No Speedometer reading from Alpha drive
 

My "new to me" 2005 280 Sundancer with twin merc 220 Alphas isn't giving me a speedo reading on the Smart craft gauge. I have been told by the dealer that the Smart craft settings are correct and that it must be a disconnected pickup tube connection to the drive. Sounds reasonable to me, right? My previous boat had a volvo and the pitot sensor would flip up every season when launched. Had to wait for warm water to flip it back down. Well, the water is now warm, but with the Merc drives, I don't know what to look for. Anyone ever have this problem? I'd love to know what to look for, and which drive to look for it on.:confused:

Thanks,
Mike

There's a rubber hose with a plastic fitting that twist-locks into the drive, just below the exhaust bellows. It connects the water inlet on the leading edge of the gear case (lower unit) to the speedometer. The fitting is disconnected (very common problem if the drive was removed for service), the hose is broken (more common on a Bravo drive with an exhaust tube instead of bellows), or the water inlet is clogged.

Thanks Dave. Which drive would you expect it on? or is there one on each?

Thanks again,
Mike

Not sure which would be used in a twin engine setup, but I'd guess the starboard since it's a shorter run to the helm.

Not sure on the Smartcraft stuff. My speedo wasn't working at all last year. They had pulled the drive for alignment, and failed to connect the end of the speedo plug. Hard to get at underwater, but trim to trailer height and see if you can find them.

Smart Craft Gauges
 

My last boat had smart craft and the speedometer was hooked up to a GPS receiver even though I did not have GPS in the boat. When it was new the speedo did not work and the dealer had to program the unit and tell it to receive the GPS signal because it did not have the pitot tube. After that it worked great with no inaccurate reading when going with or against the current. Hope this helps.

Thanks Everyone
 

I'm going to give things one more try this weekend (weather permitting). Then I give up and the dealer can figure it out.

Mike

Do you have a GPS? Smartcraft can display speed from any GPS with a NMEA0183 output. It's very easy to connect (two wires) and gives very accurate speed.

GPS to Smartcraft
 

I do have a GPS. Garmin 545. It was previously installed and I'm pretty sure it is not connected to the Smartcraft Speedo. I was thinking of hooking it up, just haven't had the time. Sounds like a good job for Friday...maybe.

Thanks.

Yup, that one's got NMEA 0183 outputs. Easy to do. Not sure how to tell the smart craft to swith to GPS though.