www.iFourWinns.com

I have a 2004 Vista 268. My oil pressure guage continuously reads incorrectly and sounds an alarm. My water temp gauge is suspicious as well. I am getting a Lowrance HDS 7 for Christmas (or so I hope) I wanted to install a Mercomonitor to get my engine data up on the GPS. Has anyone done this upgrade on a boat as old as mine? What accessories do I need to get? How hard it the installation? My specs are as follows:

2004 Vista 268
Mercruiser 350 MPI
Analog gauges

Thanks!

I would check & make sure you can add it to your engine before buying it. I went to the Merc site, it was a bit confusing on this. If you can, GREAT!! The other thing too, your GPS is 7" and you will need to split the screen or go back & forth to show gauges and GPS data. If your fine with a split screen, than it will work for you!

anyone have an idea if the 2004 Vista 268 is pre-wired for the smartcraft guages that I can tap into and use the mercmonitor?

In re-reading your post. Your Lowrance HDS 7 has a NEMA2K connection which is used for this. In looking at the MercMonitor install PDFs, they are not using NEMA2K connectors.

http://www.mercurymarine.com/gauges-and ... rcmonitor/

You would need to install your own sensors. BUT, I bet you you need to fix the current problems you are having because the engines computer is looking at the factor installed sensors.

Case in point, I too diconnected the temp sensor & install my own sensor & digital gauge. I had everything wired up right for the new install in it self. BUT the engine alarm sounded at soon as I started the engine. The computer could no longer see the temp sensor so it thought it was overheating. Needless to say, I had to put it back.

Just make sure that you are correct in "My oil pressure guage continuously reads incorrectly and sounds an alarm. My water temp gauge is suspicious as well." It could be something else, dirty filter, oil pump going bad........

Smartcraft engines come from the factory as such. There is a digital to analog converter that gets installed to allow a SC engine to output to analog gauges. My boat was delivered this way and I added SC gauges to it. My engine is also DTS.

I don't remember seeing a converter that goes the other way, analog to SC.

MercMonitor is among other things a SC to NMEA gateway.

User-selectable data output converts SmartCraft
data to NMEA 2000* / J1939 compatible data

I think trying to add SC wiring/sensor/gauges to an engine not so equipped would be cost prohibitive.

Here is a link to a Mercury FAQ all you need is the engine serial number to find out.

http://www.mercurymarine.com/service-an ... compatible


Greg

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2008 210SS 6.2L DTS Bravo 1 Now featuring MercMonitor w/SmartTow

Thats great info!!

NEMA2K is a loose standard!! Once you start mixing brands it may not work the way you want it to. I intermixed Garmin & Lowrence NEMA2K products. Lowrence was blaming Garmin, and they were very hard to deal with! Garmin tried to help to resovle my problems. Point is, becareful in this because you don't want to buy things that should have worked, but won't.

Thanks guys! I spoke to two Mercury experts and it seems that my engine will plug and play with the mercmonitor. There is also a gateway that you can use which is cheaper and will bypass the mercmonitor and go straight to the GPS unit. I think I will go the Mercmonitor way just due to the fact of the ECO feature to save fuel and also the ability to have my engine info on the gauge in case i need full screen on the GPS. I am just trying to nail down if I want level 1 or level 2 and how long of a cable I need!

Very good. Keep us posted

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2008 210SS 6.2L DTS Bravo 1 Now featuring MercMonitor w/SmartTow

I ordered the Level 2 Mercmonitor with 20' cable and the termination ends as a whole package for $695. I will let you know how the install goes.

OK thanks.

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2008 210SS 6.2L DTS Bravo 1 Now featuring MercMonitor w/SmartTow

Well I got the Mercmonitor in. I didn't time it but I would say it took around 30 minutes to complete. I had to hook one wire up to the engine and then a power wire to the fuse panel. The only thing that made me nervous was drilling a hole in my helm for the ambient air temp sensor but it came out well. I haven't ran the engine yet because the boat is on the trailer but it seems like it will work just fine!

Good so far. You'll have more info than you can use

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2008 210SS 6.2L DTS Bravo 1 Now featuring MercMonitor w/SmartTow

It will be nice because my oil pressure gauge has been going crazy and I don't really trust my water temp gauge but it will all be digital now!

Yes, much better than analog. I would do it again.

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2008 210SS 6.2L DTS Bravo 1 Now featuring MercMonitor w/SmartTow

Hi gerard76 ..

Who did you order from ? online ? And could you share the mercury part #s as I too would like to order one ..Tnxs