Engine Data on 480CE J1939 bus?

[Nicholas]

This came up briefly in another discussion but I thought it made sense to make the topic it’s own thread. Does anyone know if, on the 480CE, the engine data (such fuel burn, loading, RPM, etc) is sent over J1939 bus as well as the J1708 bus? The “C8.3 Marine Electronic Control System Troubleshooting and Repair Manual” shows a pin-out for the 9-pin diagnostic connector that shows both J1708 and J1939 high and low conductors. But the manual seems to be written generically for cummins ECM’s of the time period and does not specify whether all the parameters are on both busses for this particular ECM/engine.

I should also note that my engines have the C-Cruise function, which I believe also operates on the J1939 bus.

I know for sure that the parameters I want run over the 1708 connections since the boat previously had ED-X displays (that are now nonfunctional) connected via 1708 at the helm.

The reason I ask is that I’d like to splice into the J1939 twisted pair that runs to the diagnostic connectors on the helm, attach a NMEA 2000 gateway, and then be able to view the data on my garmin 7607. There is a company that makes a 1708 gateway that would do the same thing, but the J1939 data would (presumably) be higher speed with more frequent updates…or at least that’s what my thought proceess was. Plus its easier to find J1939 to NMEA 2000 gateways than it is to find J1708 to NMEA 2000 gateways.

Topic

[Jay Brussels]

480CE J1939 Data

I am running a J1939 to NEMA2000 Gateway with dual 480CE’s.  Normally the engines are numbered on the J1939 bus as engine 0 and engine 1.  On my 2004 Riviera they are engine 0 and engine 239.  The converter changes this to 0 & 1 for the N2K bus.  I receive everything that is on the  J1708 bus.

[Matt G]

Gateway

Hey did you ever gateway works to read the engine data on the 480ce?

[Luis Jove]

I know this is an old post but I am currently going trough the same process of wanting to view my engine data from my 480ce with C Cruise functions in my Garmin MFD, may I ask which gateway  did you ended up getting and how did you install it?

[Nicholas]

resolution

Just wanted to close this out in case anyone ever stumbles over this thread and wanted to know how it worked out. Ultimately, I decided to abandon idea of tapping into the J1939 bus. I use the c-cruise engine sync function commonly which from what I understand operates over the J1939 connections between the engines. So I didn’t want to mess with that. I was able to find a J1708 to NMEA2000 gateway and it was pretty straightforward to install and get my engines connected to my garmin MFDs.

2 users thanked author for this post.

promdate2, Corey Schmidt

[Tony Athens]

I also believe this would work, but Corey would have to concur..

Set each engine up as if it was a single engine (starboard) and DO not try and let them talk to each other.. Then, you can do what ever you want with J-1939..

Tony

[Nicholas]

Yes that’s what I was trying to get to the bottom of. There is someone who has said they were able to get the data over J1939 without the “master/slave” issue that you are alluding to, but I’ve also seen discussions of folks who ran into the problem of only being able to see one engine without changing the jumper. So it seems sticking with the J1708 may be the only way to be assured it will work.

[Corey Schmidt]

480CE J1939

The 480CE is a unique beast in this world. Since the J1939 is used to multiplex all of the systems together, I have not seen anyone have any luck tapping into the J1939 bus without experiencing “cross-talk”… which means that typically you will only see STBD engine data and nothing from the port engine. You may have better luck trying to piggy back on the J1708 signal and convert that to NMEA 2000 if there is an available converter out there…

[Author]

Replies