Nmea2000 interface for 2005 340da

T

teekster

Member
Oct 5, 2006
327
Minnetrista, MN
Boat Info
340 Sundancer, 2005
Engines
8.1L V-drives
I recently installed a simrad go7 and would like to use the integrated vesselview monitor. The new vesselview link seems to be more expensive than a mercmonitor or the older smartcraft to nmea2k interface. What would be the best option for a 2005 with 8.1l engines?
 
scooper321 said:
Mercruiser makes a Smartcraft to NMEA2000 Gateway t convert engine data to the NMEA 2000 bus. Your Go7 can pick it up and display it. The gateway is this:

https://embed.widencdn.net/pdf/plus...mc9/8M0071193_SC_Gateway-0113_LR.pdf?u=orhjei


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk...
Click to expand...

Thanks, I had seen that. Is there a difference between that and the new vesselview link? The newer simrad and lowrance mfds come with a vessel view screen that emulates the mercruiser devices. Wondering if you would need the new interface.
 
teekster said:
Thanks, I had seen that. Is there a difference between that and the new vesselview link? The newer simrad and lowrance mfds come with a vessel view screen that emulates the mercruiser devices. Wondering if you would need the new interface.
Click to expand...

Yes, there is a difference. VV uses the proprietary smartcraft network, correct? NMEA 2000 is an open network, which would allow you to connect many different devices around your boat all on to that network. Smartcraft would only connect engine data, I think. I guess if your go7 has a SC Interface on the back of it, you could connect a smartcraft cable directly to it. But if it doesn't have a SC connector, how would you get the SC data into the chart plotter? And how many different networks do you want on your boat? If you want to monitor your fuel tanks, your trim tabs, sonar, Control your stereo, get data from a camera, or Connect the chart plotter to any other peripheral, you would probably want an NMEA 2000 network. I don't know enough about the go7 to be able to answer your question in more detail about VV.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
teekster said:
http://www.marine-review.com/2016/02/featured/mercury-vesselview-link/

link to to a description of the new interface. Still not sure what is different from the old smartcraft to nmea2k interface.
Click to expand...

That looks like a cool product. Did you watch the video? Really nice integration with Simrad! The article says the other guys can't get the same level of access to other NMEA 2000 data as the Simrad does via this VV Link. Not sure why... I mean, if the output of the VV Link is NMEA 2000, shouldn't any manufacturer be able to see it? I guess not. But if you have a Simrad, this is a cool product. You would still need the Smarcraft cables, a Smartcraft junction (if you have multiple engines) and then connect that to this. But if this is less than $455 (the cost of the Mercury NMEA 2000 Gateway), this is a nice addition for a Simrad-enabled helm!

I love the Simrad's , but am leaning toward Garmin, just because of price. But this brings a new feature to the table... hmmm.....

Thanks for sharing this!
 
scooper321 said:
Bummer. Just did a quick search on pricing. For a VSSLink single engine application, it's about $430. For a multi-engine, it's over $800. Ouch.

http://cheapmercuryparts.com/index.php?route=product/search&filter_name=VSSLNK

A NMEA2000 Gateway is only $450 and supports multiple engines. Like all things Simrad, this feature is at the high end of the price curve.... (sigh)
Click to expand...


That's why I am looking to see if there is any knowledge of an advantage for the new link over the old one. My boat is an '05, so I may not even get the full advantage of the new link. The websites for simrad and Mercury are a bit sparse on details.
 
teekster said:
That's why I am looking to see if there is any knowledge of an advantage for the new link over the old one. My boat is an '05, so I may not even get the full advantage of the new link. The websites for simrad and Mercury are a bit sparse on details.
Click to expand...

You know, six months later and I re-read this thread and realized I had no idea what I was talking about. I'm looking at adding either the Smartcraft/N2K gateway, or a Vesselview 4 or perhaps this VesselView Link (although I can't seem to find this on line anywhere) and I have the same questions you did. What DOES the VV Link actually get you over the gateway or a VV4? Just split screen on Simrad MFD's? Looks like a lot of ECO, trim and troll control, which don't apply to our boats.

Did you ever get an answer from someone who knew what they were talking about (i.e. - not me)?
 
anyone ever get answers to this
llooking to adding a lowrance to my 2002 and connecting the smart craft motors to its engine data NMEA 2000 network
 
I have VV7 and with it I can link the engine data from smartcraft to my Raymarine e95. Before I had the VV7 and I had the old Sc5000 and I had to have the merc gateway to get the data to the e95. I get the same data either way.
 
do you still have the old gateway?
 
I'm looking at upgrading my electronics. Thinking about either Simrad or Lowrance. In either case, I plan to use either a Merc NMEA 2K gateway or the VV Link. Did any of you guys try one of them? From what I can tell, my 2005 Merc Horizon motors are not compatible with VV Link, so I'm thinking the NMEA 2K gateway is the ticket. Please share what you know...
 
I just finally pulled the trigger on this.

My 2002 I am told would work with VV but all functions like detailed faults would not. So the gateway gives all the info I can use.

Also in my findings there is multiple ways to hook this up. Single J-Box, dual J-boxes, and now I found another hopefully.

Merc racing uses a Yellow Y harness to eliminate the J boxes all together...

So I am running smart craft cables from each motor, to this Yellow Y cable, then from that to a male to male gender bender (basicly a 2 port j box) to the gateway. To nmea2000. Supposed to work, be clean install, and all cables.

The fancy yellow Y has diodes so you don’t have to disconnect power on one of the motors, and either or will work/power the gateway if you had to run on single.. the single J box set up you have to disconnect power feed on the smart craft cable on one of the motors. Other wise the motors are both feeding the power wires and back feeds the other motor/ECU. The dual J box set up with a data only jumper solves that issue but is a lot more parts.

Will install Parts this next week. So hopefully it works !
 
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