jus491

I am looking at buying a garmin 740s and am trying to figure out what extras I will need to get the full potential out of it. I have a 2002 46 black thunder with twin merc 500s. The garmin has a function to have real time gauges but I am not sure what I would need to connect that to motors (it says it is nmea 2000 compatible but I have no idea if my motors are compatable with that). I did see that lavorci makes a data link that plugs into your ECM but I could not find the price on their web sight and also would that give you fuel flow info or would you have to get separate sensors. I also would like to know if I do a flushmount will I also need an external antenna. And lastly what is the most accurate transducer to use for depth. Any info you may have would be very helpful, the salesman at west marine was not very helpful

zx14k

is your engine are smartcraft ready?.

jus491

how would I check?

zx14k

there is a stiker on the otdrive that say smartcraft on my 496 2001.i dont think that the 500 were smartcraft back in 2002 ?.if it is not smartcraft i dont think that you can use the gauge on the gps but i am not an expert.but a thing that you can do is buy a 740S,S is for sounder and buy a transducer,buy a nmea 2000 starter kit,buy a gfs 10 fuel sensor this way you will have deep,water temp(if you use a transom mont transducer) the gfs 10 will give you fuel level, fuel flow,miles per gallon,and the distance you can go with the remaining fuel in your thank.in your case you will need 2 gfs 10.i just instaled a gfs 10 on my garmin 521S,right now i can see fuel flow with a garden hode in my driveway but i cant see the other fonction because the boat dont move and i cant put the boat in the water because of the wheater here in canada.i have transom mont transducer and it work very well,i dont thing you will need antena my 521S worh fine in my garage.i hope to put the boat on water next week,i will post the result.

mlb75

I'm in a similar situation and was going to ask about this as well. I've got a new boat coming with the Garmin 5212 and new 300Xs outboards and want the engine info on the Garmin. Now these motors definitely are Smartcraft but what I'm hearing is I have to buy the Mercury or Livorsi Smartcraft MercMonitor's (one for each engine) in order to get the info to the Garmin. Is that correct????? Hard to believe there isn't another way to get that data.

zx14k

i think your are right.

Barrydet

Here is some info folks. In order to transmit the smartcraft data to any of the smartcraft compatible Garmin units you will have to purchase a MercMonitor unit for each engine. I visited with the Mercury smartcraft guru on this idea. He tells me this is the only way. I gave up the idea after learning the price, $1200 retail for each of the MercMonitor units.

zx14k

this is the reason that make me buy a garmin fuel sensor (GFS 10 ) by the way i test it yesterday on the lake all look to work fine, i have a fuel gage,range.gallons per hours and miles per gallon.i dont know if it is accurate yet i will see later wen i use the boat.

mlb75

OK so I did more research and here's what I found. Mercury Smartcraft is their own proprietary system and I believe they're the only ones not to use one of the other standards like NEMA2000 so in order to get their data converted to a usable output you need one of their (Mercury's) gateways (that they were so good to develop and sell) Not sure if the race view systems have this capability but the Merc Monitors do. They come in several flavors or levels and convert different data points depending on the model you get. The level 2 system does everything most people would need for one motor and cost about $600. When you step up to the level 3 system you get a couple additional data points like fuel pressure, boost pressure, and viola multi engine. The level 3 units go for around $1100. From what I've gotten half the people that get them install everything gauge included behind the dash and just pay up for the gateway portion. On my new boat I'm going to replace the dash speedo with the Merc Monitor since it gives that data as well as everything else and will be able to use my 5212 for GPS and engine monitoring.