VesselView SmartCraft Saga in Work

[David H]

For better or worse I decided to go with the updated VesselView 502 display kit and I’m just trying to decipher what can stay and what can be removed.

I have an installer helping but we both have to reach out to the MerCruiser help line occasionally. I know in the photo the black and purple six-junction item stays; it is the Smartcraft interface to which the new 502 Link box will connect.

This will leave two large 24-pin connectors hanging from the old vesselView…. but i’m afraid they’re too integrated with wires so they might have to stay.

I was initially puzzled by the silver “junction” on the right side of the photo, but I believe it is some kind of electronic interface to the Cummins QSC8.3. It shows a part# of GCM480801.

Let me know if someone can comment on any of this… and one thing I’d really prefer is to have the new VV502 come on (“wake up”) with the engine ignition key just like the old setup.

 

Topic

[David H]

No change needed in Sim

Sorry for the late response we’ve been under way. The answer is no we did not have to change the Sim in the Cummins. I don’t know if I said this earlier but our qsc8.3 is a 2010 year model.

we’ve now put a few hundred hours on the engine with the 502 running and overall we’re happy with how it’s running. We have a pair of Garmin 1243s so engine data is now also available to them. Since the 502 is not huge, we’ve moved some important parameters over to the Garmin, like coolant temp. Also when the 502 needs a software update, it has built-in wireless so I was able to connect it to our boat hotspot and do the update.

[ebben]

Sim

Did you have to upgrade the sim on your Cummins 

[David H]

Vessel View 502 Installed

Tony had asked that I report back on my challenge of replacing an old VV with a new VV502. We finally got it complete and functional. Note that our objective was to completely remove the old VV.

It’s going okay but there are a couple of things one has to accommodate;

1. You cannot easily delete the old large VV harness with the two large square connectors because they are too interwoven with necessary wires (I assume it would require messing a lot with the huge octopus harness, which I wasn’t willing to tackle).
2. A new VV Link box must be added behind the panel but its small enough to be easy to place.
3. The new 502 does turn on with the engine ignition. However, you don’t get all the data to it until you also activate NMEA2000.

We’re still playing with different settings, but one benefit of the new Link box is that all engine data can now be shared to the other plotter MFDs. The 502 is just a small MFD itself so it has a lot of capability.  Based on our experience I would never recommend the smaller 403 unit due to limited size, and in fact if I didn’t mind spending a few more bucks, I might have sprung for the 703.

Having said that, overall we are pleased with the result. In fact we’ve found more data parameters than I had found on the old VesselView. I’ll include a couple photos; the 502 is the unit in the top right corner of the helm. Let me know if there are additional questions.

[Tony Athens]

Let us all know what you find out so you can help others and me trying to deal with Mercury ——————–We’ve given up,  and only go with the parent SAE J1939 & NEMA 2000 

[Author]

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