www.iFourWinns.com

I'm really very happy with my boat. But like so many people here I'm never quite done tinkering. One of my lasting frustrations with this boat (and really with the VP power) is that there isn't a smartcraft like system made for the VP gassers. I have fuel flow monitors so at least I can get some of the info on fuel consumption, but I still miss a lot of the other info. Before I bought my boat that was one of my concerns and in one of my first posts here I mentioned that. At the time someone mentioned that the teleflex controllers use a NMEA2000 network to communicate amongst themselves. They were researching what information was available on that network. Has anyone ever done this? I really would love to get more info out of my engines and propulsion system. I know the info is in the engines, it's just a question of getting it out.

Ben

_________________
2001 Cruisers 4450
Volvo TAMD-74P 480hp Diesels

Hey Ben - the tech at my dealership is interfacing the engine data to my Raymarine network. I was going to wait until the job was complete to post the full details, but here's the initial parts list he used. The critical component is the Maretron J1939 which converts the data and it seems to be pretty straight forward. I will be seeing the boat for the first time with this job completed next week and will post the results and some pictures.

Maretron J1939 to NMEA 2000 Bridge - one for each engine
Maretron Micro Double-Ended Cordset - 1 Meter 4
Maretron Mini Double-Ended Cordset - 5 Meter 1
Maretron Mini Termination Resistor (Male) 1
Maretron Mini Termination Resistor (Female) 1
Maretron Mini/Micro Tee - Mini Male (left) / Micro Female (bottom) / Mini Female (right) 4

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

Very interesting. I'm not sure if my engines have J1939 data or if I need the EMS-100. I'm going to try and get in touch with Maretron and see what they have to say. This looks like it might work pretty well if my engines have the J1939 data stream. If not the EMS-100 appears to at least provide a lot of the similar functionality.

Ben

_________________
2001 Cruisers 4450
Volvo TAMD-74P 480hp Diesels

You many find it a waste of effort to put the engine data on the E-80. Really, and I'm not trying to be a naysayer to the idea. I had my 348's system connected to the Teleflex engine controller network (nmea2k). I was rather disappointed with the how it worked in actual use.

The display on the E-80 really doesn't have enough room to make it useful. And I tried. Raymarine has made some really poor choices in how they let you set up data boxes. There's just a TON of wasted pixels. As a result you can't get enough on the screen to make it anywhere near useful. You end up losing all the chart plotter features.

Instead I added a separate Lowrance LMF-200 gauge and it displays the data, or did. I decided it wasn't terribly important to link the two for nothing but a geek factor. I'd MUCH rather have the bus between the engines isolated and free to do it's more important tasks. I've had a few instances of network voodoo on the E-80 (like losing GPS) and I have NO desire to see that impact the engine controls. On the 2006 and earlier the network only contains RPM and transmission gear data anyway. There's no temps, pressure or load data from the engines.

If I had dual E-80 then *maybe* it'd be "less useless". But seeing as there's no free space on the helm for it I can live without it. As more of the NMEA2k stuff stabilizes I do want to consider adding a multifunction screen at the helm. Maretron's weather stuff is the lead candidate for it. That and they're working on an engine bridge for sensors. When you get into complex sensors you pretty much HAVE to use a display from the same vendor. This to handle the configuring of the sensors. There's no mix-and-match for configuration work.

I've got a pair of fuel sensors and those feed into some pretty slick software on the little gauge. It tracks consumption, per trip, per season, mpg and can even show trim and tank levels (but I've not added those sensors). This is a lot better than just seeing clunky data boxes on the E-80, the fuel tracking especially. That and I don't have to page away from chart, weather or radar data to see the stuff. Most of the time I leave gallons per hour shown, but flip to depth and water temp when we anchor out. This is the first question guests ask, now they can look at the gauge to get it. I may even add another one of these down in the cabin.

I'm definitely a gadget freak but have to be honest that it was disappointing trying to make any real world use of the info on the chart plotter.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Bill,

You've already hit exactly what I was thinking. I'm not at all impressed with the way the e80 displays data beyond gps, radar and weather. I don't really even like the way depth, water temp and other info is displayed, they waste so much space it's amazing. I was already planning on using one of the maretron MFDs to the left of the helm where I currently have my (pretty poor) navman fuel flow monitor. I would then integrate fuel flow into the maretron system and use that for everything. I believe the ems-100 is the engine bridge for sensors that you refer to. Take a look, it looks pretty nice. I've got a call into maretron with my engine serial numbers for them to let me know exactly what they can read froim my engines and how.

Ben

_________________
2001 Cruisers 4450
Volvo TAMD-74P 480hp Diesels

How about we branch that conversation over here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1753

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I agree on the Maretron gear, it does look to be pretty feature-packed. For me the trouble is there's no free space on the helm to properly accommodate one. I found there's only place to put one that can be read while operating the boat. And that's the small binnacles on the left/right. If you try putting stuff over on the port side portion of the helm most LCDs aren't readable enough. It's even worse if you move them down on that part of the console. Most don't have an option to alter their contrast angle from left to right, only up/down.

Which gauges are where in this picture of your helm:


I can see something above the spotlight control? That's where I mounted a Lowrance LMF-200 multifunction gauge. And it just BARELY fits, but it works quite nicely for fuel and other data display. Most of the time I leave it on galllons per hour when underway. At anchor I flip to a page that has depth and water temp. The data is carried over over the SeaTalk sensors, through the E-80 and then to the gauge via NMEA2k.

I see they put a bowthruster control under the port engine gauges? Seems like a reasonable place as long as your arms are long enough to reach from them to the throttles. Although that might be easier than having them right with the throttles. Six of one, as they say...

What's the little thing on the vertical surface just below the throttles? Some sort of key for an alarm system?

Which two displays are those on the left side? I've got a Raymarine autopilot up top, a SeaKey system just below and then the fume gauge at the bottom. I can see you've got the fume panel, but what're the other two?

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

That's where I had them move the fume detector.

In my limited use I found it very functional in that position - I feel it is much more natural to toggle the joystick with my left hand and like the fact that it's not right on top of the DTS control.

That's the cockpit iPod input.

It's the autopilot up top and the Raymarine ST70 multifunction display below with the Fireboy light just below the ST70. The ST70 has a terrific, high resolution, color display and will display data much more elegantly than the E80 - I feel it is a perfect compliment to the E80 display and makes the best use of the available space.

_________________
Previously:
2008 V358/Volvo 5.7 GXi Inboards

I agree, the ST70 display is quite nice, shame they're charging quite so much for it. I mean, get real, HOW much for a gauge? Even the ST60 graphic it replaces was outrageously priced. Especially when compared to, say, a Lowrance (granted, it's not color) but still. But even a Garmin GMI-10 comes in at a better price point, and some would argue with better graphics as well. But I'm just speculating as I'm not going to add anything else at the helm, at least not this season. Down below I do want to add something like the ST70, GMI-10 or an LMF-400. Probably not unit after the baby arrives.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

So on my boat the fuel flow meter is to the left in the position of the upper small raymarine display. My fume detector is to the left in the position of the lower raymarine display. I'm thinking of putting a Lowrance -400 display to the right of the helm, about where it sounds like you have one Bill. As for the pricing on the st-60's and 70's I can't begin to figure out how they set the prices for their displays. It's complete and total highway robbery.

Also, they've stopped putting seakey systems in the newer boats. I guess the usage wasn't that high. Do you find it useful? Do you have yours activated?

When's the baby due? We have a 10 month old. It definitely makes for some interesting times on the water. If you find yourself needing a PFD for an infant I've spent hours on the topic.

Ben

_________________
2001 Cruisers 4450
Volvo TAMD-74P 480hp Diesels

The LMF-400 will not fit in the right binnacle position. I know because I tried. There's not enough room for the whole circle of the bezel to fit there. The LMF-200 itself just barely fits. Fortunately I keep the boat near Jim Maier's retail location for BOEmarine.com. He's supplied all of my electronics needs at pretty much the best price and with great service. When I discovered the LMF-400 wouldn't fit he exchanged it for an LMF-200 from stock. Definitely check them out if you need to buy any gear.

I'm considering purchasing an LMF-400 for installation down in the cabin. Mainly to deal with emergency needs. We got caught in a nasty storm two seasons ago. The biggest problem, besides dealing with controlling the boat in +50 knot gusts and 7' seas, was not being able to hear the radio. In a howling wind the speaker on it is just not powerful enough. So I installed a second station down in the cabin. The hassle there is the LCD display on that station doesn't show the full set of lat/long digits! Yes, there is a DSC button and that will send coordinates, but that's not going to help if it's another boater listening and need to know your location. So having a display that has full lat/long coordinates, along with speed, heading and other info would be a lot of help. The LMF-400 is fully capable of doing all this. I think for most normal situations I'd just leave it set to show depth and water temp, as these are the most frequently asked questions from guests when we anchor out to go swimming. It's ability to display engine data would go 'unused' but it comes in at QUITE a lot less expensive than the ST60/70 and GMI-10 units.

We have SeaKey installed and have not activated it. I seem to recall it being more expensive that seemed useful. Coincidentally I e-mailed them yesterday to inquire about activation and monthly costs. I've not heard back from them yet.

He's due June 18th. We have a Mustang infant vest provided from one of our friends. It's small but we won't know if it's the right size until after delivery. There's also issues of skin sensitivity and comfort in warmer weather. We think it'll be about 3 weeks before we take him aboard. As in, we can have a screaming baby at home, or a screaming baby on the water... it's still going to be a screaming baby. A 348 has enough room to deal with it. We'll see.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

As a follow up to this, I installed a Raymarine ST60 Graphic display down in the cabin. Up on the wall of the cabinet with the handrail leading up to the cockpit. About 3" below the existing bank of light switches. Most of the time I just leave it displaying 3 values: depth, sea temp and time. I also set up some other pages with lat/lon/time and other values. Works nicely. I tied it into the existing Seatalk connection feeding into the autopilot computer that's located down lower inside that cabinet.

_________________
-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista