NMEA 2000 gateway to Diesel View

[John Rucker]

I want to say what a fantastic forum. It is so refreshing to find this!

I have a 2006 48 SeaRay Sundancer with twin cummins QSC 8.3 (ESN 46529161 and ESN 46529055). My Diesel view controller head is part number 4932604 and I have rev 5 Sims on both engines. All my Smart-Craft stuff (analog dashboard gauges, engine sync switch, etc. works just fine. However, my diesel view display is starting to fade and appears to be hading south as they seem to do. Last year I updated RADAR, Chart Plotters and AIS to twin RayMarine 12″ Axiom MFDs. This year the goal was to connect the engine data into the RayMarine Axiom system. So in talking to my local Mercury dealer here in down state Illinois they suggested I install the Mercury NMEA 2000 Gateway to convert the Diesel View engine and system view data to NMEA 2000.

Well after spending a ton of hours and several cables it isn’t working. The gateway fires up and all LEDs light as they should but the correct NMEA 2000 PGNs are not being sent across. My local guys say this should work as they have installed the gateways on other boats (turns out to be gas outdrive engines). They and I both are scratching our heads as to why this is not working. After reading through this site I would think if this gateway was a viable option someone would have posted it here. Since I haven’t found any information I’m wondering if my 2006 QSC 8.3 are too old to work with the gateway. Does anyone have experience with this gateway and my engines? What could I be doing wrong. My NMEA gateway is configured correctly I have a NMEA 2000 sniffer and can see the data that is being transmitted. So I don’t think it is an issue with wiring or configuration of the RayMarine MFDs.

At this point I’m thinking my best option is to upgrade the Diesel View to the Mercury VesselView 403. Will I be able to buy this from you guys? I will be happy to wait if you don’t have them in stock. Will my existing gauges (and engine sync switch) continue to work with the new VesselView 403 once I remove my Diesel View head unit? From my understanding I will not have to replace my existing wiring harness. Is this correct? Once I have the VesselView 403 installed will it send my engine telemetry over NMEA 2000 to my MFD?

Thanks for hosting this forum!

Topic

[Paul]

N2K gateway for QSC

Bringing this thread back to life instead of starting a new one since there’s such great info included. 

Helping a buddy who wants to get QSC 8.3 @593hp onto the N2K network for Furuno MFDs.  I’m not really sure if he as VV or SmartCraft (does it matter?). I’m familiar with the Furuno side of things and have used the YDEG-04 for my C12’s for the same setup, just need figure out the Cummins connections.  What else do you need to know to verify if the Cummins / SmartCarft Multi-Engine (1-4) NMEA 2000 Gateway will work?  

One engine ESN is 60344052

 

Thanks!

[Al]

The stock harness that I had going from the j-box to VV was only about 1 meter long so it should be somewhere within that radius. It certainly looks like you have a stock harness, those two red connectors look like system link plugs that go to the gauges. I would keep following the black harness shield, it sort of looks like it might be going down from where you took the picture.

[JP Lazo]

Junction box.

Under my helm this what have. The wires coming from the vessel view lead to the boy plug and the two red ones. I can’t find anything else. How far downstream could the next junction box be?

[JP Lazo]

Box

Ok. I’ll go take a look and report back with pictures.

[Al]

The junction box(es) we are looking for are separate from your VV slots. You need to follow the cables of the multi-pin connectors you show on the back of the VV. They should be connected to what we are looking for. I suppose it’s possible your cables are coming straight from the engines although I have never heard of that. If you don’t have any junction boxes that will need to go on your list of purchases for the install. Better picture attached.

[JP Lazo]

Box

Mine is attached above. On the back of my VV there are two multi-pin connector slots, both taken, and two usb. Somehow I would have to add more multi pin connector slots.

[Al]

If you are going to leave your VV alone then you would just need to select a gateway. SB used to sell them, not sure if they still do but I’m guessing Corey will chime in. Nothing needs to connect to your existing VV but will attach to a Junction Box you should have at last one if not two of. The attached picture is not great but look at the lower left corner. That is part of one of my J-Boxes (I have two 6-port boxes. If you could look for yours and attach pictures it will provide a good idea of where you can install the gateways.

[JP Lazo]

links

Do you have links and diagrams for everything? Im trying to figure out if this is something I can tackle myself. The back of my VV has no open ports and I don’t want to spend the money to upgrade my current VV to a newer version unless I have to.

[Al]

Smartcraft and J1939

I’ve made the conversion on a 2008 40MY with the same engines so I imagine our setups are nearly identical although I had the older DieselView as my display. I replaced the Smartcraft DieselView with a VesselView 4. In addition to providing its own display, the VV4 had the ability to convert the Smartcraft data to NMEA 2000 as well as to preserve the functionality of the dash guages (which are Smartcraft as well and perhaps an important consideration for you). Once the data was available on NMEA, my Garmins picked it right up and set up gauge pages pretty well.
There are other Mercury options to do the engine data conversion including gateways that only provide the NMEA conversion discussed earlier in this thread plus newer versions of VesselView that others may comment on. There is also SB Marine’s J1939 solution you can see on this site. So, lots of options for the engine data.
To my knowledge, none of the above address your generator data. Mercury dropped the direct connection through Smartcraft several years ago. VesselViews will display the generator data but only if it comes in via NMEA 2000.
But, there is a solution. It’s not well documented but an an internet acquaintance and I figured it out. There should be a Network Interface Module (NIM) on your generator that provides a Smartcraft data stream. It is connected to the Smartcraft harness coming off one of your engines and comes in to your VesselView along with your engine data. The NIM is actually also capable of sending J1939 data with some changes to jumper settings. So, by installing a J1939-NMEA 2000 gateway you can get generator data. There are two converters I know of that will work:
Maretron J2K100 (my buddy used this one)
Yacht Devices (YD) YDEG-04 (I settled on this one after testing the Maretron)
My friend already had NMEA 2000 drops in his engine room so he spliced into the Smartcraft harness to wire up his Mareton. I had an open port on one of my helm J-boxes so I made up a connector for my install.
Both of us are getting all the available generator data with the exception of engine hours. The NIM needs to be commanded to send that and even though we tried to send the right code (the YD programmers even got involved), we haven’t gotten hours back as yet.
BTW, the Yacht Devices gateway is also capable of acting as a Smartcraft engine data gateway but you would need a separate unit for that.
If you want to pursue getting the generator data I have some pictures and diagrams that would be helpful.

1 user thanked author for this post.

samy1989700

[Al]

Smartcraft and J1939

Duplicate

[JP Lazo]

QSB’s to Garmin 1242xsv’s

Hey Corey,

Steve said to holler at you about my vessel view questions. Current set up is 2008 SeaRay Sundancer 40, QSB 5.9 425HO, Smartcraft vessel view V1.5(I think, see pics below) and two Garmin 1242 XSV touch+ MFD’s. Ive been round and round between Garmin, Mercury, local Mercury dealers and now Corey(master or all things cummins gateway related).

My VV works fine and all the data, Onan genny included, but I want to have that data on my new Garmins. Ill attach pictures of the VV and the serial number and ports for reference.

Is there a gateway that will make all this happen?

[Grant Johnson]

Port Engine won’t shut off

Ok so a dock buddy gave me one of these for my B-day and wired it up exactly like John’s diagram on exactly the same boat and engine package. Worked perfectly…. Used the boat a few times and always had data and no issues. Coming back to the dock last night went to shut down the engines and the port engine did not respond to the switch… Had to kill it at the breaker panel. Came back next morning and tested and again same issue. Thought maybe the switch so swapped out switches and same issue same engine. Unplugged the gateway from the hub and then the switch works and shuts down the engine. Plugged it into the other hub and now the starboard engine will not shut off via the switch. You feel the module and it is extremely hot. Double checked all my wiring and the NEMA2000 network has power. Thinking this thing went bad???

[giuseppe101410]

Corey,

i have installed NMEA2000 (purchased through SBMAR) gateway connected to Raymarine E125 MFD but not getting any engine data.

any tips?

Giuseppe

[Dave Carlson]

As usual the knowledge on this site is beyond compare.
I did as described above and got fuel on tank #3 on my ES 127. I just hid the other pop ups on the fuel page and everything is fine, no need to change codes.
Thanks to Cory and rustysmaule.

[rustysmaule]

FInally a solution to the mising data

After installing the Gateway and discovering that I had no Starboard fuel tank indication I consulted the Raymarine forum and was pointed in the direction that would help correct the issue. The problem is with the Instance ID in the PGN 127500 code which corresponds to the fuel tank quantity. The codes Instance ID should be 00 and 01 respectively for the port and Starboard tanks. I was able to find the list of PGN sentences on the diagnostics page on the gs165 and found that the Instance IDs are set to 02 and 03. See the attached photo.
I need to use a NEMA 2000 analyzer and a laptop with specific software to change the instances. I ordered an Actisense NGT-1-USB so we will see how it goes, This is a bit out of my core competency but the local Raymarine dealer was going to need to charge me $650 minimum to do the corrections the actisense NGT-1 cost $235. As a temporary patch on a hunch I set the boat details on the MFD to show 4 tanks and Viola, I have accurate data on tank#3 for now Ill label it my Starboard tank.
Ill post my experience once I get everything working.

[Dave Carlson]

I am having the same problem with QSC 500’s. I was just going to post to search for an answer!

[Corey Schmidt]

rustysmaule wrote:

I installed my gateway yesterday with no complications with the connections and every parameter functions with the exception of the starboard fuel tank quantity. A buddy with a 420SD with 480CE and same MFD all Raymarine Seatalking network has the same issue. Anyone have a fix for this? Data is displayed on the DV screen just not on the MFD.

Thanks

Rusty Mayes

I do know that with the older J1708 based engines (QSM11/480CE) the fuel and a few other peripheral parameters were broadcasted on PGN’s that are seemingly no longer supported (or have changed drastically) on the latest NMEA CAN BUS protocol… I think engine hours was another PGN that always seems to have issues with “newer” technology…

There, I’ve described the WHY but not the how to fix it… I wish I knew

[rustysmaule]

Gateway installed, no port fuel indication though

I installed my gateway yesterday with no complications with the connections and every parameter functions with the exception of the starboard fuel tank quantity. A buddy with a 420SD with 480CE and same MFD all Raymarine Seatalking network has the same issue. Anyone have a fix for this? Data is displayed on the DV screen just not on the MFD.
Thanks
Rusty Mayes

[rustysmaule]

I am about to embark on this exact journey

I just ordered the gate way from you guys yesterday and will be integrating it ti the new STNG backbone that I just installed to display data to my gs165 on my 06 Searay 44DB. I’m glad to hear others are having success as I was worried about opening a can of worms. I want to keep what little hair I have! Although I cant wait for this Covid 19 thing to blow over so I can get a trim!!!
Ill post my results once I get the gate way installed and working.
Great site and guidance by SMMAR!!!
Rusty Mayes

[Corey Schmidt]

The answer is YES, the NMEA gateway is supposed to relay all engine data including engine faults… and it should also relay any peripheral inputs as well like transmission and fuel info…

[Author]

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