and oil pressure right now, i ordered 2 harnesses that connect the fuel tank sending unit to the engine and this goes through nmea 2000 to the raymarine, the only disadvantage with this is that by connecting the engine to the tank this will make the analog fuel gauge not work, the solution to that is to add an other sending unit to the tanks, but I rather have the fuel level on my raymarine anyways, I figured it is more accurate.
I should also get fuel flow which is not showing on the display just yet, I'm not sure if it will while underway, I have not had the chance to go out on the boat yet, hopefully this weekend, I did call mercury on it and they are looking into it since this is one of the most important features that I wanted...by the way the support team at mercruiser are very helpful and willing to deal with you, even though my engines are out of warranty...(nice people), same with raymarine!

[rodrigo]

Painter,
I'm still working on this project, even though I have it all connected it does not work properly, when I start my starboard engine I get all the data I want but when I start the 2nd one my fuel data goes away with engine hours and fuel level, I'm trying to figure it out with mercruiser, they are very helpful, they sent me a 2nd gateway that works better but not 100% in addition to all this my engines are switched on the screen and there is no way to change this on the raymarine, I also had a mercury tech to come to the boat to label the engines as starboard outside and port outside! by the time I'm done with this I'll be a pro and I will be able to give you good data... wish me luck!

[Painter]

Rodrigo,
Wishing you luck on getting it all working, keep me informed. Looks like I'm into full boating mode every weekend and what other time I can get till October. Right now all the larger projects are on the back burner. Hope your out on the water now or soon to be.

[rodrigo]

yea I'm on the water although the weather has not been very good here in Boston, water temp still to cold to swim and the temps not warm enough, hopefully this will change soon, also planing a trip to the vineyard this summer for shark week...should be fun!
happy boating!

[Biggusstickus]

Are there any updates on this Rodrigo, I am looking to do the same thing and like you the fuel flow is one of the main things I am after. Any luck with it?

[Axxis78]

Originally Posted by rodrigo

Painter,
I'm still working on this project, even though I have it all connected it does not work properly, when I start my starboard engine I get all the data I want but when I start the 2nd one my fuel data goes away with engine hours and fuel level, I'm trying to figure it out with mercruiser, they are very helpful, they sent me a 2nd gateway that works better but not 100% in addition to all this my engines are switched on the screen and there is no way to change this on the raymarine, I also had a mercury tech to come to the boat to label the engines as starboard outside and port outside! by the time I'm done with this I'll be a pro and I will be able to give you good data... wish me luck!

Rodrigo
I need to say thanks for your posts as they are very helpful. I am trying to do the same on my boat ex. transfer data from the engines to my SIMRAD plotter NSS7. I have 2 mercs 350 MAG which are smartcraft ready and i have made the same installation like yours except the plug that connects the 2 J-boxes together (the mercury guys did not tell me to use this). I have the same problem, I can see data only from 1 engine - always the one that is connected to the starboard plug. I have contacted the mercury guys and they blame SIMRAD. Do you have any idea what might be the problem? Do I really need that cable to connect the 2 J-boxes?

[pgp]

For anyone doing this with twin motors, you have to get the tech to attach his computer to the motors and change the setting on one motor. Basically it is like an id for the motor on the BUS. If you don't then you get the results posted above. One motor works great but with both all data (or some data) is lost. This is due to the info on the network having the same id. So the system thinks it is a single motor. I hope I explained this ok?

Paul