Electronics Upgrade

[loubennett]

Planning for my electronics upgrade I recently began looking at the Maretron products. They have displays, adapters, transducers, etc that operate on the NMEA 2000 bus. Of special interest to me are EMS100 engine monitor and TLA100 tank level monitor. The EMS100 plugs into a Yanmar engine wire harness and converts the analog data to digital and puts it on the NMEA 2000 bus. The TLA100 digitizes the resistance reading from a standard fuel gauge sender and puts it on the bus. The displays can display any data on the NMEA 2000 bus and provide calibration for the engine readings and tank level. They also have a wide range of other sensors and all the components you need to assemble a NMEA 2000 instrument system. Has anyone used their equipment? How is the reliability? I'm leaning toward using them for part of my planned upgrade and any experience you can share would be helpful in finalizing the choices.

[PrecisionMarine]

Planning for my electronics upgrade I recently began looking at the Maretron products. They have displays, adapters, transducers, etc that operate on the NMEA 2000 bus. Of special interest to me are EMS100 engine monitor and TLA100 tank level monitor. The EMS100 plugs into a Yanmar engine wire harness and converts the analog data to digital and puts it on the NMEA 2000 bus. The TLA100 digitizes the resistance reading from a standard fuel gauge sender and puts it on the bus. The displays can display any data on the NMEA 2000 bus and provide calibration for the engine readings and tank level. They also have a wide range of other sensors and all the components you need to assemble a NMEA 2000 instrument system. Has anyone used their equipment? How is the reliability? I'm leaning toward using them for part of my planned upgrade and any experience you can share would be helpful in finalizing the choices.

Maretron is basically the standard in NMEA2K monitoring and network topography equipment, even Yanmar's BY Engine series uses Maretron N2K Micro-C cables and connectors. You can't go wrong using Maretron's parts, if you contact Mark in their Phoenix office he can help out with compatibility questions, and use their N2K Builder http://www.maretron.com/products/N2KBuilder.php to set up the layout of the backbone and all your drops, so you can figure the amount of Tee's and cables you'll need to make the network function. Keep in mind the LEN of N2K devices on the network and make sure you give the backbone a power drop so you have the proper DC juice on the network. We used Maretron's N2K Analyzer software all the time, using an AT10 NMEA0183 to N2K gateway, and the NMEA2000 to USB converter to check proper data throughput on both NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 all the time. It's great when making sure all the right sentences and PGN's are flowing through the network and getting where they have to go. Good company, good support, can't go wrong.

[loubennett]

Thanks for the info. It's always good to hear from someone who has used the equipment before sinking a significant amount of money. Right now it looks like my new electronics list is:

Raymarine E120W display
Raymarine GPS125
Raymarine DSM-300 depth sounder
Raymarine Autopilot (Smart Pilot X10 with ST70 control head) (this was installed last spring)
Raymarine ST70 display (fits the space left in the instrument panel)
2 - Maretron D250 color displays (mounted overhead)
Maretron EMS100 engine instrument interface with Yanmar cable
Maretron TLA100 Tank level interface for fuel level
ICOM 504 VHF (mounted at nav station with command mic at helm)
Assorted cables, connectors, etc.

There are some other things I'd like to add, but I think this will just about deplete this year's electronics budget. Installing this set of equipment will require a complete relayout of the instrument panel and reconfiguration of the engine idiot lights, key, and stop button. The plan is to eliminate the existing tachometer, oil pressure, coolant temperature, and fuel gauge. I will count on the Maretron equipment and the extra ST70 to provide these readouts.

One question I have is will there be additional information available from the engine after installing the Maretron EMS100? I am assuming that the only transducers installed on the engine are the ones for which I currently have readouts.

[PrecisionMarine]

Everything looks like a real nice setup, those DSM250's from Maretron are solid. One thing, be wary of the ST70 display. It does not play nice with NMEA2000 input, it works nicely as an instrument repeater, but it will not display the engine data the way it was billed to. The ST70+ will, but requires a lot more real estate and a separate controller. The software in the original ST70 just doesn't allow NMEA2000 PGNs to display, it really only works when it's reading data coming either a SeatalkNG Pod or a Seatalk interface. Everything else looks good, just don't waste the money on the ST70. It looks nice, no doubt, but just won't do what you want it to do.

[loubennett]

Thanks for the input on the ST70. Are you sure the problem still exists, or has it been corrected with firmware updates? I'll check the dimensions again to see if I can squeeze a Maretron display in its place. That was actually my first choice, but its an awfully tight fit. Maybe I can put a third Maretron overhead and use the instrument panel space for the VHF.

[loubennett]

Well between a new heat pump for the house and a major repair on Quest my planned electronics upgrade has been delayed. Now I'm thinking of scaling it back to reduce cost and still get some of the improvements. The main things I want are an up to date chart plotter and depth sounder. To avoid a major relayout of the instrument panel I'm considering installing the Raymarine E90W and DSM300. The E90W has the touch screen user interface and the smaller display allows it to fit in the existing space on the instrument panel. Now that Raymarine has been acquired by FLIR the concern over their financial viability is greatly reduced. Has anyone installed and used the new E series widescreen units on there boat?I'd appreciate any comments on their operation especially on the E90W.