Alternate aftermarket gateway for dead faria gateway & gauges

[dclem35]

2008 was the transition from Perfect Pass to Zero Off, if I remember right both options were available that model year, the 210 I bought has Zero Off. Fortunately, the Zero Off cruise system is completely separate from the Faria gateway box, it uses a couple of y-connectors to plug into the J1939 signal and to get power. The Zero Off will work just fine with a completely dead Faria gateway box, I had to do this several years ago when my gateway box went out right before the warranty was up and I rode like that for a few weeks while waiting for the dealer to get parts in.

Do you know if Zero Off will work if the tach goes out? I'm chasing an issue on my 2009 right now. I have replaced the gateway. That didn't fix it. Basically, all my gauges went out except for voltage and fuel. Zero Off won't work either. The way the gauges appear to be "daisy chained" together has led me to believe my tach is bad. I would assume the Zero Off needs rpm input to work?

[WakeHawk]

The Zero Off should work without anything from the Faria system. The way it is wired in, it basically has a couple of Y adapters in their wiring harness that plug in to power and the J1939 network for the engine. Is the Zero Off powering up? If it is powering up but not working properly sounds like you have a connection issue between the Zero Off and the ECU. In the picture below the red circled square plug is the power coming from the main boat wiring harness and the triangular plug is the J1939 plug that goes back to the ECU. I would make sure these connections are good and go from there. If just the volt and fuel gauges are the only ones that are working sounds like the Faria box isn't getting the J1939 signal either. I have my Faria stuff tore out at this point and the Garmin mocked up and all the data except the fuel and voltage comes across the J1939 engine network. I haven't sea trialed yet, but it looks like my Zero Off is working with all of the Faria stuff removed.

[WakeHawk]

The link below is the Zero Off wiring diagram that I was able to download from their website.

[dclem35]

Yes, Zero Off powers up as if it's working properly. Then, after a minute or so, it goes to the default screen displayed when powering up initially so you can't input a speed or anything. My assumption is that it looks for the J1939 data, doesn't see it, and defaults. I have checked the connections and I've check continuity of the CAN Bus from the ECM to the other end at the dash. I have submitted a question on PCM's support asking if the engine can run normally without the J1939 data being sent out. My boat runs fine. I used it the last few weeks of the season this way. It really sucks not having Zero Off. It reminds me of the my 1984 Ski Nautique 2001 days. Wakeboarding isn't near as enjoyable for the driver or rider when you don't have speed control.

[WakeHawk]

Zero Off is definitely a marriage saver! If you have continuity from the ECM to the dash that is a good sign. One thing that I can think of to try would be hooking the J1939 plug with the white and black wires directly into the Faria gateway box, if the working gauges come back to life you know that that lead is good and the problem may be in the Zero Off wiring harness. May be something simple like a broken wire in one of the plugs or sockets. The DT connectors can have new pins/sockets put on the wires and reassembled, this would be cheaper than ordering a replacement harness from Zero Off. For my project I used JR Ready brand DT connectors off of Amazon and they seem to be pretty good quality, the connectors for the Faria box and Zero Off should use size 16 pins and sockets. I would think your engine should continue to run fine in this condition if need be, everything between the computer and engine is pretty much self contained in the engine compartment, just won't have coms between the computer and the dash and Zero Off.