Mercury Vessel View Link

Electrical and electronic topics for small boats
chickenhawk
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2022 8:26 pm

Mercury Vessel View Link

Postby chickenhawk » Sun May 22, 2022 2:32 pm

Q1: can a battery be attached to a 2018 Mercury XS Pro 115 engine with Vessel View Link installed to allow my cellular telephone to connect to the engine and read engine hours and service codes, if the engine does not have attached to it any controls and switches?

Q2: how would I connect a battery directly to the engine to bring power to the unit?

BACK STORY: I may buy a 2018 Mercury XS Pro 115 engine .The engine is off the boat. The engine doesn't come with controls or anything, but it has a vessel view mobile link installed. The engine doesn't have the controls and switch.

I'm unfamiliar with Mercury engines and Vessel View. Give me advice that might help me. Thanks.

jimh
Posts: 11672
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:25 pm
Location: Michigan, Lower Peninsula
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Re: Mercury Vessel View Link

Postby jimh » Mon May 23, 2022 6:43 am

I don't think that the Vessel View Link device is contained under the engine cowling. Typically the Vessel View Link device would be located near the helm, and would be connected to the boat's Smartcraft network. If you just have a Mercury engine, I don't think you have access to Vessel View Mobile Link without connecting the engine via Smartcraft network wiring to the Vessel View Link Device.

Since you are not acquainted with Mercury engines or with Vessel View, I do not recommend you experiment with trying to fashion your own power connection to the engine by wiring it directly to a battery. Typically in an outboard engine, the power to energize the engine control unit is provided by a circuit in the ignition key switch that returns battery voltage to the engine via a fused circuit when the ignition key switch is in the RUN or START position. Lashing up some haywire circuit to accomplish this could cause harm to the engine if not done properly.

If you want to have the engine evaluated, you could hire a Mercury dealer to connect the engine to his test stand, and then using the proprietary Mercury Diagnostic Tool, the dealer could read the engine hours and other engine history information.