Understanding Mercury Smartcraft gauges.

[moresparks]

Hi, hoping someone can help?

I have a Mercruiser Bravo 3 drive and a V8 6.2L Engine. This has Smartcraft / ERC connections. There is a 14pin connector from the Engine to the Dash connecting to a DTS Helm Cable.

The dashboard display has the SC1000 Smartcraft Tacho.

The Bravo 3 has the Steering Angle sensor installed and all is connected to the Dash via the 14pin connector. This connects to a DTS helm cable. The DTS Helm cable has a Junction box connection and the SC1000 Tacho display also goes to the junction box. The tricky bit is understanding the nature of the steering angle sensor signal at the junction box.


The question … will the standalone SC100 rudder / steering angle gauge will work with the SC1000 Tacho?

The steering angle is not listed on the SC1000 Tacho functions but is on the SC1000 speedometer that I have not got or really want as I am not using the Mercruiser Pitot speedo.

My understanding is that the SC100 gauges are just single repeaters for the SC1000 to avoid scrolling through the tacho; In which case I don’t think it would work, but happy to stand corrected.

I already have a Garmin plotter with the GMI 20 multifunction display, this could display steering angle, but the information I have (so far) it just converts an analogue signal with a Garmin adaptor.


I could invest in a Vesselview display but seems a lot of money just for the steering angle; the Garmin will display many of the engine functions via NME2000 and the Mercruiser Smartcraft Gateway if needed. Also I would rather spend my money on an autopilot at some later stage.

The steering angle or Sterndrive position is useful for me especially when docking single handed.

Any comments or alternatives greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[jakew009]

I think the standalone gauge would work.

I think I have a SC1000 speed gauge with a crazed screen you could borrow to test if you wanted.

IIRC the smartcraft guages just daisy chain together.

To get it on your plotter you will need a smartcraft to nmea2k gateway.

 

[moresparks]

I think the standalone gauge would work.

I think I have a SC1000 speed gauge with a crazed screen you could borrow to test if you wanted.

IIRC the smartcraft guages just daisy chain together.

To get it on your plotter you will need a smartcraft to nmea2k gateway.

Thank you .. I know the standalone gauge will work with the SC1000 speedo as that has the angle function on it. The Tacho does not.
I am in the process of redesigning the dash panel and have limited space.
I may have to just fork out for the VessellView as this has a facility to connect to the plotter via its own inbuilt NMEA 2000 which would also be not far short of the NMEA Gateway, cost wise.