Finally, a Mercury engine app on Axiom, I'm excited...

[ranmar850]

..but then disappointed. I did the update, found the app, installed it, "No Communications" flashing is the only thing showing. As I already have NMEA2000 connectivity with the motor via the Smartcraft gateway and VVM module, I just expected it to work. After all the generic Dashboard app on the Axiom works, gives me RPM, temp, oil pressure, fuel flow. But apparently I need the VV Connect module, as if I am running a full VV dedicated display.
Bugger.

[552Evo]

There’s Always a catch [emoji2955]
Here download this free app !
But you need to buy this “ module “ to make it work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chocolatemoose]

yes to the module but its very good

[ranmar850]

Under the B.O.A.T approach, I suppose there will no change from a grand....or am i just being a pessimist. Anyone want to buy a used VVM module?

[ranmar850]

So, ordered the module, there were none in Australia, but it eventually arrived back in October(?) The dealer kindly sent me a brochure on it for reading the the meantime. On this brochure, it clearly stated that it must be installed by a dealer because it needs to be activated via a phone app which needs a dealer number and serial number. He gave me the part when it arrived not even realising this. So, I took it home, extended the NMEA2000 backbone to accommodate it, everything lit up, but the app says "No Comms". Ok, it does need activating.I installed the relevant app from the Play store. I found his dealer number on the packaging, but the app wouldn't play the game, the serial number it was asking for was nowhere in sight. I call them back, make them aware of the situation, he reads what he had sent me ( ), "oh yes, we need to activate it" Duh. Anyway, dealer is a 320km round trip, motor doesn't need a service, so I say I'll get it done next service.

Anyway, fast forward to a few days back, am out fishing with son in a rare-for-December weather window, good fish early, get our bag and head home. I show him what the app looks like, and it's working! It was a bit weird, you needed to shut the motor down once after first start to get it to work, but it was working. Did the most recent software upgrade yesterday, and it now works normally.

But it is a disappointment, frankly. Very little info--RPM, speed, battery , fuel tank, motor trim, tabs. No temps or pressures, and no fuel flow? My tabs don't have remote monitoring , so nothing in that window, and we have never managed to get the Merc gateway to talk to my fuel tank( shows empty warning every time I start) , so nothing there either. I use the fuel manager in My Data for fuel remaining. So I effectively have speed, rpm, battery voltage, and trim. Which does not match the trim on the Merc gauge. I thought I needed to add some more data overlays---got the latest version of the Lighthouse manual, no data overlay editing on 3rd party apps, such as the VesselView. The Lighthouse Dashboard app is not as clean and pretty, but at least it has all more info, and the ability to overlay more data.
Come on Merc, you can do better with this app. or is that the point, they still want you to buy a VV display?

[scottar]

This is the one thing that literally may make me rule out the Merc for a repower. Great motor but all the bullshite you need to make it talk to everything is ridiculous. BRP for all their cock ups had this sorted in 2006 - basic NMEA 2000 connection and everything just works with Navico and Garmin gear at least. Fuel flow is pretty much spot on - accurate to within the litre across a tank. After having all that sort of info readily on hand it would piss me off no end to be going through this sort of carry on.

[ranmar850]

Update--after posting the above, I went down and tried the sidebar--it actually shows more than the main app! I get fuel flow, which is not shown on the main app. Only in litres/hr, which is not my preferred, and it doesn't seem to be configurable.

[bobfromblacky]

I'm also running Suzuki df 140 engine data to my Axiom and got excited about the fuel used page when it showed "litres per hundred" as an option, only to find that the data page can only show litres per hour.
If I was a smart man I could figure out the conversion, but there you go.

[ranmar850]

An update of sorts on this. I took the boat down to town for the 800 hr service back early January,, and the app was supposed to be activated by the dealer on that visit. But he couldn't do it--he had been warned by Mercury's tech support guy in Perth that he would likely need his assistance/intervention online to get it done. So, when it went pear-shaped, he rang him, only to find he was on leave. So, still the same, of limited value. But he informs me that when it is activated, i will have a sidebar which gives all the information I feel I am currently missing.

Litres per hundred on a boat? Never heard that one. I find NM/litre the most useful, or km/l if you are metrically inclined ( Hint--I don't believe Kilometres exist on the wet side of the high tide mark ) Litres per hour is only of real value on extended cruising , low speed vessels with a very consistent cruise speed. You cruise for 24 hours, you are burning 40 litres/hr , easy maths. On faster boats, that burn tends to be all over the place and your speed also has a very large range of use. People quote l/hr, but how far are you going in that hour? 20 miles, 40 miles? With Nm/l, it is very easy to work out your beast cruise speed, for example. You might find your nm/l is the same all the way from 19 knots to 25 knots, as mine is. Or only goes up by 0.1nm/l at 27 knots. So, no economy advantages from running at the low end of that range, and no need to do any maths .
So, I am still using the Dashboard app.

[bobfromblacky]

"Litres per hundred on a boat?"

That option comes up on the fuel screen but doesn't seem to work, sort of used to it cause thats what the car does.

"km/l if you are metrically inclined"

That would work for me, I understand the nm per litre is most useful but I dont do big distances or refer to Nautical charts that often, maybe I should?

[ranmar850]

That's just the old navigator in me. I had to learn to read and use paper charts, parallel rules and all that, set and drift...I hold a Master class 4 FV, from a past life. I know most people think metrically on land, as you should, I'm finally around litres/100km as meaningful.. The thing with NM, if you didn't know, is that 1 minute of latitude is one Nautical Mile. So, one degree of latitude is 60 nautical miles. I still find it useful when doing quick calcs about how far something is away when travelling north or south. No use travelling east-west, of course, in that sense, as distances per degree of longitude will vary with relation to the equator. And in my still-home territory, which I fished for a living for over 30 years, we always used miles. And all the otherwise-metric fishos here refer to The Three Mile.

Of course, then we have depths. I started out a a diver--it was always feet. Then I went fishing, and it was always fathoms. Useful for confusing the un-initiated. I'm sort-of transitioning--I use metres for really deep water, still tend to use fathoms for less than 40 fathoms, or 73 metres. Don't ask me why.

[Corry]

That's just the old navigator in me. I had to learn to read and use paper charts, parallel rules and all that, set and drift...I hold a Master class 4 FV, from a past life. I know most people think metrically on land, as you should, I'm finally around litres/100km as meaningful.. The thing with NM, if you didn't know, is that 1 minute of latitude is one Nautical Mile. So, one degree of latitude is 60 nautical miles. I still find it useful when doing quick calcs about how far something is away when travelling north or south. No use travelling east-west, of course, in that sense, as distances per degree of longitude will vary with relation to the equator. And in my still-home territory, which I fished for a living for over 30 years, we always used miles. And all the otherwise-metric fishos here refer to The Three Mile.

Of course, then we have depths. I started out a a diver--it was always feet. Then I went fishing, and it was always fathoms. Useful for confusing the un-initiated. I'm sort-of transitioning--I use metres for really deep water, still tend to use fathoms for less than 40 fathoms, or 73 metres. Don't ask me why.

WOW ranmar, you just confused me
As I'm still a whipper snapper (although my 26 year old kids may disagree) I use the metric system on land as it's all I've known, but on water I use feet for depth, and k/ph for speed. I don't really look at fuel usage as I've not needed to, except on remote northern trips where I've needed to save as much fuel as I can, and then used the l/ph.
Your mind must have some fun when switching back and forwards all the time

[ranmar850]

here's a clue--there are very good phone apps out there.

[ranmar850]

Update on this.
Finally got the Gateway commissioned by the dealer. Results are a bit disappointing, as I was starting to expect. I mean, its' very pretty, you get what they advertise. Which is a nice big speed analogue/digital one side, RPM analogue/digital the other. Start battery voltage up the top. Trim --which doesn't directly reflect what the old Mercmonitor already tells me. Fuel shows zero, because the dealer did not calibrate the tank connection at installation. And you need to start from Empty to do it. Tabs are showing, useless to me , I don't have position indicators installed. Some other embedded features, such as Steering Angle, are only applicable to the high-end motors with the electric steering.

Everything else is in Settings on the side menu. You can see temps, pressures, fuel flow, etc, but not on the main page.You cannot configure data overlays in third party apps in Lighhouse. As I said previously, I actually get more on-screen main page info from the embedded Dashboard app. The only possible advantage is that it picks up fault codes and displays them. But I could have done that through the old VesselView Mobile I originally had installed, and had to uninstall to fit the Smartconnect module.

So to sum it up, cannot recommend. Lighthouse will connect automatically to your engine data with Merc as long as you have some sort of NMEA200 connection, and give you pretty much everything--it just won't look as pretty. You don't even to perform any trickery, just select Mercury as your motor type in basic setup, it does the rest.

[Gimme5]

Hey Ranmar850, I got the Axiom + and Mercury V6 200hp. My fuel sender doesn't work with Mercury VV because it's "inverted" so have been relying on the engine fuel flow data to estimate fuel remaining in tank but I'm a bit uneasy about blindly trusting it. Just wondering have you determined just how accurate this data is?