Smart Guages and Lowrance HDS 5

[hutch4113]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have been doing research on connecting my Optimax 115 to my Lowrance HDS 5 (Gen 2) and have to say I am confused.

 

From what I can tell in the Lowrance, I have all the necessary gauges (in particular I want RPM). Where I am confused......what exactly do I need to make the connection?

 

I want to make sure I buy the right stuff.

 

If anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Tupelo

[BillM]

Here's the connection PDF diagram for the Mercury Motors...

 

http://www.lowrance.com/upload/Lowrance/Documents/Manuals/Mercury_Engine_NMEA2000_Connection.pdf

[Lunker777]

http://www.lowrance.com/upload/Lowrance/Documents/Manuals/Mercury_Engine_NMEA2000_Connection.pdf

 

NMEA Starter kit and the necessary connector from your dealer for your outboard.

 

The link I posted listed the Part #'s for all the harness's you will need !

[Lunker777]

you beat me to it Bill ! haha... Also, for what its worth.... It will cost me roughly $200 to connect my E-tec to have the "smart guages"

Edited June 4, 2012 by Lunker777

[bigmac1984]

Tupelo,

 

How old is your optimax? I was doing some looking around on this too, and after speaking with the very knowledgeable staff at Radioworld, I was told that my optimax (2008 90hp) was too old for the direct connect to the engine, and that the only way I could get the same functionality was to buy the stuff from Mercury, which was going to be somewhere around $500 when all was said and done, compared to just buying all the proper T connectors and ethernet cables etc.

 

Give radioworld a call and talk to Lawren about it, he should be able to give you all the details you need and what you need, and also say whether your engine is compatible or not.

[hutch4113]

Tupelo,

 

How old is your optimax? I was doing some looking around on this too, and after speaking with the very knowledgeable staff at Radioworld, I was told that my optimax (2008 90hp) was too old for the direct connect to the engine, and that the only way I could get the same functionality was to buy the stuff from Mercury, which was going to be somewhere around $500 when all was said and done, compared to just buying all the proper T connectors and ethernet cables etc.

 

Give radioworld a call and talk to Lawren about it, he should be able to give you all the details you need and what you need, and also say whether your engine is compatible or not.

 

Sticker says 2007. It is a 115HP. From what I can tell (and from the Lowrance Document posted earlier) I need to purchase Merc Monitor (at least level 1) that connects into the NEMA cables. It appears that Merc uses their own language (of couse) which requires the Merc Monitor to translate to NEMA standard.

 

I will check to see if it is compatible. I would hate to buy everything, and find out it won't work.

[hutch4113]

Sticker says 2007. It is a 115HP. From what I can tell (and from the Lowrance Document posted earlier) I need to purchase Merc Monitor (at least level 1) that connects into the NEMA cables. It appears that Merc uses their own language (of couse) which requires the Merc Monitor to translate to NEMA standard.

 

I will check to see if it is compatible. I would hate to buy everything, and find out it won't work.

 

I should also add that I will contact Mercury directly. With the Serial number of then engine, they should be able to advise if it is NEMA compatible, and what part# I need for the Merc Monitor. Will post what I get back.

[whiskywizard]

The schematics that were already posted give you a lot of guidance. The rest is pretty easy.

 

You are creating a very simple NMEA2000 network. Note that it is NMEA, not NEMA. If you're searching, NEMA searches will return household and commercial electrical standards. NMEA will return marine electronics standards.

 

You need a NMEA2000 backbone. It is the main conductor cable that will run from the engine area to the helm area.

 

You will need at least 3 T-fittings to tie into the backbone. One for the motor interface, one to the Lowrance plotter and one to feed 12VDC into the backbone.

 

You will also need 2 end terminators. You have to terminate the backbone at each end.

 

And finally you need the engine interface cable. I see you're chasing that down now.

 

Radioworld is a good source for the hardware and the knowledge.

[SlowPoke]

you beat me to it Bill ! haha... Also, for what its worth.... It will cost me roughly $200 to connect my E-tec to have the "smart guages"

Double check if that is available on yours. I think the EMM interface is on 90hp+. If it is available, the EMM cable was about $90 from Angling Outfitters.

[hutch4113]

Tupelo,

 

How old is your optimax? I was doing some looking around on this too, and after speaking with the very knowledgeable staff at Radioworld, I was told that my optimax (2008 90hp) was too old for the direct connect to the engine, and that the only way I could get the same functionality was to buy the stuff from Mercury, which was going to be somewhere around $500 when all was said and done, compared to just buying all the proper T connectors and ethernet cables etc.

 

Give radioworld a call and talk to Lawren about it, he should be able to give you all the details you need and what you need, and also say whether your engine is compatible or not.

 

I think the info they gave you is wrong (or at least the reason is wrong). I contacted Mercury and my engine will support a NMEA network. However Merc does their connection to the engine a little different (different computer language than the NMEA standard). What that means is to connect it to the network, I need to purchase Merc Monitor (level 1 at least) and have it connected to the NMEA backbone.

 

Then on the Merc Monitor, you tell it to translate from Merc to NMEA 2000, which the Lowrance can read.

 

That is at least my understanding. I have to head down to a Smokercraft dealer (which is also a Merc Dealer) and will be asking some more questions to make sure I have it straight.

 

Now that may have changed with the newer Mercury Engines (the direct connect part) but from what I can see in their documentation Merc Monitor is required for any NMEA applications.

 

Apparently the NMEA standard....isn't so standard after all....hahahahaha. I was in West Marine yesterday to pick up a NMEA starter kit. He said it was a good thing I was with Lowrance (came to about $60)...the kits for some of the other companies are $200+...and that is just for the cables.

 

I should add this is one of the reasons I found this so confusing. At one point I was told I needed Smartcraft from Mercury...but from what I see, that is Mercury Guages....which I don't need if I am plugging it into my Lowrance.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Tupelo

[bigmac1984]

I was told the newer Merc's (2010+) can hook directly to the engine, no need for the merc monitor, just the necessary T connectors. My 2008 would require a merc monitor as you said and then converted by the NMEA2000 network. The merc monitor level 1 is at least $455 (cheapest I found online anyways) plus the other accessories you need.

 

I may have to call back and talk to them again, but it seems to be in line with what you've quoted below regarding having to use a mercmonitor to convert all the data to the Lowrance and what I said before about the costs and such.

[hutch4113]

I was told the newer Merc's (2010+) can hook directly to the engine, no need for the merc monitor, just the necessary T connectors. My 2008 would require a merc monitor as you said and then converted by the NMEA2000 network. The merc monitor level 1 is at least $455 (cheapest I found online anyways) plus the other accessories you need.

 

I may have to call back and talk to them again, but it seems to be in line with what you've quoted below regarding having to use a mercmonitor to convert all the data to the Lowrance and what I said before about the costs and such.

 

I concur....and wish I had the newer motor....hahahahahahaha.