Practical Boat Owner - February 2016

Gear

PBO conclusion

All three data converters work well. The advantage with the

NoLand RS11 is its flexibility (allowing current to be measured)

at the expense of a slightly more complex set-up. For a more

standard installation, without current measurement, then the

Actisense EMU-1 is very simple to configure. The Veethree

EGM is perfect for vessels with larger engines (or outboards)

which have their instruments on the J1939 network, an

approach becoming more common in the marine sector.

WIRING ARRANGEMENT FOR SENDER INPUTS

Wire colour Pre-allocated sender – function Used in this project

Black/white Oil pressure Yes

Brown/white Coolant temp Yes

Red/white Boost pressure No

Orange Tilt and trim No

Pink Oil temperature No

Yellow/white Rudder angle No

Blue Fuel level Yes

Violet Tacho (RPM from alternator) Yes

Green NMEA0183 GPS input No

Measured internally Battery voltage Yes

This unit has been included firstly because it also works with the

automotive ‘J1939’ network used on larger engine instrumentation

systems, converting the data into NMEA2000 format. Secondly, because it

is probably the best-engineered product I have seen in a long time, and for

that alone it deserves a mention. A massive capability is packed into this

small unit and, if you read the manual from the beginning, you are guided

through both the wiring and set-up details.

Data input sources

 J1939-derived data

 NMEA2000-derived data

 Seven pre-allocated sender signal inputs

 One tacho input

 One NMEA0183 input – for GPS data

Data output

 All the above can be displayed on the EGM itself

and converted in format for pushing out onto the

NMEA2000 network and displaying elsewhere.

 Fuel management ‘page’ performs a number of

consumption calculations.

Simply scroll

through the

pre-configured

senders

Veethree EGM (Engine

Gateway/Monitor)

Setting up

Set-up is done directly into the EGM and very straightforward. As with

the Actisense device there are industry-standard senders pre-configured,

and you also have the ability to set your own calibration for new senders

which will activate the current source. There are pre-set alarm levels for oil

pressure, coolant temperature and fuel level; but again, retain the original

engine alarms as well.

Manufacturers/suppliers Part numbers used

Price guide £ incl. VAT

unless stated

Engine data converters and accessories

NoLand Engineering RS11 US$ 280 + duty

Actisense

EMU-1

NGT-1-USB

£320

£144

Veethree/Bainbridge Marine Engine Gateway/Monitor £655

Chandlers, Raymarine agent or Actisense

(same adapter works for each converter)

DeviceNet (female) to STNG adapter cable*. £30 (each)

Differential amplifiers (required for current

measurement only)

NoLand Engineering AD50 US$ 35 + duty (each)

Temperature sender/switch combined. (M18

thread, resistance ranges from 450 1 at 25°C

to 38 1 at 100°C)

WEMA 150132 £44

Oil pressure sender/ switch combined. (17 1 at

zero and 170 1 at 10 Bar, 1/8 – 27NPTF thread)

WEMA (SRP-10 family). 150053 £45

VDO 360-081-030-015C £70

KUS FRG2010 (KE21100 SRP-TR-0-10) £24

Fuel tank level sender

WEMA S3 (35cm used, depends on tank depth) £57

WEMA Nylon flange FL-2 (A stainless version is available) £6

Hall effect current sensor VDO

Sensor UK-UE-157 (60A) £80

Harness UK-UE-184 £14

Bracket UK-UE-188 £7

Current shunt VDO A2C59514043 (60A) £61

• Only required if using Raymarine backbone: two are needed for the Actisense solution, but only one for each of the NoLand or Veethree solutions.

PARTS AND PRICES

Each dial position in the display has different options, and there are

several different ‘pages’ for display