NMEA 2000: Connecting Smartcraft Engine to Network

Electrical and electronic topics for small boats
Trophy Rich
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NMEA 2000: Connecting Smartcraft Engine to Network

Postby Trophy Rich » Sun Mar 22, 2020 1:17 pm

A question about NMEA 2000 and connecting a Mercury engine to the network:

I have a Mercruiser 350 MPI engine. I also have Lowrance [presumably an ELITE]-9ti chart plotter-SONAR, ICOM IC-M330 VHF radio, and later will be connecting a fuel tank level sender.

I have the Mercury Smartcraft NMEA 2000 Gateway Module # 8M0151748 and a NMEA-2000 starter kit. I have the network connected and powered up. When the Lowrance chart plotter and the Mercury engine are running, I have solid lights on the Mercury Smartcraft.

The Lowrance shows a "CAN P" in the device list, and when I go to the diagnostics page on the Lowrance, it shows transmission on the Rx, Tx as well as a data log building from the "CAN P."

But when I go to the virtual gauges [on the chart plotter] there's no dial pointers on the gauges. This is where I am lost.

I am an HVAC start up rep, I do a lot of BACNET integration to BAS and HVAC equip. so I am familiar with clicking around and checking network device instances, Baud rates, Network ID's, MAC Address, Blah Blah, Blah, and found that there were "languages." This I'm not familiar with.

Also there was a Device ID in the Lowrance that was 000. When I tried to change it it would not let me. I couldn't find anything in the Mercury Gateway info that said what ID to use or what the "language" was. I have a feeling one or both of those are my problem.

Any thoughts?

jimh
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Re: NMEA 2000 mercury to lowrance...

Postby jimh » Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:32 pm

You should read some background information on NMEA-2000 networks. I recommend starting with the most basic information:

NMEA-2000 Networks and Modern Outboard Engines
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/NMEA2000.html

Also follow several of the hyperlinks in the above article to more information. In particular, read the linked articles from NMEA and the article about connecting Mercury engines.

Make sure your network is properly wired, has proper terminations, and proper power. You CANNOT just plug the display into the gateway.

I am not familiar with the Mercury Smartcraft-to-NMEA gateway device. Sometimes these devices think they should provide network power and also a network termination. Check the instructions that came with the gateway device to be sure the device does not try to power the NMEA-2000 network or that the device tries to terminate the NMEA-2000 network.

Regarding the Lowrance multi-function display model ELITE-9ti, I am again not familiar with that particular device. I would anticipate the device would be set up by default to look for engine data coming from a sender with INSTANCE = 000.

In NMEA-2000 there can be multiple devices of the exact same type on the network simultaneously, but they must be distinguished from each other by unique INSTANCE parameters. The default INSTANCE is 000 and the INSTANCE value can go to 255.

For example, you could have twin engines with identical NMEA-2000 interface devices; to distinguish them you would set one engine to INSTANCE=000 and the other to INSTANCE=001. You set the INSTANCE for a device at the device, using some sort of interface that allows you to configure the device.

For example, for a Mercury Smartcraft-to-NMEA-2000 gateway, you probably have to have some sort of Mercury application program to set the INSTANCE of the device. I suspect that most often when you buy the Mercury gateway the INSTANCE will be pre-configured, as it won't be easy to change. If you bought a gateway that was not marked as being set for "single engine" then the INSTANCE of that gateway could be something other than OOO. Or, sometimes the INSTANCE is set by a plug-in. This allows an installer to change the instance without needing a special software tool; the installer just inserts a particular address plug into the device. I don't know exactly now the device you bought is configured for INSTANCE.

The gauges intended to display engine data will be looking for data on the network in only two parameter groups. Parameter groups are numbered for easy reference. For details about engine parameter groups see my article

NMEA-2000 Parameter Groups
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/PGN.html

If your Lowrance device has a NMEA PGN sniffer, see if there are any datagrams with PGN numbers 127488 and 127489. Most all engine-related data comes in those datagrams.

According to Lowrance, the ELITE-9ti will work with 127488 Engine Parameters, Rapid Update and 127489 Engine Parameters, Dynamic.

There is a long list of PGNs that the ELITE-9ti will work with at:

https://www.lowrance.com/lowrance/type/ ... n-cmap-pro

under the heading N2L PGNs.

Trophy Rich
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Re: NMEA 2000 mercury to lowrance...

Postby Trophy Rich » Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:40 pm

Thanks for the info Jim. I will read up on this tonight when we get home.

jimh
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Re: NMEA 2000: Connecting Smartcraft Engine to Network

Postby jimh » Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:46 pm

Trophy Rich wrote:...But when I go to the virtual gauges [on the chart plotter] there's no needles on the them....Any thoughts?


You may have to explicitly configure the multi-function display device to look for engine data from a particular source. The user guide for the display device (ELITE-9ti) should have instructions on this. If no configuration is necessary, and the display is looking for data from an engine with INSTANCE = 000, it should be good to go. Contact Lowrance support--this may be particularly hard at this very moment in time--for further advice.

When I connected by Lowrance HDS-8 to a network with a NMEA-2000 engine (E-TEC), the display immediately showed engine data without much fiddling around.

Lowrance displays usually let you customize the visual presentation of virtual gauges, so be certain you have configured them correctly. You may just need to edit each virtual gauge to configure it for a particular parameter to be shown.

jimh
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Re: NMEA 2000: Connecting Smartcraft Engine to Network

Postby jimh » Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:03 pm

Trophy Rich wrote:I have a...ICOM IC M330 VHF radio...


The ICOM IC M330 radio does not have a NMEA-2000 interface and won't be able to be connected to a NMEA-2000 network. You will need to interface the VHF Marine Band radio to your chart plotter using NMEA-0183. For advice on NMEA-0183 connections, see my long series of articles with a rich set of data at

NMEA-0183 Interface Data Collection
http://continuouswave.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=816

If you need help with the radio-to-chart plotter interface, start a new thread on that topic.

Trophy Rich wrote:...and later will be connecting a fuel tank level sender.


To connect a fuel tank level sender to a NMEA-2000 network you will need to have a NMEA-2000 FLUID TANK LEVEL convertor. For advice on these devices see my article at

NMEA-2000 Instrumentation: Fluid Tank Level Monitoring
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/fluidTankLevelNMEA2000.html

You will likely want to get the Lowrance device so that you can calibrate it with your Lowrance display. Here I assume the ELITE-9ti can do that calibration. Lowrance has a habit of omitting features in some of their lower-tier devices compared to the HDS line or CARBON line.

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Re: NMEA 2000: Connecting Smartcraft Engine to Network

Postby jimh » Mon Mar 23, 2020 2:27 pm

Re a "language" used in NMEA-2000 networking:

NMEA-2000 network devices communicate using datagrams called parameter groups, which are numbered and referred to by their name and parameter group number, also called a PGN. A device sends its data in a PGN. Other devices listen to all network traffic and read data from a PGN that they are configured to use.

Only certain types of PGNs are addressed to specific other devices. For example, in NMEA-2000 it is possible to control a network devices, such as a remote lamp power switch. So clearly a PGN intended to switch ON or OFF a particular remote device is addressed to that specific device. But data from an engine in the two common engine PGNs is just sent to the network; it does not need to be addressed to a specific network device node by network address. In other words, you should not need to configure an engine to send its engine data to a specific display device, such your Lowrance ELITE-9ti.

The NMEA organization makes very rudimentary information about their protocol available to the public at no charge. But if you need more details, you must buy a copy of the protocol at a cost of several thousand dollars. You must also agree to keep the protocol details a secret from all others. On that basis, even if I had purchased several thousand dollars of information about NMEA, I could not tell you about it because I would be violating their non-disclosure agreement required to purchase the information. Welcome to NMEA and boating electronics.

jimh
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Re: NMEA 2000: Connecting Smartcraft Engine to Network

Postby jimh » Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:40 pm

Yacht Devices has a product for about $190 that can act as a gateway for Smartcraft to NMEA-2000. See

https://www.yachtd.com/products/engine_gateway.html

I think that's substantially less than the Mercury device which I saw listed at over $400. Yacht Devices also likely offers better support for self-installers.

A Smartcraft adapter cable would also be needed with the Yacht Devices product. See

https://www.yachtd.com/static/img/dev/mercury_mercruiser_smartcraft.jpg

The cable adaptor looks like it has a male-female pair to insert into the Smartcraft network wiring, so an empty port on a Smartcraft hub is not necessary.