December 16, 2016 Engine Gateway now support Volvo Penta EVC-A and EVC-MC (Volcano) protocols
We are proud to say that our product is the first and only NMEA 2000 gateway that supports the EVC-A and EVC-MC (Volcano) protocols used in Volvo Penta engines manufactured in 2003-2006, including the popular D3 and D4 series. This update also contains important improvements for other engines.
EVC-MC (also called EVC-A) is very different from EVC-C, EVC-D, EVC-E and other EVC versions, which are very similar at the software level and based on J1939 protocol, widely used in trucks, commercial marine engines and gensets. Unlike the other versions, EVC-A uses the Volcano protocol, widely used is the car market. The 10-year-old Volvo Penta D3-160A-A talks in the same language as the modern Volvo crossovers, and both have a Bosch EDC15 control unit.
The following data is supported in this firmware version: engine revolutions, coolant temperature, boost pressure, battery voltage and engine hours. Engine Gateway must be connected in series with the engine and Helm Interface Unit (HIU). You can do it with our new 8-pin EVC Vodia Adaptor Cable (USD $29), which now contains an 8-pin Y-connector. The connection point is shown by the red circles on the picture below. An adaptor cable with a 12-pin connector, which can be used to connect the Gateway near the HIU unit (blue circle) will be available in beginning of 2017.
Picture 1. Connection point for Engine Gateway with new EVC/Vodia adaptor cable
Engine Gateway also supports water temperature, depth and speed for EVC-A engines. In the Engine Gateway configuration file, you can set depth transducer offset, water temperature calibration and paddle wheel calibration settings.
This data will be available if you connect the gateway in series with equipment on a HIU multisensor port. Unfortunately, engine data are not available at a multisensor port and multisensor data are not available on an engine port. So you will need to use two Engine Gateways to get all this data in a NMEA 2000 network.
The mulitsensor connector is the same as the 6-pin Deutsch connector used in the gateway, but the wiring is different. To physically connect the gateway to the multisensor port, you should use an EVC-A Multisensor Adaptor Cable purchased separately (USD $29, in stock) or you can disassemble the Device's connector and change the pin order.
This update also contains an important improvement for BRP Engines. Engine Gateway now supports native fault codes in addition to fault and diagnostics codes transmitted with J1939 DM1 messages.
Supported BRP CAN fault codes
| Fault | Fault Description | NMEA 2000 Status |
| P0217 | High engine coolant temperature | Over Temperature |
| P0524 | Low oil pressure condition | Low Oil Pressure |
| P1520 | Low oil level | Low Oil Level |
| P0562 | Battery voltage too low | Low System Voltage |
| P0127 | Intercooler system fault | Water Flow |
| P0544 | Exhaust gas temperature sensor functional problem | EGR System |
| P0545 | Exhaust gas temperature sensor shorted to ground | EGR System |
| P0546 | Exhaust gas temperature sensor open circuit or shorted to battery | EGR System |
| P0122 | TAS (Throttle Accelerator Sensor) 1 fault (short circuit to GND) | Throttle Position Sensor |
| P0123 | TAS (Throttle Accelerator Sensor) 1 fault (short circuit to battery) | Throttle Position Sensor |
| P1102 | TPS adaption failure | Throttle Position Sensor |
| P1104 | TPS adaption cancelled | Throttle Position Sensor |
| P0600 | CAN communication problem | Engine Comm Error |
| P1680 | Communication problem detected by MPEM | Engine Comm Error |
| P1681 | Communication problem - instrument cluster message missing | Engine Comm Error |
| P1682 | Communication problem - EMS message missing | Engine Comm Error |
Not all BRP CAN fault codes can be mapped to NMEA 2000 engine status, because NMEA has only 24 engine status flags (see Appendix B of the manual). But you can define mapping of additional fault codes with the ALERT_x setting.
For example, to map P1030 to "Maintenance Needed", you should place the following line in the configuration file:
ALERT_0=080000,4144,0
Where 080000 is the hex mask of "Maintenance Needed" (see Appendix B), 4144 is a decimal equivalent of hexadecimal 1030 (BRP fault codes are hexadecimals), the last number - 0 - can be any value from 0 to 31 (not used).
And the last addition to the firmware is support of intake manifold temperature (PGN 65270 / SPN 102 in J1939 and Volvo Penta EVC, also supported in BRP Rotax). NMEA 2000 has no corresponding message. Moreover, many chart plotters have gauges for a limited set of data types.
To work around these limitations, we added the following setting to the configuration file:
INTAKE_MANIFOLD_TEMP=x
where x is OFF (to block the sending of a intake manifold temperature) or a digit from 1 to 252 with the following meaning:
01 = Outside Temperature
02 = Inside Temperature
03 = Engine Room Temperature
04 = Main Cabin Temperature
05 = Live Well Temperature
06 = Bait Well Temperature
07 = Refrigeration Temperature
08 = Heating System Temperature
09 = Dew Point Temperature
10 = Wind Chill Temperature, Apparent
11 = Wind Chill Temperature, Theoretical
12 = Heat Index Temperature
13 = Freezer Temperature
14 = Exhaust Gas Temperature
15 through 128 Reserved
129 through 252 Generic Temperature Sources other than those defined
So, you can map this data to your NMEA 2000 instrument gauges yourself.
The firmware update is version 1.10 and is available for download.
Next articles:
- Voyage Recorder updates for firmware and PC software / November 30, 2016
- Digital Thermometer is certified by NMEA / November 29, 2016
- Updates for Text Display and NMEA 2000 Bridge / October 28, 2016
Previous articles:
- Updates for Text Display and Voyage Recorder / December 21, 2016
- «A black box for your boat»: review of our Voyage Recorder in SailBits / March 6, 2017
- Humidity Sensor is certified by NMEA / March 22, 2017
See also: recent news, all news...