Mercury Pro XS to MercMonitor Level 1 to Lowrance?

[emilime75]

4 stroke 115 Pro XS CT
Level 1 MercMonitor gauge which is also a gateway and the wiring harness for it has an NMEA2000 connector
New Lowrance Elite FS 7

I keep being told and reading that I need an NMEA2K network between the MercMonitor and Lowrance - Why is that? Why can't I plug the MercMonitor NMEA2K connector directly into the Lowrance? I'm not planning on any other NMEA2K devices.

 

[dingbat]

4 stroke 115 Pro XS CT
Level 1 MercMonitor gauge which is also a gateway and the wiring harness for it has an NMEA2000 connector
New Lowrance Elite FS 7

I keep being told and reading that I need an NMEA2K network between the MercMonitor and Lowrance - Why is that? Why can't I plug the MercMonitor NMEA2K connector directly into the Lowrance? I'm not planning on any other NMEA2K devices.

The NMEA 2000 backbone carries the power

 

[emilime75]

The MercMonitor can power an NMEA2K network. It seems that all I really need is the following...

 

[dingbat]

Mercury ® Engine Connection for NMEA 2000 ... - Lowrance

Mercury ® Engine Connection for NMEA 2000 ... - Read more about mercury, nmea, gateway, output, vesselview and mercmonitor.

www.yumpu.com

 

[emilime75]

Alright, how about this? Does this look right?

 

[dingbat]

Not sure why you would need a junction box for a single engine application. One would think that the Mercmonitor cable would plug directly into the port on the motor.

If using your Lowrance to display engine data, you could save a couple of bucks and swap out of the Mercmonitor for a simple Smart Craft NMEA 2000 gateway.....8M0165589

 

[emilime75]

Not sure why you would need a junction box for a single engine application. One would think that the Mercmonitor cable would plug directly into the port on the motor.

If using your Lowrance to display engine data, you could save a couple of bucks and swap out of the Mercmonitor for a simple Smart Craft NMEA 2000 gateway.....8M0165589

I was shopping both the MercMonitor gauge and Gateway, ended up finding a killer deal on a MercMonitor Level 1 gauge, so went with that.

Either a junction box, or a male to male adapter is needed on the gauge side, as both the gauge side of the engine harness and the gauge harness itself, are female - thank you mercury - found another killer deal on a junction box so I went with that.

Anyway, finally at the install stage today and digging through the internet for the final few details. Have the engine harness and gauge installed and all is good so far. Next up is figuring out the NMEA power wiring...

The MercMonitor gauge is powered directly through the engine harness, so when you turn the key, the gauge turns on. There is an additional pigtail on the gauge harness labeled "External Power", and from what I'm understanding in the manual, this can be used to power an NMEA network without needing a power T in the backbone, and it supplies power to the NMEA pigtail on the gauge harness. There is also a terminator resistor in the gauge harness, which leads me to believe that all I really need is a single T and 1 terminator resistor. Anyway, going to get it all figured out today.

 

[dingbat]

The MercMonitor gauge is powered directly through the engine harness, so when you turn the key, the gauge turns on. There is an additional pigtail on the gauge harness labeled "External Power", and from what I'm understanding in the manual, this can be used to power an NMEA network without needing a power T in the backbone, and it supplies power to the NMEA pigtail on the gauge harness.

All fine and dandy but not very practical given the ignition must be on if you decide to utilize a network device in the future.

 

[jhebert]

...There is an additional pigtail on the gauge harness labeled "External Power", and from what I'm understanding in the manual, this can be used to power an NMEA network without needing a power T in the backbone, and it supplies power to the NMEA pigtail on the gauge harness. There is also a terminator resistor in the gauge harness, which leads me to believe that all I really need is a single T and 1 terminator resistor. Anyway, going to get it all figured out today.

That sounds backwards.

Are you certain that the two conductors marked "external power" are not intended to be connected to a source of external power?

 

[jhebert]

Not sure why you would need a junction box for a single engine application. One would think that the Mercmonitor cable would plug directly into the port on the motor.

The junction box provides the needed gender-reversal of the connectors. It also provides for the necessary terminators to be attached.