Oil and Temp Warning Lights

[Wedowee_Boater]

Hello everyone! I have been browsing the forum for a few weeks now. We just bought a 2018 23RSB in blue and white with a Yamaha 300 and the sport package. Absolutely fantastic boat. So impressive to have a pontoon handle like a ski boat.... and I really like passing ski boats on the lake by the way... I have a question that I cannot seem to find in any manuals. Where do I find a temperature and oil warning light? I have the tach with hour meter and the GPS speedo with a compass. Is it just a buzzer form the engine? Also thinking about connecting the engine to the Simrad Go7 that is on the boat. Any idea how difficult it would be to run the NMEA 2000 cable up to the console?

 

[Vikingstaff]

Hello everyone! I have been browsing the forum for a few weeks now. We just bought a 2018 23RSB in blue and white with a Yamaha 300 and the sport package. Absolutely fantastic boat. So impressive to have a pontoon handle like a ski boat.... and I really like passing ski boats on the lake by the way... I have a question that I cannot seem to find in any manuals. Where do I find a temperature and oil warning light? I have the tach with hour meter and the GPS speedo with a compass. Is it just a buzzer form the engine? Also thinking about connecting the engine to the Simrad Go7 that is on the boat. Any idea how difficult it would be to run the NMEA 2000 cable up to the console?

Welcome aboard the forum captain! Sounds like a gorgeous boat. Down the road if you have time and the inclination, share some pictures of it. Sure sounds like a beauty!!!

I am not sure how the Yamaha’s work. My Mercury Verado has an all digital gauge system that will give me a warning indicator in the gauges when something is ”off”. If its urgent/critical it sounds an alarm before putting the motor into a limp mode.

I also have a Mercury Vessel View module attached to the motor (plug and play) that Bluetooth links to my phone for a variety of other perforamnce data or engine codes. Not sure if the Yamaha’s (or your model Yamaha) have something like those features built in. Hopefully some Yamaha folks (plenty of them in here) will provide some feedback and guidance.

As for running the NMEA 2000, check out some of the past threads via the upper right hand corner search function. Search for variations of running NMEA 2000 lines or even running new transducer cables. I’d imagine its going to be very similar in regards to the challenges of running cables from the rear of boat to the helm with underskirting in the way.

Many have done these jobs. They tend to report them as doable but a bit of a pain in the rump. But again, good news is doable. I just haven’t done any such thing myself, so no first hand experience.

Good luck! Sounds like a great boat! Hope to see some pictures of that fine ride.

 

[Wedowee_Boater]

I'll post some more images after the 4th when I am back at the lake.

 

[Potomacbassin’]

You gauges should have indicators - certainly Yamaha ones will have visual icons that come up, but if you have Bennington/Faria gauges you may want to reach directly out to B for answers.

Your Yamaha ignition switch has a speaker in it, that will provide the audible alarm.

I had my dealer power the N2K backbone for me under the helm, but I did not need another run back to the engine for the data - my DEC engine (digital) already had a spare harness at the binnacle where I could tap into. It's been a while but if I recall correctly all I needed was a pigtail that converts the Command Link signal from the spare harness into the N2K backbone and my Garmin picked it up.

You may have a mechanical F300 which would probably then necessitate another run.

Note, I don't know what your SIMRAD has as far as input ports, if it has a J1939 then you can possibly bypass N2K and go direct from your Yamaha hub or gateway.

It's complicated but can be done.

 

[Wedowee_Boater]

The Simrad manual says it has a N2K connector and Simrad sells a harness on their website for Yamaha to N2K for $100. The Bennington gauges don’t have anything. I looked at the Faria site today. Right now it appears my only option is to use the Simrad unit. Not a big deal. I’ll have to figure it out this winter. I’ll have to ask my dealer how much I can take apart before I void my warranty when I go to run the cable .

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Just looked at the harness you referenced, it's the same that I have and several manufacturers sell a version of it so you may want to shop around to get something cheaper. I got mine from Defender Marine for $30.

The trouble will be finding where to hook the Command Link (CL) side of things. My helm had a Yamaha hub but that streams Command Link Plus data, so you also need to buy the pricey $300 Yamaha gateway to dumb it down to regular CL. Being cheap I wanted to avoid that and found a spare plug off my binnacle.

Next time I'm on the boat I'll snap a few photos to give you some reference.

 

[Wedowee_Boater]

That good actually b/c it sounds like I don’t have to run a cable from the motor to the helm… fingers crossed…

 

[Wedowee_Boater]

Here is a photo of the helm gauges I have. I’ll dig into this after the summer is over.

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Here are my connections - a little tough to see but it's a CL to N2K pigtail that connects a spare harness in the helm to my N2K backbone, then the Garmin connects to the backbone. A few button pushes to set it up and done.

 

[Wedowee_Boater]

Just an update. Finally got the boat out on the water after getting the Yamaha wired to the simrad. Works great. Ended up using the N2K -- Yamaha gateway and an N2K starter kit like Potomacbassin’ showed in his photos. Biggest PITA was getting the wire from the engine up to the console. Ended up drilling out the rivets that hold on the splash panels under the side rails (put them back with rivets when finished). Was able to run the wire along with all the others on top of the right side pontoon. Took a good deal of back and forth with a electrical fish tape but got it done.

 

[Wedowee_Boater]

You gauges should have indicators - certainly Yamaha ones will have visual icons that come up, but if you have Bennington/Faria gauges you may want to reach directly out to B for answers.

Your Yamaha ignition switch has a speaker in it, that will provide the audible alarm.

I had my dealer power the N2K backbone for me under the helm, but I did not need another run back to the engine for the data - my DEC engine (digital) already had a spare harness at the binnacle where I could tap into. It's been a while but if I recall correctly all I needed was a pigtail that converts the Command Link signal from the spare harness into the N2K backbone and my Garmin picked it up.

You may have a mechanical F300 which would probably then necessitate another run.

Note, I don't know what your SIMRAD has as far as input ports, if it has a J1939 then you can possibly bypass N2K and go direct from your Yamaha hub or gateway.

It's complicated but can be done.


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One more item for those reading this later on... The Bennington Faria gauges do not have oil and overtemp indicators. I found the connector for the Yamaha 'Conventional Gauge' under the helm. The Tach and trim wires were spliced to the gauges and the overtemp and oil indicator wires are not connected to anything. Not a very good design / rigging job IMO...

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Just an update. Finally got the boat out on the water after getting the Yamaha wired to the simrad. Works great. Ended up using the N2K -- Yamaha gateway and an N2K starter kit like Potomacbassin’ showed in his photos. Biggest PITA was getting the wire from the engine up to the console. Ended up drilling out the rivets that hold on the splash panels under the side rails (put them back with rivets when finished). Was able to run the wire along with all the others on top of the right side pontoon. Took a good deal of back and forth with a electrical fish tape but got it done.

Congrats on getting this connected! It's a little daunting at first but once you complete the job - while time intensive - is pretty basic wiring. I'm guessing you did not have any spare connections since you ran back to the engine, what a pain! But a job well done hopefully makes it all worth it!

 

[Wedowee_Boater]

Congrats on getting this connected! It's a little daunting at first but once you complete the job - while time intensive - is pretty basic wiring. I'm guessing you did not have any spare connections since you ran back to the engine, what a pain! But a job well done hopefully makes it all worth it!

No spare connections. It is a mechanically rigged motor and therefore does not have the CL+ option. The regular CL connector was under the cowling just sitting there with a blank plug on it.

 

[Potomacbassin’]

Excellent - hope this helps others down the road.