I have a new ap300 and Garmin electronics but?

[Hourston]

Hi guys first post hope ya can help
Just about to rig the new 300 fly buy wire with a
Garmin 1042
Garmin phantom 18
garmin steady cast for chart overlay
suzuki multi gauge
...All I have is what came in the boxes of these items
Do I need a NMEA back bone or any other wires to make these work. Yes I have the engine wiring harness if you were going to ask and the controls are installed

[Moonlighter]

Assuming that you have the Suzuki SMG4 digital gauge (square with rounded corners) then they should have supplied the gauge “kit” that includes the correct harness to connect the gauge to the AP engine gauge harness behind the dash. So thats the first thing to check.

The SMG4 has a NMEA2000 plug on the back. So, while the gauge will work and will show all engine data except fuel economy just by being plugged into the engine harness, nearly everyone wants it to get GPS data so that it will then do mpg plus show position etc. So thats why it is typically connected to the NMEA2000 backbone as well.

So, that means setting up a simple NMEA2000 backbone near the gauge, and running a drop cable between the gauge and a network T. The gauge then receives GPS data from the network (eg any Garmin display or antenna) and it also sends engine data to the network that can be displayed on those other displays. You will need as many drop cables and T’s to connect those devices to the network, and one extra for the power connection to the backbone.

Once the engine is installed and gauges etc connected up, you need to:

1. Change the engine to harness connection at the engine from the standard harness plug across to the SDS plug. The SDS plug sends digital data up thru the harness to the dash where the SMG4 is connected. If this isn't done, the gauge wont work. Code C fault will come up.

2. set up the SMG4. If you plug fuel tank senders into the gauge harness you need to go into the setup menu and set the tank capacity in order for the gauges to be more accurate.

You also need to go into the gauge settings and turn the speed source to OFF. This sounds wrong but the default “on” setting makes it look to the engine for water speed, and you dont want that. Turning it to OFF makes it look to the NMEA2000 network for GPS speed.