Upgrade From SmartCraft 5000 to VesselView 403

[340 Ray]

My SmartCraft 5000 is having issues so Mercury Marine tells me it is possible to upgrade to VesselView 403 or others. I want to do this myself and want tips from others who have done this. Following is my understanding of this job:
1. Determine if behind my helm there is a J-box with 2 open positions
2. If no J-box need to run a 10-wire bundle back to engines and connect to existing wires
3. Need service mgr with Mercury diagnostic tool to assign engines
4. The 403 gauge is smaller in footprint so make a filler blank in dash

Yesterday spoke with customer services (Mercury Marine) and the guy was very helpfull and had done many of these in the past. Also spoke with Co local Sea Ray dealer and he also was very helpful, although wanted my boat in winter to do this job, 4 hr's away. Found a new unit on Ebay for $987
*Can I do this job?
*How long will it take?

 

[RBB]

My SmartCraft 5000 is having issues so Mercury Marine tells me it is possible to upgrade to VesselView 403 or others. I want to do this myself and want tips from others who have done this. Following is my understanding of this job:
1. Determine if behind my helm there is a J-box with 2 open positions
2. If no J-box need to run a 10-wire bundle back to engines and connect to existing wires
3. Need service mgr with Mercury diagnostic tool to assign engines
4. The 403 gauge is smaller in footprint so make a filler blank in dash

Yesterday spoke with customer services (Mercury Marine) and the guy was very helpfull and had done many of these in the past. Also spoke with Co local Sea Ray dealer and he also was very helpful, although wanted my boat in winter to do this job, 4 hr's away. Found a new unit on Ebay for $987
*Can I do this job?
*How long will it take?

I would like to do the same in a 2004 390my.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Short version is that it can be an easy DIY. I did it from nothing on an 02 8.1 280 sundancer.

You have a SC5000, so you must have a J box. It will also be close to to the SC5000 because the SC5000 wiring harness is only about 3 feet at its longest.

The complication is if it is tied into your GPS/chartplotter for sharing waypoint, route, and navigation data. The SC 5000 has a very simple two wire NMEA01983 interface. VV uses NMEA 2000. NMEA2000 is on par with a coaxial ethernet LAN in terms of complexity.

We now reach the point of needing to know what you have for gauges and what your chartplotter is if you have GPS integration with the SC5000.

 

[alnav]

I installed a VV403 to replace DieselView on a 2008 40MY and it was very straightforward in my case. An issue that may or may not apply is loss of generator data, if you have that on your current display. The 403 will display generator data but only if it comes in via N2K, which is possible but may be complex. This may or may not apply or be important even if it does but I thought I would mention it as a potential consideration. I certainly agree with Henry that where the non-Smartcraft data is coming from (and going to) needs to be part of the plan.

 

[340 Ray]

Well I now really need the 403 since my 5000 is very dead. New boat to me last month so I have never seen any data from the 5000. My J-Box is very close to the old unit and my Chart Plotter did interface with the 5000 so things should work with the soon to be new 403.
I have found an Ebay seller in CA that sells the units for $987.95 Extreme Custom Marine, Paul knows these systems well and has spent time on the phone with me. Unit number is 8M0124498, my Sea Ray dealer sells this for $1107.00. Anyone know of a better place to purchase a unit? I will purchase one next week and help others with install as needed.
Dennis

 

[RBB]

Well I now really need the 403 since my 5000 is very dead. New boat to me last month so I have never seen any data from the 5000. My J-Box is very close to the old unit and my Chart Plotter did interface with the 5000 so things should work with the soon to be new 403.
I have found an Ebay seller in CA that sells the units for $987.95 Extreme Custom Marine, Paul knows these systems well and has spent time on the phone with me. Unit number is 8M0124498, my Sea Ray dealer sells this for $1107.00. Anyone know of a better place to purchase a unit? I will purchase one next week and help others with install as needed.
Dennis

I would make local sea ray dealer a offer. That way if they sell it to u they will more than likely be friendly if u need install tips.

 

[Atalla]

Tangential question, does the VV403 have the same bolt pattern as the SC5000? No installation template required?

 

[340 Ray]

Tangential question, does the VV403 have the same bolt pattern as the SC5000? No installation template required?

Great question: It is a bit different sized. I used a piece of black plastic and cut a square just larger that the 5000 size and mounted the 403 into it and then mounted the new unit to my dash. Lastly you then need to open the current dash hole up about a 1/4" to get the 403 to drop in. Sadly Mercury Marine did not make this new unit a very user friendly upgrade sized devise, but is does work well for the $1,000 investment. Happy share other help as needed.
Dennis

 

[340 Ray]

Short version is that it can be an easy DIY. I did it from nothing on an 02 8.1 280 sundancer.

You have a SC5000, so you must have a J box. It will also be close to to the SC5000 because the SC5000 wiring harness is only about 3 feet at its longest.

The complication is if it is tied into your GPS/chartplotter for sharing waypoint, route, and navigation data. The SC 5000 has a very simple two wire NMEA01983 interface. VV uses NMEA 2000. NMEA2000 is on par with a coaxial ethernet LAN in terms of complexity.

We now reach the point of needing to know what you have for gauges and what your chartplotter is if you have GPS integration with the SC5000.

Hi Henry,
Getting back after my install and maybe you can shed some light on an issue or two.
J-Box was easy to find; I have NO NMEA 2000 on board. Do have a Ray Marine RC-520 Chartplotter.
I re-connected my 5000 under the dash with hope to keep my Sea Ray analog tach/fuel gauges active. This does not work because a very loud alarm goes off when I keep the 5000 pluged in. So the top 4 gauges are not active. On my 403 I keep getting a fault from fuel sensor; however fuel status gallons does appear to work fine. Any thoughts?

 

[argus1]

Hi Henry,
Getting back after my install and maybe you can shed some light on an issue or two.
J-Box was easy to find; I have NO NMEA 2000 on board. Do have a Ray Marine RC-520 Chartplotter.
I re-connected my 5000 under the dash with hope to keep my Sea Ray analog tach/fuel gauges active. This does not work because a very loud alarm goes off when I keep the 5000 pluged in. So the top 4 gauges are not active. On my 403 I keep getting a fault from fuel sensor; however fuel status gallons does appear to work fine. Any thoughts?

I would contact Mercury Marine technical support for advice. They sent me the attached diagram when I installed my VV903. I am not sure if this will be same for your system. But they will the best to tell you how to do want you want.