SmartCraft

diggin2day1

Fuel tank harness: 84-864218

Dream_Inn

$20 at greatlakeskipper!  Good deal.  Where do I need to run it to, and I know it's been asked, but if I connect this, do I have disconnect the analog?

jme097

You don't have to change the sender on the fuel tank if yours is working as the harness brings in the analog data and the ECM converts it to digital. I bought P/N: 8M0075945 for the fuel harness. It has two wire leads on it for 2 tanks. You can use them for 2 tanks. Also comes with grounding wires. I changed my fuel sender because the old one was all out of whack. Put in a nice Wema one. Checked last night and it showed I had 33.1 gallons left. I like that fact that I can see exactly how much I have left. @Dream_Inn the harness was only like $25

Dream_Inn

One for both tanks, even better yet!  Did the analog still work as well?

jme097

@Dream_Inn The analog gauge? No if thats what youre referring too. You have to disconnect the leads and connect it to the harness that goes to the engine block. 

jbschmalz23

Put the boat in the water tonight and finally got to play with the VV. Thought I would share a few pictures of the things I did on the boat while it was stored. Still need to replace the compass. I'm thinking with theVV there I may come up with a new idea in the spot where the compass is. I'm very pleased with the custom dash pieces they made for me at Tecnografic and the wood grain I went with looks good against the rest of the dash. I am also very very happy with my speaker upgrades. I went with the Polk audio speakers and a Polk 5 channel amp and10 inch sub. I liked Polk because,#1, their quality and#2, their design makes their speaker water proof not just water resistant.  And lastly... The wife found pillows she liked and did a little decorating in the cabin..... GLAD SUMMER IS HERE!!!!. r

aero3113

Looks great. I would put the original compass back in. A boat is like an airplane, you always want a standby if everything else fails.

Michael T

@jb23, awesome up-grades, totally professional.

@aero3113 question: you know way more about compasses than I, but 90% of the compasses on boats I have been on have been inaccurate, most by a wide margin as they have not been calibrated or the boat is in an area (a lot of the St. Lawrence River) where a compass is inaccurate due to rock formations.

Most guys I know rely on their gps and a back-up hand held with an app.

Agree 100% on use of a second compass, it's just that most traditional fluid models seem to be way off.

Both my EC 310 and EC 360 needed calibration and a local power squadron said forget about it and get a second electronic.

I guess a big solar flare or enemy em burst could change my opinion fast! LOL

LaRea

MT, good point.  For that matter, I wonder if a handheld compass would suffice.  Not for offshore use, of course, but for coastal/inland waters as a third backup after the chartplotter and cell phone app.

MarkB

I have a handheld compass as a third backup. Cheap investment. I appreciate the power of the compass. Especially when a dense dog rolled in while in Florida's intercoms talk waters and we were in a 20 footer with no electronics. If we didn't have a paper chart and compass we would have been lost. Couldn't see 20 ft in front of us.

aero3113

MT your right, most aren't accurate but they can easily be calibrated. As long as you have a backup weather it be a wet compass or another electronic device your ahead of the game.

Cableguy Greg

@jme097, how is the new MercMonitor gauge? I'm curious to hear how it is working.

jme097

@Cableguy Greg The MM is installed and going good. I kinda wish I would of gone with the VV but at the same time I didn't have to reinvent the wheel with the MM and the link gauges. I ended up doing the MM and then the 5 inch SC100 tach, the 3.5 inch speedo and the small 52mm fuel gauge. I have the speedo linked in with my GPS and everything is working good. I thought I got pictures this past weekend of it but can't find them. I will get some pictures tonight for ya!

MarkB

Very nice. I know VV has a much bigger screen, but what you have is a big step up from the old gauges. With MM or SmartCraft you now have advanced diagnostics on the engines, plus you'll get all the error codes (hopefully you'll never see them!).

jme097

Thought I'd show you guys my new set up with the mercmonitor and the SC100link gauges 

btye1

diggin2day1 said:

I just installed a VV 4.... When you plug the fuel harness into the connector on your engine, check to make sure that the wires "line up" with each other... For some reason the pink/black didn't lie up with the engine harness wire.... Something was a bit wonky!! See in the 2nd picture the pinks don't line up!

I believe the engines I am installing Vesselview on has the same issue.....the pins do not line up.  Engines are 2002 496 H.O.  What did you end up doing to resolve this? move the pins around or what?

GMSLITHO

jbschmalz23 said:

So tomorrow is my birthday, and the wife couldn't wait any longer to surprise me with my birthday present...She got me the vessel view 7.. I must say I think she did well. So now I guess my post is changing from the smart craft gauges to... How should I customize my dash for the vessel view? Looks like most people do away with their analog gauges totally, and put a new panel in with the vv. really excited for spring now!

Just reading this post .when is or was your wife’s birthday?

needmotools

So 7 years later after this SmartCraft post was started... it has been incredibly helpful as I prepare to hook up my Trim and Fuel Level to SmartCraft! Thanks @diggin2day1 and everyone else who left comments. 

Two years ago I installed everything to use VesselView over Bluetooth with my iPad/iPhone, and this year I am upgrading to a Raymarine Axiom 9+ and SmartCraft Connect. 

I reached out to Mercury Tech Service regarding getting Fuel Level digital instead of analog (as described by others here) and they sent me a very detailed response that I am sharing below for anyone else looking to go digital:

Mercury Tech Service:

This engine serial number (5.7L 350 MPI Horizon) will have a fuel sender connector on the engine harness that will require you to use a fuel tank harness. You cannot run an analog auge and a digital fuel level gauge at the same time from the sending unit. You will have to eliminate your analog gauge if you choose to run the wire harness from the fuel sending unit to this 3-pin drop on the engine harness.

The 3-pin Fuel Sender connector on the engine harness will only have two wires at the connection. The fuel harness you will need to purchase is part number 864218.

Fuel drop on engine harness has a 3-pin connector but only two wires are there. The fuel sender wire that will go from this connector to the sender post will be the light blue with black strip. The wire that is black with a pink stripe will not be used.

This is where it may be confusing because if you noticed Position B on connector on engine harness drop is this Light blue with black stripe, the tank harness 864218 is a different color in position B.

This is the tank harness and position B is now shown as pink with a black stripe. This wire will go to the post on your fuel tank sending unit. The wire in position C light blue with black tracer was for tank #2 but cannot be used on your application. Your engines ECM can only do one tank.

The following shows more about this 3-pin tank harness 864218: