Yamaha gauges, Evinrude engines......

[Inthehighlands]

My RIB has arrived with twin Yamaha gauges, but I'm fitting a pair of Evinrude E-Tec 90s which are little used, but about 10 years old.

I'd much prefer to keep the Yamaha gauges and wonder if anyone has any experience or advice?

From what I've read so far, I think I've a good chance of persuading the tacho and warning lights to function, but may have more fun with the trim.

Andy

[Chris]

I would make sure you fit a BRP Tacho with checklights as a minimum.

[Inthehighlands]

Hi Chris

Thanks for your comments.

I'm curious as to why you suggest this - I'd have thought the tacho would either work, or not. And are the BRP checklights anything other than lights? If only lights, then I don't see a difference from the Yamaha ones.

I've read that the Evinrude / BRP gauges are not v waterproof? Interestingly, the ones that came with the engines have both had a hole cut in the middle of the "glass" and came with a plug/bung for each - the only reason I can guess at is to allow condensation to clear, but i could well be wrong. And these were fitted to a boat with a cabin, rather than a RIB.

Andy

[jyasaki]

About 2005/2006, Yamaha went to the Command Link gauges, which are NMEA 2000 inputs. Prior gauges were discrete analog signals. If your motors output their vitals via NMEA 2000, you should be able to get them to work (I think.) If it's all discrete signals, I suspect it's going to be some work matching wiring (and making sure the signal levels and such match.)

Not sure why you're concerned about the trim gauges; that'd be the least of my worries (rpm is, IMO, more important than where you've set the motors, for instance.) The trim signal is a resistance value (as I recall); the trim position varies a potentiometer. Either that or it's feeding back a 0-12 volt signal. Worst case, you might be able to swap a Yam sensor onto the 'rude bracket.

jky

[Inthehighlands]

Thanks Jyasaki

The Yamaha gauges are pre NMEA - Digital Multifunction gauges which display :

Tacho - from what I've read, this should display OK

Trim - probably an issue as the potentiometer goes high to low on Yamaha and low to high on evinrude 9or other way around. If the pots can be swapped, a good solution.

2 warning lights - low oil, overheat.

From what I've read, the EMM on the Evinrude engines outputs a signal to turn on the lights on the Systemcheck unit (and sound buzzer). So with the Yamaha units I'm assuming it should be reasonably simple to get to the 2 indicators, but I'm short of 2 lights, which I could put elsewhere.

It may be too much hassle to do..... But the quality of the Evinrude gauges (the engines came with Retro series gauges) looks very poor compared to the Yamaha ones, especially with regard to water resistance. The RIB came from the RNLI (UK Lifeboat charity), who have a reputation of meticulously fitting the most robust kit on their boats.

As you say, Trim isn't at the top of my list of priorities!

Andy

[matt h]

quality of the Evinrude gauges (the engines came with Retro series gauges) looks very poor compared to the Yamaha ones, especially with regard to water resistance. The RIB came from the RNLI (UK Lifeboat charity), who have a reputation of meticulously fitting the most robust kit on their boats

Sounds a nice boat Andy im guessing the Atlantic?but do you really want to be putting 10 year old rudes on it?

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by Inthehighlands

Trim - probably an issue as the potentiometer goes high to low on Yamaha and low to high on evinrude 9or other way around. If the pots can be swapped, a good solution.

Pots probably can't be swapped (well, the Yam sensor can't) as it's built into the sensor assembly.

Not all lost though: Won't the display simply be reversed (i.e. showing full down when up and vice versa)? As long as the values at min and max are the same between brands, it'll just be a matter of getting used to reading it.

jky

[Inthehighlands]

Unfortunately, the values (in ohms) are not the same!

Yamaha
Up 280
Mid 150
Down 10

Evinrude
Up 10
Mid 44
Down`88

I'll try playing around with a series resistor and may be able to get an approximation of it working between mid & low - inverted!

But, low on my list of priorities in general......

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Inthehighlands

Hi Chris

Thanks for your comments.

I'm curious as to why you suggest this - I'd have thought the tacho would either work, or not. And are the BRP checklights anything other than lights? If only lights, then I don't see a difference from the Yamaha ones.

I've read that the Evinrude / BRP gauges are not v waterproof? Interestingly, the ones that came with the engines have both had a hole cut in the middle of the "glass" and came with a plug/bung for each - the only reason I can guess at is to allow condensation to clear, but i could well be wrong. And these were fitted to a boat with a cabin, rather than a RIB.

Andy

Andy, I agree the older Gauges were a prone to fogging... If you can get the necessary info out of the Yamaha gauges then why not, sounds like a bit of a faff though.

Its a shame you cant use the later I-Command gauges as these were much better and are less prone to misting. I think the 2005 Etecs did not connect to the NMEA network that you would need to run I-Command.

I have read on here that someone cut a hole in the back of the gauges big enough to fit a silica Gel packet into, it was not an Evinrude Gauge but I suspect it would work with these as well. Might be worth a try.