Vessel View Mobile to Signal K

This project is a reverse engineering effort for the Mercury Vessel View Mobile application and bluetooth device. I was looking for an easy way to connect my MerCrusier engine to SignalK so I can bring together all the information for navigating, performance, and running my boat on one screen.

To achieve this, I'm using the SignalK server on a Raspberry Pi 4 with this module running as a docker container and exporting signals to the SignalK API.

NOTE: This project is not affiliated with Mercury or MerCruiser.

Supported Configuration

My boat is a relatively new SmartCraft boat with a single MerCrusier gasoline engine. I've been using the data I can observe from this configuration to build this setup, so support is limited to the parameters I can observe and decode.

Currently supported:

• Single engine connected to the Vessel View Mobile device
• Parameters:
  • Engine RPM
  • Coolant Temperature
  • Battery / Alternator Voltage
  • Engine Run Time
  • Current Fuel Flow
  • Oil Pressure

So far there are four other parameters which I can see data for but I have been unable to determine what they map back to. I'll continue to investigate and update accordingly.

Run with Docker

To run, I'm using the docker image - you can also run the python script directly using Python3.

The app reads configurmation from /app/config/vvm_monitor.yaml which you can map in from a volume mount in Docker. You can also configure values through environment variables, or on the command line.

To start the container on a Raspberry Pi or other Linux system:

docker run  \
  -v /run/dbus/system_bus_socket:/run/dbus/system_bus_socket \
  -v ./config:/app/config \
  rgregg/vvm_monitor:latest

You can also provide configuration via environment variables:

docker run  \
  -e "VVM_DEVICE_ADDRESS=11:22:33:44:55:66" \
  -e "VVM_SIGNALK_URL=ws://127.0.0.1:3000/signalk/v1/stream?subscribe=none" \
  -e "VVM_USERNAME=admin" \
  -e "VVM_PASSWORD=admin" \
  -v /run/dbus/system_bus_socket:/run/dbus/system_bus_socket \
  --network=host \
  --priviledged \
  vvm_monitor

Example configuration file

Copy the text and place it into a folder which is mapped to /app/config in the container. The filename must be vvm_monitor.yaml.

Only the device address or name is required - if you provide both any device that matches either value will be used.

ble-device:
  address: 11:22:33:44:55:66
  name: "VVM 1234123123"
  retry-interval-seconds: 30
  data-recording:
    enabled: true
    file: ./logs/data.csv
    keep: 0
signalk:
  websocket-url: ws://127.0.0.1:3000/signalk/v1/stream?subscribe=none
  username: admin
  password: pass
  retry-interval-seconds: 30
logging:
  level: INFO
  file: ./logs/vvm_monitor.log
  keep: 5