Topic: 999 internal GPS out to MercMonitor

[rpro]

I have a new 999 and a new 2014 175 Verado with MercMonitor Level 2 (RPM Smart Two model). I'm not sure if anything changed since 2012 - I see some posts from back then that are related to this. I also see some talk of a Humminbird Syslink cable from 2012. So keep in mind please that things must have changed from 2012 till now, perhaps in the MercMonitor system as well as in the 999 having internal GPS and the new Humminbird AS HHGPS cable that is available. (Not sure if this was available in 2012.)

I also note that Humminbird now has a AS ETH NEMA2K module to pull the data from the motor and push it to the locators. But I'm told by Humminbird CS that is a one-way street, that this AS ETH NEMA2K will not push the GPS out to the motor. I would have thought that NMEA2K could be pushed or pulled - but perhaps that is not true.

The bottom line is that my main goal is to get the internal GPS from the 999 to the MercMonitor. I thought that would have been easier and additional benefits could be gained by using the AS ETH NEMA2K module. http://www.humminbird.com/Products/AS-ETH-NMEA2K/

But what is involved in pushing the GPS to the MercMonitor with only the Humminbird AS HHGPS cable that gets plugged into the RS 232 port? HB CS told me that it has 4 wires and I would only be using two of them, that the black would be negative/ground and the white would be positive. Is that correct and if so, can anyone help me as to how that ties into the MercMonitor?

Oh yes, one more important note, HB CS told me that this AS HHGPS cable outputs 0183, which doesn't appear compatible with the MercMonitor based on the pics below. (Or is NMEA2K backwards compatible from a receiving standpoint?)

[Humminbird_Greg]

I guess what has changed is that the MercMonitor system no longer accepts NMEA 0183 data, so I don’t know of a way to connect the GPS of the 999ci HD Si unit to the MercMonitor.

[rpro]

Hey Greg, GREAT NEWS! Mercury does in fact have an input on their MercMonitor for NEMA 0183! I contacted them about it yesterday and they were extremely knowledgeable about it - both of the folks I spoke with were. I must say, their customer service is just as good as Humminbird's! Apparently the only thing they weren't sure about was the color of the wires. At first they thought they were blue and white and blue was negative and white was positive, but on mine, one is white with a blue stripe and one is brown with a white stripe. They've told me that the white with blue tracer is positive and the brown with white tracer is negative.

They told me that at one time they were talking about taking them off because not many people use this but he said if they are still there and they are clearly bundled together and marked as NEMA 0183 (as they are) that they have decided to keep putting this on future models. (Because I told him that if they were considering taking them off I think this would be terrible since Humminbird outputs only NEMA 0183 and he assured me that if they are still there they will not get removed in next year's model more than likely...that they have decided against the thought of removing them.)

Humminbird CS has told me that on the AS HHGPS cable I will use the black as negative and the white as positive and the other two are unused. Can you confirm this? What confuses me about this cable is that it looks like it was originally intended to get a handheld GPS signal into a Humminbird that does not have internal GPS. But it will work to take the NEMA 0183 signal from the Humminbird out to the MercMonitor apparently as well, correct?

Can you tell me if I will need to change any baud rate and if so, how and where do I do that?

Are there any other things I'll need to do on the Humminbird 999 to facilitate this? I know on the MercMonitor I will have to tell it to use the GPS signal for speed and this will override the pitot speed.

[Humminbird_Greg]

rpro,
Normally you would use the Black wire as NMEA Ground and the White wire as NMEA (+) Output and not use the Red and Green wires, however on the past MercMonitor SmartCraft gauges the Green wire (also an NMEA + Output) works where the White wire connection does not.  This has to do with a difference in the prefix for the NMEA 0183 sentences.  So your connections should be the Green wire for NMEA (+) Output and the Black wire for the NMEA Ground.

The 999ci HD Si unit’s baud rate for the NMEA 0183 output is 4,800.

[rpro]

Still 0 on the speedometer. I confirm that I set the MercMonitor to "GPS Enabled" and "Use GPS Speed" and do not use Pitot. I have turned on NMEA 0183 on the 999. I've tried with both green to white and then when that didn't work I tried the white to white. Still 0 on the speedometer.
Any suggestions on a next step?
I wonder if GPS Enabled should be unchecked. I wonder why they have both GPS Enabled option and Use GPS Speed option.
Any other ideas? How do i troubleshoot this? Thanks in advance all.

[Humminbird_Greg]

I’m out of idea rpro.  If either the White or Green wire NMEA+ connection did not work I don’t know of anything else to try from our end.

[rpro]

Is there a way for me to test the output coming out of the 999 so that I know that this part of it is working?
Does anyone else have any ideas?

[Humminbird_Greg]

You may be able to if you has a digital oscilloscope.