Interfacing With MAN MMDS Series Engines: World Class Control Systems For World Class Yachts
Interfacing With MAN MMDS Series Engines: World Class Control Systems For World Class Yachts
Interfacing With MAN MMDS Series Engines: World Class Control Systems For World Class Yachts
MAN engines (MMDS Series) transmit and industry standard data protocol
known as J1939. The J1939 protocol is an industrial protocol that was originally
developed for the engine manufactures but has now worked its way into other
industries.
MAN transmits this data onto a two-wire circuit known as a CAN bus
(Controlled Area Network) CAN buses are used in almost all industries known
today. The two wires in the circuit are designated as Can-high or Can-H and
Can-Low or Can-L. CAN-H & CAN-L are not to be interpreted as data and ground
it is what is known as a differential signal. The wire color designation is (rule of
thumb) yellow for CAN-H and green for CAN-L, most manufactures follow this
rule. For more detail info about J1939 go to:http://www.kvaser.com/index.htm
Embedded in the J1939 data string is all the relative engine parameters
ex: oil pressure, oil temp, coolant temp and so on however along with the
normal data MAN does also transmits error codes.
For reading MAN J1939 data there is a 5 Pin connector located on the
backside of the MMDS Display (See photo). The four pins you need to be
concerned with are:
4
5
2
3
is
is
is
is
CAN H
CAN L
12 VDC
Ground
To read the MAN J1939 data you will need a CAN to Serial converter to
plug into the serial communication port on the PC. The one that you must use is
manufactured by B & B Electronics
http://www.vehicleinterface.com/product.asp?sku=HDV100A1 no other converter
will work with FT NavVision software. If you have a twin-engine application FT
NavVision will see J1939 data coming in on two ports. FT NavVision is
configured to read the lower Com port as the port engine and the higher Com
port as the stbd engine. If FT NavVision recognizes the data the needles in the
instruments will be light gray in color if it fails to see the data the needles will be
dark gray in color.
The following schematic shows you how to pick of the data and power
from the wire side of the MMDS display.
Yellow
Green
Drain