installing a mercury smartcraft tachometer

K

Kushtaka

New member
I am wiring up a new jet boat and have a mercury 60/40 factory jet outboard.

I purchased the sc1000 smartcraft tachometer and have it installed in the dash. I cannot, however, figure out how to connect the wiring harness. The harness that comes out of the control box is the exact same as the harness that comes out of the tachometer, i.e. both female.

I was told by the Tracker Boats shop in Anchorage that I didn't need anything else to complete the install. Seems like I might be missing something???


Thanks!
 
I have that Merc 60/40 jet motor on a 16' flat bottom aluminum boat with a small tunnel. You are going to love it. Up on plane mine will run on inches of water.
Get the aftermarket intake fins that mount on each side of the foot.
 
I have the SC1000 tach as well. The good news is, it's a great unit, you'll love it. Not only is it a tach but also shows about 50 other functions depending on programming and what sensors are available on your outboard.

The bad news is, even my Merc dealer had some troubles getting everything communicating on the NMEA2000 network. My understanding is that it took several calls to both Garmin and to Mercury tech support to finally get it all sorted. But I got the impression this was more of a Garmin/Merc compatibility issue, whereas yours should be more straight forward if just trying to hook up the Merc tach to a Merc control unit / outboard.

Had I seen your note one day sooner I could have taken some photos before leaving the boat today, but I may not be back for at least a few more days. If you still don't have an answer by then I can try to take some pics on how it's wired. My first thought is, without being able to look at it now, are they both just NMEA2000 connectors, and if so, do you have a NMEA backbone. Just a thought, since I do know that mine are all networked that way.

-Mike
 
It looks as if there is a junction box with two male fittings, to mate with the two female fittings you have: Mercury Smartcraft 878492K14 Boat Gauge Junction Box Kit. This would appear to only work with the Smartcraft 1000, not interface with the standard NMEA 2000 plugs, which are considerably different than the Merc fittings.

Did you get a manual with the 1000?
 
There is a junction box that you can get, but it's specifically for putting multiple units together, like the tach and speedo.

I've learned that there is a single male to male connector for just these types of installations. It was overlooked by my merc dealer when ordering my outboard and parts.

I don't usually use the extra fins on the jet foot. Some of the rivers I run at work are loaded with debris and those give you more a chance it goes in your jet instead of wash by, but my outboard jets at work aren't tunnel hulls like my new boat is, so it may be a different story.

I bought this hull from our high school who builds a 16' river skiff every year in its welding class. It's a pretty cool setup, very well suited to where I live.

I was really impressed with the cost to purchase this motor. I priced a honda, yamaha, etec and suzuki, and it was around half the cost (maybe a little more). I wish it came in a longer shaft length, but I made it fit.

I'm excited to get the new harness and go test drive this thing!
 
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