Smartcraft ?

[riverrat29]

Hey guys,

I posted over on the Merc Forum, but it did not get any hits. Maybe some of yall and BCB can give me some guidance. 07 Puma 250 Pro XS, dual smartcraft speedo and tach.

The other day, I went in the garage and had the boat plugged in to the on board charger and noticed the tach gauge backlight was on and the water pressure gauge was back lit but the readout screen was blank but lit up. (of course the main power and ignition was off) The speedometer gauge was off as it should be. Turning the ignition on and off did not change anything. Had to unplug at the back of the gauge. Don had helped me a while back with a similar issue of the screen freezing and "re-booting" seemed to make it go away. Waited a few plugged back in and cycled the key and it booted up and back off no issues. It has not done it again for the last couple days. Anything else I should check or be concerned about here other than a potential system failure in my future?

Thanks in advance

[catmantwo]

Do you have a circuit breaker on your main battery - if so turn that off when charging.
The instruments/gauges still have power to them if you are only turning off the master power switch on the throttle assembly.

[riverrat29]

Do you have a circuit breaker on your main battery - if so turn that off when charging.
The instruments/gauges still have power to them if you are only turning off the master power switch on the throttle assembly.

Not that I am aware of other than the main fuse under the cowling. There is main power which is always off when not being used. That is just powering the A10 and balance of lights and accessories as normal. The gauges are tied to the ignition power and are controlled via the key and they will light up and power up without the main power switch turned on. I am thinking I could have an intermittent issue with the either the wiring to a harness somewhere or the gauge itself. Just wondering if anybody else has had any issues like these.

[Bass Cat Boats]

We have never heard of this issue, another moderator might but we doubt it. On older boats we don't usually find these situations as this is a Mercury issue. The gauges and connections are all Mercury and in no way tied to the Bass Cat portion other than fuel sender.

[riverrat29]

Thanks BCB. Yeah I think it's a random issue with the smartcraft gauge itself. Only the second time anything querky ever happened. The plug is clean and tight. Do these gauges wire back directly to the pcm on the motor ?

[OldTimer57]

Here is a question I can't answer. Is the smart craft gauge driven by a separate power connection for the backlight? IE in my 08, non-smartcraft, turning on nav lights turns on all instrument lights as they have a completely separate connection for the lights themselves as opposed to the power and signal data that runs the actual gauge... I'd suspect the answer to this is no but I do have devices that power the backlight separately (electronics) since some displays are quite visible in bright sunlight without any backlighting, but not at dark.

[riverrat29]

Here is a question I can't answer. Is the smart craft gauge driven by a separate power connection for the backlight? IE in my 08, non-smartcraft, turning on nav lights turns on all instrument lights as they have a completely separate connection for the lights themselves as opposed to the power and signal data that runs the actual gauge... I'd suspect the answer to this is no but I do have devices that power the backlight separately (electronics) since some displays are quite visible in bright sunlight without any backlighting, but not at dark.

In my case the gauges are powered solely by the ignition and are backlit anytime the key is on. Which puts me at a loss. Have no idea if the condition occurred after I loaded up after fishing Sunday as it was bright outside or if it happened while just sitting in the garage

[Bass Cat Boats]

The harness is an engine harness and does run through the PCM. The tachometer drives the speedometer, and interacts with the PCM.

[riverrat29]

The harness is an engine harness and does run through the PCM. The tachometer drives the speedometer, and interacts with the PCM.

That makes sense. Well I will have to keep an eye on it. This might be tricky to track down until it becomes more consistent. The fact that I can unplug and it resets makes me think it is potentially a gauge issue. Thanks BCB !

[shermsmarine]

As mentioned the Smart Craft Gauges are powered and drove completely from the motor only and no outside power source. The Tachometer is the actual driver for all other SC gauges. I'd look at the tach as the most likely culprit since it's the boss..