Engine Guages

L

LADY JANE

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2014
Messages
148
Fluid Motion Model
C-24 C SE
Vessel Name
LADY JANE
Has anyone ever added Engine Guages to they're R21EC helm for monitoring the Volvo Penta Diesel-30? I would like to add a halva dozen guages or so to my 2014 tug cabin/cockpit. Which guage or guages would you recommend as the most important for diesel engine monitoring and where would be a good spot to permanently mount 'em? ~ LadyJane ~
 
Lady Jane,

I asked Long Beach for your email today but never received. I'm doing an install now with a nmea 2000 interface I was going to share with you. You can also daisy chain analog gauges on that motor. Feel free to email me directly.

Andrewcustis@rangertugs.com
 
I would like details too, thanks
John dot manson at sympatico dot ca
John
 
Actually, if I'm correct, Andrew is referring to my new R-21EC being built which started last Friday. The Volvo NMEA 2K Gateway device is what's required. This converts the engine's analog statistics to digital NMEA 2K protocol so that it can be displayed on the Garmin chart plotter, much like is done on the R-25s, R-27s etc. The readouts will comprise of at least engine RPM, Oil pressure, engine coolant temperature, Battery voltage(s), along with control for the Fusion radio and the VHF radio.

I will be at the Kent factory on Monday and will be seeing/asking questions/taking photos etc so I'll have a better understanding of this, as well as some other things. 🙂
 
Ralf from Ranger Tugs helped us look into the NMEA module addition to our 2015 R21EC. It seems like a great way to go, however in Canada, the module, harnesses etc will set you back about $1K installed. So you have to decide how many gauges you want/need and go from there... If I was in the US it would be a no-brainer. 😉

If I wanted an analog oil pressure gauge, because of the possible problems with the sensor tee cracking / leaking, I would probably still do the NMEA interface addition. However, so far all I really need/want is a coolant temp gauge...
 
Andrew Custis":d1jxh7sr said:
Lady Jane,

I asked Long Beach for your email today but never received. I'm doing an install now with a nmea 2000 interface I was going to share with you. You can also daisy chain analog gauges on that motor. Feel free to email me directly.

Andrewcustis@rangertugs.com
Click to expand...

A DIY posted on the Ranger website would be WONDERFUL 😎
 
I was at the Kent factory today and was chatting with Andrew... It seems he's a little unsure about the Garmin's NMEA 2000 conversion analog->digital being able to display oil pressure. We will not know for sure until it's all hooked up to see what all can be displayed. The Garmin's conversion box is pretty darn small and is not much larger than a pack of 20 cigs. 😱 It's located underneath the engine throttle lever / Bow thruster toggle shelf... and yes, the thruster toggle is just behind the throttle lever and not on the console shelf... 😀 This is good news to this person as the Garmin 741XS screen takes up much of the shelf's width.

Will know more about "oil pressure" readout next week when boat delivered on Wed Aug 19...
 
Hello Barry, Captain Nice, Sheral, Pilotnavigator, Lady Jane, and others interested in 21EC engine monitors,

My limited understanding says that there are "switches" and "sensors." By that I mean, on my Yanmar 3YM30 in my 21EC, there is an oil pressure SWITCH which triggers the 'oil pressure light' to turn on or Off. It doesn't transduce any information analog or digital that can be converted to an oil pressure number. It's just a switch...it's either ON or OFF. For some reason I'm thinking the coolant temperature may be the same situation. Hopefully I'm wrong.

This make me wonder if Sensors for each parameter desired need to be installed. I've looked at plenty of aftermarket analog guages that have a 'sensor' but then you get into whether the new sensor has the appropriate metric threats...YIKES

Do we have any engineers in the crowd? In the case of others who contributed to thread like this, it was necessary to "T" the oil pressure since both a SENSOR and a SWITCH (for the "idiot" light) are needed.

Barry and others I await your solutions 😉

dave
 
Dave: One thing I missed mentioning concerning the Garmin NMEA 2000 converter box for engine parameters is that apparently it will also allow colored icons/symbols to be illuminated in/on the large round RPM/Tachometer on the control shelf. Andrew was discussing this with me, and part of these icons/symbols apparently will expose diagnostic codes of some kind that would help in understanding engine faults etc. Again, will know more later on once the NMEA engine analog->digital box connection(s) have been completed. Andrew is learning as we go along as well. 😉
 
This depends on the engine he is installing the gateway with. I didnt read anything stating the exact setup. The funny thing is we use that gateway on all of the other models. Before we speculate any further, I'll let you know everything it will read in the next few days. Regardless, a good topic and should be somewhat straight forward for the end user if mechanical gauges want to be used. Installing the nmea 2000 is a bit more involved since it's not present on the 21EC to begin with. You have to start from scratch installing a complete backbone with terminators and power. I'll get you photos when complete so you can post them. I've never posted a photo on here. :lol:
 
Great topic. It will be nice to get to the bottom of this as the closest V-P dealer had never installed the NMEA 2000 interface before so he was speculating on what was really needed and how many hours it would take.

Maybe we can all do a 'group buy' on the interfaces, once this is figured out? 😉
 
sheral":2951xnd3 said:
Great topic. It will be nice to get to the bottom of this as the closest V-P dealer had never installed the NMEA 2000 interface before so he was speculating on what was really needed and how many hours it would take.

Maybe we can all do a 'group buy' on the interfaces, once this is figured out? 😉
Click to expand...

Yes, Sheral, speculation is the theme of the day. The article on the marine installers rant BArry posted above (or click here: http://themarineinstallersrant.blogspot ... -crap.html) echoes the situation where installers often don't know how to get the data out of the engine. AND, due to lack of standardization, cabling often doesn't fit easily which means splicing or buying expensive 'adapter' cables...YIKES.

I know the bigger tugs use the N2K system to extract engine data however, I'm skeptical that they Volvo D1 and the Yanmar 3YM (even late model) will lack the needed sensors for the N2K to have any useful information. The bigger Yanmar and Volvo engines are marinized automobile engines which are SENSOR RICH; the tiny engines are much simpler.

Again, this is my idle speculation. Hopefully I'm wrong. In the case of Barry's new build we will know soon.

dave
 
SGIDAVE":1knox47l said:
sheral":1knox47l said:
Great topic. It will be nice to get to the bottom of this as the closest V-P dealer had never installed the NMEA 2000 interface before so he was speculating on what was really needed and how many hours it would take.

Maybe we can all do a 'group buy' on the interfaces, once this is figured out? 😉
Click to expand...

Yes, Sheral, speculation is the theme of the day. The article on the marine installers rant BArry posted above (or click here: http://themarineinstallersrant.blogspot ... -crap.html) echoes the situation where installers often don't know how to get the data out of the engine. AND, due to lack of standardization, cabling often doesn't fit easily which means splicing or buying expensive 'adapter' cables...YIKES.

I know the bigger tugs use the N2K system to extract engine data however, I'm skeptical that they Volvo D1 and the Yanmar 3YM (even late model) will lack the needed sensors for the N2K to have any useful information. The bigger Yanmar and Volvo engines are marinized automobile engines which are SENSOR RICH; the tiny engines are much simpler.

Again, this is my idle speculation. Hopefully I'm wrong. In the case of Barry's new build we will know soon.

dave
Click to expand...

copy, we will stay tuned. 🙂
 
I have also been trying to figure out how to get engine data to the Garmin 740 on my 2015 21ec with the Volvo. Supposedly it is equipped with an EVC tach. So check out this info on the Volvo site, specifically that the digital info is available at the tach. If anyone can noodle this out let me know.. My local Volvo P dealer hasn't been much help.



http://www.volvopenta.com/volvopenta/na ... A2000.aspx
 
Here's the Garmin NMEA 2K Gateway box as installed on my R-21EC

IMG_2283.jpg
 
Having just purchased a 2015 21ec, I'd be interested in any further updates on this topic. I can't view the image last loaded showing the gateway box. I'm keenly interested in this as I'm a retired network engineer and this appears to be a spinoff of the old 10Base 2 network topology.
 
My C-30 is being built so I maybe a little out of line on this. But my current boat has a two 2011 Volvo 4.3 gas engines. My Tech broke 2 years ago and they wanted 850 for the tech alone and I am installing it.

I did some digging on this topic. Most of the new engines from around 2007 to 2009 started using a protocol that most commercial engines use, like in buses, tractors and now boats. Its called J1939. Now some of the newer marine engines use NEMA2k. What I did since mine used J1939, is install a gateway. I taped into (its only 4 wires) the J1939 interface and than to my NMEA2k network. Cost of the gateway, 175.00. Now I can display on my GPS from both engines almost everything that you would need, temp, tech, oil temp, oil press, volts and more.

I bought the gateway from yachtdevicesus.com
 
ohioan55":3vfdep8o said:
Having just purchased a 2015 21ec, I'd be interested in any further updates on this topic. I can't view the image last loaded showing the gateway box. I'm keenly interested in this as I'm a retired network engineer and this appears to be a spinoff of the old 10Base 2 network topology.
Click to expand...

Yes a spin off of 10Base 2. Even Garmin and other are getting away from it going to twisted pair for the larger bandwidth. But NEMA2k has "some" good points, you don't need home runs. You can disconnect a T to add more Ts if you want to add more devices. I am thinking in the next 5 to 10 years NEMA2k will go away. Just for the main reason that NEMA2k can not support radar and sonar.
 
Thanks iggy
 
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