MFD to older electronics & new alarm functions

[superheat6k]

Following the recent strife of a failed engine, suffered due to a simple plugged water inlet I am looking into options to have a Multi Function Display on the flybridge that can look at the key engine parameters, so RPM, Oil Pressure, FW side temperature, but also exhaust outlet temperature and flow switch input that I will be adding to the seawater system.

I have had a good look at the Wema NMEA 2K MFD - any others I should consider ?

Having one that will also accept a video input would be ideal.

I am looking at the Noland RS11 for harvesting the analogue data as this was effective on my Turbo 36, and they offer a dual system including N2K backbone for < $600. That would give me RPM + 6 inputs per engine.

Thanks all.

 

[Momac]

Is this similar or better ?
Refurbished Axiom Multifunction Displays | Raymarine - A Brand by FLIR

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[pvb]

Why not just fit an exhaust temperature alarm? Halyard do a good one.

 

[Yngmar]

Maretron TSM810C (8"): Maretron | TSM810C

Also the smaller DSM570 or DSM410 (5.7" and 4.1" respectively), but they will not fit all gauges on one page, you'll have to flip around, which may not be what you want.

 

[Rocksteadee]

All modern MFD have the facility to display the engine functions however these are designed with later Electronic controlled engines. There are interface units available which collect all the engine info from fitment of a series of sensors

 

[superheat6k]

Why not just fit an exhaust temperature alarm? Halyard do a good one.

Yes I can add a myriad individual alarms and buzzers, however what is clear is that had I had full instrumentation and engine room view on the fly bridge I woudl likely not now be spending the fat end of at least £2,000 and possibly £3,000 (DIY) to fix the starboard engine. This is on top of the last part of this very short season with the boat unserviceable - that alone is another £2 - 3k as a proportion of annual spend pro rata to active use.

I work out for ~ £1,500 I should be able to get a half decent monitoring station that will give me all the key data I want to see, rather than just another buzzer. NMEA 2K means I only have to run one cable from the harvesting convertor units far below somewhere.

 

[pvb]

Yes I can add a myriad individual alarms and buzzers, however what is clear is that had I had full instrumentation and engine room view on the fly bridge I woudl likely not now be spending the fat end of at least £2,000 and possibly £3,000 (DIY) to fix the starboard engine. This is on top of the last part of this very short season with the boat unserviceable - that alone is another £2 - 3k as a proportion of annual spend pro rata to active use.

I work out for ~ £1,500 I should be able to get a half decent monitoring station that will give me all the key data I want to see, rather than just another buzzer. NMEA 2K means I only have to run one cable from the harvesting convertor units far below somewhere.

Unless you spend your life with your eyes glued to the monitoring station, you'll still be relying on "another buzzer" to alert you to look at the instrumentation.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Unless you spend your life with your eyes glued to the monitoring station, you'll still be relying on "another buzzer" to alert you to look at the instrumentation.

When I used to go car rallying we would align all the engine gauges so in normal running condition the pointer would be all vertical and aligned . The ment all the driver needed to do was to do a quick scan of the gauges to ensure all was normal and only if one was away from normal did further investigating was needed.

Don't know if these glass instruments can be arranged to do the same.

Also with a decent software design the gauge could change colour or flash if an out of normal condition is detected.

 

[Yngmar]

The N2kView stuff (what runs on the Maretron TSM) is highly configurable, with custom ranges, warning/alert thresholds and alarms. It offer both an overview at a glance and also alerting when anything is off. A browse through the manual shows what's possible. They're pretty popular with the big motorboaters - Steve Dashew uses it on a big LCD screen in his FPB: https://cdnkey-bb0b.kxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Cochise-matrix-deck-panorama-July-2018.jpg

 

[vas]

Unless you spend your life with your eyes glued to the monitoring station, you'll still be relying on "another buzzer" to alert you to look at the instrumentation.

+1

Trev,

having spent a serious amount of time learning, programming and configuring N2K, what you'd really need is not only displaying various data, but a series of warnings so that all N2K displays flash and pop up messages if any variable goes over (or under) a limit set.
From my understanding N2K MFDs will not do it themselves, maybe some newer ones can be configured to do that, but Maretron, Garmin et al wont. They need the appropriate warning signal which will come from the sending device N2K PGN sentence (typically PGN127489) and there lies the problem as most of them wont do, check if the No Land will do wanrings.

My Garmin GPSMAP plotter even on map display mode (where it's 99% when I'm on the way) will pop up a warning and beep if oil press to an engine goes low, EGT goes high, seawater pressure is low, coolant temp is high, etc... The nice thing is that this warning popup appears on any N2K device no matter what it's configured to do, so a 4in multidisplay showing depth or/and windspeed and direction will still pop up low seawater press, or high temp or whatnot.

V.

 

[andy59]

would these be any good Trevor , Yacht Devices J1708 Engine Gateway for Volvo Penta EDC and J1587 engines
there is a recent update for cummins i think.

 

[superheat6k]

These are non electronic engines, so only analague data available.

However, I have been chatting to our industrial controls makers, who's technical support person is a motor boater in Florida. He has been using their system we routinely apply for large water chillers for his boat and he is now getting it to show some pretty extensive information, with all sorts of alarms. He is even monitoring his fridge temperature !

This already hooks up too a decent touchscreen display which can be mounted in a NEMA4 (IP67) case. There is even a full graphics design package so the dash presentation can be fully designed too suit one's oown requirements.

I can get all the necessary kit at trade price and I am already familair with it. It is completely different to NMEA, but what the heck.

The base controller offers 16 Inputs, 10 digital and 4 analogue outputs, all fully configurable. It can expand to 80 / 80 / 20. It also runs on 12v DC. So plenty of data fields available just on the base controller.

It is also likely it can convert certain analogue signals, but converting Seatalk messages would likely not be possible.

Sorry PVB, but having spent an entire career looking at machinery gauges having just one buzzer is not something I want to revert to, the one I already have badly let me down when most needed. So I do want a full array of data immediately in front of me.

If I do go with this once it is up and running I will offer a full explanation, although as it is an industrial system, it would likely be impractical for others as a form of DIY system.

 

[KompetentKrew]

Following the recent strife of a failed engine, suffered due to a simple plugged water inlet I am looking into options to have a Multi FunctionView attachment 98302 Display on the flybridge that can look at the key engine parameters, so RPM, Oil Pressure, FW side temperature, but also exhaust outlet temperature and flow switch input that I will be adding to the seawater system.

It looks like, in this regard, Raymarine are the most customisable chartplotters:

More info: a Series MFDs | Chartplotter, Sonar, Wi-Fi and more

I assumed my B&G could do it, but it only displays text:

On the B&G you can split the screen into 50% charts, 50% instruments though.

 

[Yngmar]

These are non electronic engines, so only analague data available.

In that case you might also want to look at the Veratron (VDO) Ocean Link kit. They have a 7" display with integrated analogue inputs which also acts as N2k gateway. And/or a separate converter box (may make for easier wiring runs).

 

[superheat6k]

In that case you might also want to look at the Veratron (VDO) Ocean Link kit. They have a 7" display with integrated analogue inputs which also acts as N2k gateway. And/or a separate converter box (may make for easier wiring runs).

This look svery interesting, thanks.