Engine interface cable 2011 DF 140 - both analog trim sensor and NMEA2000 trim?

[Mastiff]

I have bought an engine interface cable and an NMEA2000 starter kit for my boat, which has a 2011 Garmin GPSMap 720S. In my boat I have the main steering place in the open cockpit (with roof), and another one in the front, where I have the power block that pulls my crawfish, crab and lobster pots. There I have a phone, where I am using SignalK to see depth and speed from the onboard Raspberry Pi. I am going to get an NMEA2000 interface for that Pi, so I can have RPM and fuel usage there too. But I would very much like to have the trim as well, I have switches for both the jackplate and the trim up front.

Can I solder together the cables to the analogue trim meter and the cables to the engine interface, so I can have both my analog meter and the info in to the NMEA2000 interface? Or could that damage something? If I'm not mistaken the tilt meter is a simple resistance meter, and in that case I would guess that doing a jump cable would work. But I could of course be wrong, and then I could damage something. So if anybody has any info I'd appreciate that!

Maybe I should just solder one of them together, so that the analog meter sends power to it, while the engine interface cable only takes the resulting signal, with resistance?

[Murray]

https://www.suzukioutboardforum.com/...a2000-networks

Some reading material

[Mastiff]

Thanks for answering! I'm not sure if I found the correct thing here, but do you mean this, from the attached PDF?

Q: There is a spare 2 pin plug on the Interface cable - is that the Trim connector? A: Yes. It is only used on engines 2010 and earlier, so tape it up if not used. If you do need to use this connector, you will have to find the trim plug that it connects to in the engine. Usually they can be found at the front of the engine, tucked under the catch for the cowl, or in that general area.

That does not say anything about my question. It may even be outdated and/or wrong, because according to the info I got I need to use the trim connector to get trim into the NMEA2000 on my 2011 DF140 as well. But maybe nobody's tried to solder them together?

Btw, I didn't get a mail notification of your post, Murray. Is there a problem with the board's notification system?

[Moonlighter]

Not aware of anyone who has tried to splice and run both analogue and digital trim.

Usually people who have a second station also have digital data shared to both stations via NMEA2000 and have a second MFD that will show all engine data including trim in both locations.

If you try, please come back and let us know the results.

[Mastiff]

That was just weird... With the power off (but I did not disconnect the main cable to the engine, I didn't think that was necessary) I unplugged the plug at the analogue trim meter, connected to the engine interface and turned on the main power and then the ignition. That worked like a charm, with 100 % at the point where the trim goes from slow to fast and 0 % at the bottom. Then I turned off the main power again (but I did not disconnect the main power), pulled out the plug and plugged it back into the analogue meter...and it didn't work. At all. No reaction at all when I turned the mains power and the ignition back on! I did not touch the other cables to the analogue trim meter. so it was connected to power when I turned the ignition on without the plug in, but I can't imagine that it should damage it. is there a procedure I have to do to get it working again?

I did measure the resistance in the tilt sensor, and it seemed to go to around 80 ohm on the bottom and to around 10 at the top, so it's a pure variable resistance meter without any power or anything else fancy, so it should at least theoretically be possible to connect two cables in parallell, if I get the analogue meter working again.