New MercMonitor compatible with NMEA 2000 Chartploters

barryg

Member
Jun 24, 2007
966
Fort Lauderdale
Boat Info
2005 320 Sundancer, Garmin 5208
Engines
Twin V-Drives 350 Mags
When I was at the Miami Boat show I went to the Mercury booth and saw what I've been wanting for 2 years; to be able to hook up my Chart Plotter to my smartcraft and show all the information on the great screen that Garmin has in my 5208 (I know Raymarine also has a great gauge screen). Of course Mercury for years would only let their sensors talk to their Smartcraft screens whether it was the Vessel View or a Northstar GPS.
Now they have new MercMonitor gauges that not only replace your gauges but will talk to any NMEA 2000 device and feed all that date to it.

Different versions if you are single engine or like me, twin engines. Works with the 350 mags, the 8.2 horizons etc. So my questions are if anyone has purchased this system yet, and if there is any source for getting the gauges and cable connectors at a discount...

http://www.mercurymarine.com/_media/pdfs/smartcraft/components/NMEA-Gateway-sell-sheet.pdf

Thanks,

Barry
 
I want to add it too, but looking for a good source that will give a discount.. Let me know where you find it and for how much etc.
 
My CC has a NMEA 2000 compatible Crusader in it. I thought about integrating it to my RM display for "engine gauge" functions, then realized it was, IMO, a stupid idea and didn't do it.

Keep in mind that aside from fuel levels, all other engine functions (oil press, engine temp, voltage, rpms, etc) need to be CONSTANTLY monitored- not just checked "every so often". Basically what you're doing is using a very expensive multifunction computerized display as a monitor. You can no longer use it as a plotter, radar, etc.

If you already have the info on the "Smarcraft" screen (if I understood you correctly) what would be the purpose of exporting the data to your chartplotter?
 
With the garmin you can not only have it on the main Chartplotter where you can still see your maps, radar etc, but they have a separate small display you can buy separately that can be dedicated to all that. I do NOT have a systemview or vessel view, only the digital part of my tachs and speedo that I have to scroll through to get any data, and the amount of information that can be displayed on the Garmin is much more detailed. You can also split screen and have 2 or 3 different things up at one time-I usually have GPS and radar split, or sometimes gps and my video feed which is a rear reverse mounted camera to see what and who is behind me when I'm in heavy traffic.
 
My CC has a NMEA 2000 compatible Crusader in it. I thought about integrating it to my RM display for "engine gauge" functions, then realized it was, IMO, a stupid idea and didn't do it.

Keep in mind that aside from fuel levels, all other engine functions (oil press, engine temp, voltage, rpms, etc) need to be CONSTANTLY monitored- not just checked "every so often". Basically what you're doing is using a very expensive multifunction computerized display as a monitor. You can no longer use it as a plotter, radar, etc.

If you already have the info on the "Smarcraft" screen (if I understood you correctly) what would be the purpose of exporting the data to your chartplotter?


The reason I am adding this in is so that I can record all the real time engine, boat inputs using my plotter and then using my PC to later analyze them.
Also I can set alarms on my plotter and have a separate monitoring system. My plotter will allow me to input engine, boat information onto the main screen as a small window so I can get "the full picture" easily.
 
I guess if you have a large enough screen you can split-screen it.
I set up the screen on my E80 for the heck of it and to get it all on there it took up the entire screen. Split screen was too small to be useable.
 
Did anyone ever install the Mercmonitor, 66 pony, any others? I have not been able to find anything more than a sales brochure for it. Looks like close to $1K outlay for a Twin engine application. I read some posts at a different site suggesting the ECO_SCREEN will not work properly without DTS. With no real hard specs from Merc, I have no idea?
 
I have it installed. Have not been able to get the boat's NMEA 2000 network to work correctly. The MercMonitor seems to work well itself. The ECO screen is nice but I would not recommend buying it just for that. To be honest, it seems to be a nice toy, but not a cost effective tool at this point.
 
I have it installed. Have not been able to get the boat's NMEA 2000 network to work correctly. The MercMonitor seems to work well itself. The ECO screen is nice but I would not recommend buying it just for that. To be honest, it seems to be a nice toy, but not a cost effective tool at this point.

You may want to check with Merc. I have read other threads that suggest there were 2 problems in the early production models of the MercMonitor. One is NMEA2K problems and the other was a problem reading the display with Sunglasses on. Both are supposedly fixed on current production models. Others reported they were able to get Merc to swap it out with a newer model.

Do you have DTS? The main reason I would buy it would be N2K interface but that ECO Screen would be a nice way to help offset the $1K I need to drop on the thing. I have heard that ECO Screen will not work properly without DTS. Unfortunately our friends at Merc don't have any kind of White paper or technical specifications I have been able to find anyway- other than a "pretty" sales brochure or two.

Thanks!
 
You may want to check with Merc. I have read other threads that suggest there were 2 problems in the early production models of the MercMonitor. One is NMEA2K problems and the other was a problem reading the display with Sunglasses on. Both are supposedly fixed on current production models. Others reported they were able to get Merc to swap it out with a newer model.

Do you have DTS? The main reason I would buy it would be N2K interface but that ECO Screen would be a nice way to help offset the $1K I need to drop on the thing. I have heard that ECO Screen will not work properly without DTS. Unfortunately our friends at Merc don't have any kind of White paper or technical specifications I have been able to find anyway- other than a "pretty" sales brochure or two.

Thanks!

I do have the DTS on my system. It works well. I know that the display is hard to read with sunglasses on,
Thanks for the heads up. I will check with Merc on the issues of the N2K. I will need to check and see whom I should contact on this one. Do you have a contact number? I have already switched out my GPS/ChartPlotter to see that it was not the N2K issue. (Lowrance HDS unit).

Thanks
 
I do have the DTS on my system. It works well. I know that the display is hard to read with sunglasses on,
Thanks for the heads up. I will check with Merc on the issues of the N2K. I will need to check and see whom I should contact on this one. Do you have a contact number? I have already switched out my GPS/ChartPlotter to see that it was not the N2K issue. (Lowrance HDS unit).

Thanks

Unfortunately I don't have a contact number other than the advertised Customer Service Number. I was transferred a couple times within the "Mercruiser Customer Support" to get more information on MM and could not even find anyone who knew what a MercMonitor was. Finally they took my number and promised someone would call me back to answer all my questions. That was 7 weeks ago and I am still waiting. Sad really.....

I read several different posts referring to the N2K and Sunglass issue and it sounded like they were exchanging the early models that had problems but not doing a formal recall. It would probably be best to start with the dealer where you got the MM.

You have probably already tried this but I did read where you have to go in to the Calibration and specifically enable N2K for it to work. Not sure if you have done that yet.

I can't help but ask- did this even come with any instructions or a manual?
 
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As far as an instruction manual there is a 170 page booklet that they sent with it. There is a a contact number, I have not tried it. Look into this and see what we have going on. The issue is that I am an hour away from the boat so I do not get to work on it as much as I would like.
 

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