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Alain Cote

Conflict : SmartCraft NMEA 2000 gateway vs Smart sensor (Depth,Temp,Speed)

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Hi,
I strongly believe I found bugs in your NMEA 2000 SmartCraft Gateway.
I have a C90W with a Smartcraft (SC) NMEA 2000 gateway to receive/display my engine data on my MFD.
I have also a Smart sensor (SS) that provide to the MFD water speed, depth and water temperature. When data coming from the SS is connected to the network without the SC gateway connected,
all my water speed, depth and water temperature are display with the right values (all working well). As soon I connect my SC gateway on the network all engine data are display on the MFD with also the right value (all engine data well display). The problem is that I'm loosing the water speed (get 0) and the water temperature (get 0) but still have the depth display with the right value. I found out that the SC gateway is also transferring depth, water speed and water temperature data but I have no sensor connected on that side. I believe something is going wrong here, either the SC should not transfer depth, water speed and
water temp because no sensor is connected from that side or the data transferred shoul not be at 0 "zero value"....this is overriding the right value coming from the SS. When both apparel are connected (SS & SC) here is the sentence I'm receiving for Depth data that is always OK. The data coming from the SS (source 35) is showing the right value (1) and the data coming from the SC (source 114) show not available (2) because no Depth sensor on the SC side. So I conclude that the info from source 114 is not overriding the value coming from
source 35 because we have "Transducer = Not Available" in the sentence.

From the Smart Sensor :
NMEA 2000 PGN: 128267 (0x1F50B)
Name: Water Depth
Source = 35, Destination = 255
Priority = 3, Length = 8
Number Of Fields = 4
Field 1: SID = 31
Field 2: Water Depth, Transducer = 10.38 Metres (1)
Field 3: Offset = 0.000 Metres
Field 4: Reserved field

From the SmartCraft Gateway:
NMEA 2000 PGN: 128267 (0x1F50B)
Name: Water Depth
Source = 114, Destination = 255
Priority = 3, Length = 8
Number Of Fields = 4
Field 1: SID = 224
Field 2: Water Depth, Transducer = Not Available (2)
Field 3: Offset = Not Available
Field 4: Reserved field

When both apparel are connected here is the sentence I'm receiving for Speed Water data that is always at zero. The data coming from the SS is showing the right value (3) and the data coming from the SC is showing 0 Knots instead of "Not Available" (4). So I believe that the SS
data is overrided by the SC data and the MFD is always showing 0.
I strongly believe this is a BUG and the SC should send in sentence 128267 value "Not Available" for Field 2: Speed Water Referenced instead of value 0.

From the Smart Sensor :
NMEA 2000 PGN: 128259 (0x1F503)
Name: Speed, Water referenced
Source = 35, Destination = 255
Priority = 2, Length = 8
Number Of Fields = 5
Field 1: Sequence ID = 33
Field 2: Speed Water Referenced = 0.51 Metre Per Second (1.00 Knots) (3)
Field 3: Speed Ground Referenced = Not Available
Field 4: Speed Water Referenced Type = 0 (Paddle Wheel)
Field 5: Reserved field

From the SmartCraft Gateway:
NMEA 2000 PGN: 128259 (0x1F503)
Name: Speed, Water referenced
Source = 114, Destination = 255
Priority = 2, Length = 8
Number Of Fields = 5
Field 1: Sequence ID = 224
Field 2: Speed Water Referenced = 0.00 Metre Per Second (0.00 Knots) (4)
Field 3: Speed Ground Referenced = Not Available
Field 4: Speed Water Referenced Type = 255 (Null)
Field 5: Reserved field

When both apparel are connected here is the sentence I'm receiving for Water Temperature data that is always at zero. I'm receiving from SS the sentence 130311 with the right water temp value (5).
From the SC I'm receiving 130310,130311,130312 sentences.
1. I believe sentence 130310 should not be used in the new NMEA 200 0 standard but only 130311 sentence should be use for Environmental data.
2. Not sure what the MFD is doing with sentence 130310 but anyway, here again when
sentence 130310 is containing value 0 (6) and should contain "Not Available" I believe.
This is probably overriding in the MFD the value coming from SS sentence 130311.
3. But sentence 130331 is showing "Not available" in field 4 (7), should not override the
value from SS.
4. Now what is the reason for sentence 130312 "Temperature"?
a. Temperature of what, air or sea/water?
b. Is sea again the value is again 0 (8) maybe also overriding value coming from SC in sentence 130311.

From the Smart Sensor :
NMEA 2000 PGN: 130311 (0x1FD07)
Name: Environmental Parameters
Source = 35, Destination = 255
Priority = 5, Length = 8
Number Of Fields = 6
Field 1: Sequence ID = 33
Field 2: Temperature Instance = 0 (Sea Temperature)
Field 3: Humidity Instance = 3 (Data Not Available)
Field 4: Temperature = 295.95 Kelvin (22.80 Degrees C) (5)
Field 5: Humidity = Not Available
Field 6: Atmospheric Pressure = Not Available

From the SmartCraft Gateway: (receiving 3 temp sentences)
NMEA 2000 PGN: 130310 (0x1FD06)
Name: Environmental Parameters
Source = 114, Destination = 255
Priority = 5, Length = 8
Number Of Fields = 5
Field 1: Sequence ID = 224
Field 2: Water Temp = 273.15 Kelvin (0.00 Degrees C) (6)
Field 3: Outside Ambient Air Temp. = Not Available
Field 4: Atmospheric Pressure = Not Available
Field 5: Reserved field

NMEA 2000 PGN: 130311 (0x1FD07)
Name: Environmental Parameters
Source = 114, Destination = 255
Priority = 5, Length = 8
Number Of Fields = 6
Field 1: Sequence ID = 224
Field 2: Temperature Instance = 0 (Sea Temperature)
Field 3: Humidity Instance = 0 (Inside Humidity)
Field 4: Temperature = Not Available (7)
Field 5: Humidity = Not Available
Field 6: Atmospheric Pressure = Not Available

NMEA 2000 PGN: 130312 (0x1FD08)
Name: Temperature
Source = 114, Destination = 255
Priority = 5, Length = 8
Number Of Fields = 6
Field 1: SID = 224
Field 2: Temperature Instance = 0 (Generic Instance value ranging over 8-bit range - defaulted
to 0)
Field 3: Temperature Source = 0
Field 4: Actual Temperature = 273.15 Kelvin (0.00 Degrees C) (8)
Field 5: Set Temperature = 0.00 Kelvin (-273.15 Degrees C)
Field 6: Reserved field

All this maybe explain why the water temp and water speed data from SS is overrided by the data coming from the SmartCraft Gateway.

Maybe is SmartCraft gateway is ok but it is the SmartCarft V3.04 installed on me cummins QSB engine not sending the right info.
Please advise.
Alain

5 Replies

  • The same thing is happening with my Cummins QSC8.3/VesselView/Mercury NMEA2000 Gateway/Furuno TZT14 setup (brand new as of spring 2014).

    The SmartCraft bus messages appear to be J1939. Does anyone know if the Maretron J2K100 J1939-to-NMEA2000 gateway can be used to replace the Mercury NMEA2000 gateway?

    That Maretron gateway can block selected messages. Depth, WaterTemp and WaterSpeed messages with value zero would be prevented from going on the NMEA2000 bus where they interfere with the same messages from real sensors. Non-blocked messages would pass through (e.g. engine rpm, temp, oil press, rudder angle, etc.)

    Is there some other gateway that can do this? It would be even more valuable if the gateway could fill in values that are not available.

    The Mercury NMEA2000 gateway produces PGN 127505 with the capacity field = zero even though the VesselView knows the tank capacity. I am told this is because the corresponding SmartCraft message has tank level but not capacity. That causes my chartplotter to always issue a "not enough fuel" warning. The problem would be solved if a programmable gateway could insert fixed value into certain fields (e.g. tank capacity).


  • Did anyone figure this out? I just installed the gateway and am seeing funky issues too.

  • Ryan, I don't know if any fixes have been made, but a possible workaround would be to change the device Instance number of the sensors that do output proper PGNS and then to select the new Instance on your displays. Unfortunately this is only possible with some sensors and some displays, but the number that support use of Instances keeps expanding.

  • Raymarine C80 and Mercmonitor here, seeing the same thing.
    Hoping that either of companies will provide a way to work around this.
    Anybody who comes up with a fix, please post it.
    thanks

  • I have used the Maretron Gateway on a 100ft S/y for 8yrs and have never had any issue as described above,