[CA] [CA11] Connect my SmartCraft manged engines to my Axiom MFD

[JohnR2016]

I have a 2006 48 SeaRay Sundancer, with twin cummins 8.3 engines currently managed by the SmartCraft DieselView LCD displays. Everything is working fine with both my SmartCraft DieselView and my twin Axiom 12" MFDs. They are both running the latest version of Light House.

I have purchased and installed a Mercury NMEA 2000 CAN to NEMA Gateway (see attached PDF) as discussed in other post on this forum. The gateway is connected to a properly powered and terminate NEMA 2000 backbone that is also connected to my primary Axim MFD. Both the CAN LED and NEMA 2000 LED light up as expected in the gateway's manual. The gateway's manual says data should be flowing in both directions if the lights are on. But on my Axiom I don't see any engine data. I have ran through the identify engine process but it does not detect any data. I dont see any engine data on the MD's dashboard.

According to the gateway's troubleshooting section it states:

"If Data is not being transferred NMEA 2000 bus device ID's are not approved and are being blocked. Contact Mercury Marine service for helm Gateway (autopilot) device approval list."

Does anyone know if the Axiom is approved or how to get these two devices communicating? If it is not approved (why not?) and what are my options to get it approved? I will be happy to buy a NEMA2000 gateway for my PC If I need to program something. I'm comfortable with code and protocols so not afraid to dig in on this. Looking for guidance on what to do next.

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum John,

Please click here to view a FAQ addressing interfacing marine engines an Axiom/Axiom Pro/Axiom XL MFD or a/c/e/eS/gS-Series MFD. As indicated therein, ensuring that the vessel's engine(s) have been assigned the correct NMEA 2000 Device Instance Numbers is critical to being able to correctly display engine data within Raymarine systems. In systems featuring Raymarine's ECI-100 Engine Gateway, the Identify Engines feature may be used to address instancing. However as indicated within the FAQ found here, when third party engine gateways are employed, then the Identify Engines feature may not be employed and it would be required that the third party engine system / gateway be configured to transmit engine instance IDs which are consistent with the information within the referenced FAQ. In the case of a two engine system, this would require that transmitted NMEA 2000 PGNs associated with the port engine feature 0 for the included Instance ID, while transmitted NMEA 2000 PGNs associated with the starboard engine feature 0 for the included Instance ID.

It would accordingly be recommended that a NMEA 2000 / CAN bus analyzer be interfaced to the marine electronics backbone to determine 1) if NMEA 2000 PGNs containing engine data are being transmitted to the NMEA 2000 backbone, and 2) which Instance IDs are being transmitted within these NMEA 2000 PGNs. If found not to be consistent with the information specified here and within the referenced FAQs, then it would be recommended that Mercury Marine be contacted to determine how the Instance IDs included within the PGNs transmitted by the Mercury NMEA 2000 gateway may be changed to be as specified within this response.