My boat, BlueJacket, was struck by lightning while on the hard in Guatemala. I'm in the process of replacing just about everything electrical on it, which includes installing B&G autopilot system, which is NMEA 2000 based. While I'm at it, I want to monitor the engine oil pressure, temp, etc on the MFD, so I'm looking at using an ActiSense EMU-1 to do this. Note that the engine is a Yanmar 3JH series, which is about 20 years old.
I still want to have my analog gauges at the helm, but according manual (http://www.actisense.com/products/nmea-2000/emu-1/download-emu-1), if you're going to use the gauges, you should attach the wires from the EMU-1 to the gauges instead of at the engine sensors. It's highly problematic to do that. If you're just monitoring via the EMU-1, you can connect directly at the sensors.
I'm trying to figure out what the difference is as it would be much easier for me to monitor directly at the sensors. Any help understanding this would be greatly appreciated.
-- Geoff
Hi Geoff, my with-gauges EMU-1 install is still working fine (and the configuration program is much improved):
https://www.panbo.com/archives/2013/10/actisense_emu-1_analog_engine_gauges_to_nmea_2000_happiness.html
I'd check with Actisense about how critical it is where you tee the EMU feed wires into the gauge wires, but if you look at the bottom photo here, mine are attached to the wires from sensor to gauge. BTW, the Scotchlok taps are still going strong:
https://www.panbo.com/archives/2013/12/3m_scotchloks_is_my_love_so_wrong.html
Ben,
Thanks for the feedback. I've reposted this note on the ActiSense forum and hopefully will get some answers. What's your opinion of the EMU-1 vs the NoLand RS11?
Thanks for pointers to the MareTron N2K builder in other posts. I'm an absolute newbie to N2K, so that helped me a lot. Right now I think that I've got a good configuration both electrically and physically as shown in the following link:
http://www.geoffschultz.org/temp/N2K_1.jpg