Depth finder/GPS problem

[Dahitman44]

I will be posting this in the technical forum as well -- just want to see if you guys had any ideas.

First of all i bought the LCX-27C and had it up and runny before the opener. I did not use it very much but it seemed to be working.

I hit the opener and had problems right away. No GPS problems but many others.

I will try and cover all of the things I saw and see if you guys can put it all together for me.

First of all, when I put power in I brought it to the dealer and they "snipped" it in for me. I couldn't tell where hook it up direct. (The boat is a 185 trophy).

I will try to explain this the best I can. It can keep the bottom signal pretty well. At least as far as the depth. It don't get very much information when we are in deeper water, however.

Like when it goes to below 20 feet it "loses" bottom detail totally. Just a little bit of "fuzz" Forget about finding fish -- no chance.

We also had problems in shallow water and started out by doin all of the obvious -- checking the skimmer, shutting the power off, and blowing on and reconnecting the cables.

This seemed to help a little bit just for a while -- like minutes then trouble again.

Since we did not know what to do I fiddled with stuff to see what did what. It seemed like if I ran the power trim on the motor I lost the bottom totally then it was back. When i ran the trim I checked the power on the unti in the display and it said 11.7 volts and then dropped to 11.3 ish. I also ran the motor just in idle position and it seemed to work better. (weird).

It seems like an electrical problem, but I don't know what to do. One suggestion from a sports store that I bought it from was to wire it direct to a different battery. I didn't think I should have to do that.

One more thing -- I have a ladder mounted on the same side -- is that causing some weird water swirling?

Thoughts?

Any and all experiences, thoughts or gut feelings would b great. It makes me very mad, as you guys would guess.

[crappeyeslayer]

Sounds to me like you might have a frequency issue. You might be able to move the transducer farther from the power source to shield it from some of the interfierance.

[Dahitman44]

Slayer --

Do you mean the transducer cord?

[crappeyeslayer]

Yeah, your cord may be picking up magnetic fields by running to close to a higher voltage sorce some where in the boat. You can move it or try shielding it.

[Fishin' Addict]

How many lcr/flashers are you running at one time? What was the sensitivity/ping speed etc. set at?

[walleyeguy23]

Hitman-

1)Check power wires and connections to make sure they are not loose.

2)Often times you can change the frequency in the menu settings. It may be set to 50 hz. Try 200.

3)Make sure you dont manually have the depth set to 20' max.

4) What is your trolling motor voltage? A well shielded cable should have no issues with DC voltage though. I doubt this is it. With this being said, you don't happen to have any AC power on the boat do you?

One more thing...if you are running multiple sonars, and they are on the same frequency, you will have trouble after you reach a certain depth. The cone angles with intersect and send back faulty readings.

[Dahitman44]

FA --

One flasher/GPS -- The ping speed was set at factory specs.

Keep them coming I need help.

[Dahitman44]

Crappie

I ran it where the rest of the wires go -- but not right next to them. I don;t know where else I would run them -- isn't that where everybody runs them?

[Dahitman44]

W --23

Thanks for the suggestions I will look at those. I am sure it came set that way at the factory -- do you think it would have come that way ?

I only am using one sonor -- that will change -- will add one up by the trolling motor. US option.

I don;t understand what you mean by AC DC ? Sounds funny but I am not sure what you mean.

[walleyeguy23]

Here's what I would do.

1) Check to see what frequency your transducer is. The SF uses a 200k hz transducer. The DF is 50 or 200. Make sure that the menu setting is set to 200hz. It's very possible that you have a 200hz transducer and the unit firmware is set to 50.

2) All your electrical in your house in AC. Most likely all your power on your boat is DC.

AC power operates on a sine wave function. When cables are ran parallel to each other its possible to get electrical noise. You would need an inverter to go from DC to AC though on your boat. You would know it if you did, don't worry about this one.

Let me know how it goes.

[Dahitman44]

W -23

You think it is the transducer setting?

I will check that.

Anyone else?

[Dahitman44]

Do you guys think i need to run power to its own battery?

I should NOT have to do that. Who does that out there.?

[walleyeguy23]

Rats-

I should have read the entire post. Especially the part about running in idle works better and it didnt work so well on trim.

Be sure to check power connections. Then try a different battery.

The battery is being charged by the motor in idle. It's being taxed while using the trim. Either way, your sonar unit is running borderline on power supply based on your findings.

It seems very odd that this is happening, but if you switch to a different battery or find a connection problem, I bet your problem will go away.

My apologies for any confusion....

[Dahitman44]

Not a problem -- just looking for any help.

You really think it is a battery problem or connection? There just seems to be a lot going on with this problem.

I don;t think it is the setting on the depth finder but you never know.

[Fishin' Addict]

Dude take it back to the dealer and make'em fix it. Tell them no splices this time and hook it up right they messed it up. Hooking up an LCR is not rocket science. Also the Dual Frequency thing would require that you have a dual frequency transducer. They are normally not stock with any unit so it's unlikely that's the problem. 10-1 it's the connection get it on it's own fuse block and everything will be okay. BTW - when you run the US you may run into interference issues with you LCR I see it with the X-15 (aft) and an Eagle Fishmark 480 (attached to the bow mount US). Not a huge fan of the US.

[Dahitman44]

Nuts I was going to hook up my old eagle fish mark.

R U sure that won;t work -- worth trying?

[Paul]

US is made by the compnay that produces Hummingbird. Go drop a couple of grand on the side imager and you'll have no problems with US. Not that US is bad it is just that I have heard that the US on Minnkota doesn't paly well with Lowrance/Eagle (same company 2 names). It is worth a try though, that 480 isn't all that powerfull yoy may be ok. I have a 480 sitting in my junk pile at home. Waiting for a rainy day or just in case my 135 passes away.

[Dahitman44]

Smae here. It has been in a box for two years so I thought I would do something with it.

[Dahitman44]

Has anyone ever talked to Lowrance -- do you think it pays to call them or just check some of the smaller stuff myself first.

[deacon]

Try the trouble shooting suggestions provided by Lowrance and then contact Lowrance, had similar problems last year and Lowrance provided a replacement. Be sure to let Lowrance know you just purchased and do not want to be without unit very long so they either fix immediately or replace.

[Dahitman44]

Deacon --

What was your problem and how are they to work with?

[Dahitman44]

One thing I forgot to mention --

The dealer left a switch on and it ran the starting battery down to ZERO> Nothing zip -- It was covered under the tarp and snowing -- (early april) then I charged it back up. Could that have had something to do with it?

[Bison9]

Hitman, I was just reading your comments on this issue now... Way up towards the middle of this post you ask if anyone ran electronics to a separate battery. Well, a long story short, the old marina that my old man took the boat too had all of the electronics hooked up to the cranking battery. There were many issues with the depth finders turning off and on and whatnot when they were on the cranking battery. I then a couple of years ago had the electronics running off of one of the trolling motor batteries and this was worse. Every time I would press on the trolling motor, the depth finder in the front would get whacky... Finally, last year, I bought a separate bettery dedicated to just electronics in my boat. She usually stays charged for a 2 - 3 day fishin trip and I just throw the trickle charger on it for 24 hours after every trip... So, my boat runs off of 4 batteries now (one cranking, 2 dedicated just to the trolling motor, and one dedicated to just electronics...). Boy oh boy it sucks bringing them all back and forth down and up stairs and whatnot for storage, but it has simplified issues in my boat anyways... Don't know if that helps, but this has helped me out with the interfernce and whatnot I was experiencing with the electronics...

[Dahitman44]

Bison --I hear ya. It makes sense but it just seems like I shouldn't have to do that if everything is hooked up right. Very frustrating.

Thanks

[Bison9]

Yeah, it sucks to have to think about doing the extra battery thing - I finally last year said to heck with it and just went to the extra battery. Just some food for thought...

The issue I have now is that for the past 3 years or so, my water intake on the 150 Yamaha Pro-V has been suspect when idleing and it overheats in a hurry. I just took it over to the pierz place today and they quoted $250 for the whole water intake package overhaul... One quick stroy about that : this past weekend, my buddy and I were coming back in to a boat launch big enough for about 3 boats, yet 50 boats were all coming in at the same time. With my motor overheating so fast at an idle, I had to shut here off to cool. Well, in that time, the wind managed to push me up into about a 2 inch depth area and yes, I had to get out into the water and push the boat out in front of 50 boats. The laughs were on me that night! yikes!

One other thing too - my motor also started trimming a little crazy for about 10 minutes this past weekend at Mille Lacs. Yeah, by itself! I wasn't touching the trim at all. It also trimmed by itself all the way out of the water one time when we were running at about 30 mph... My buddy and I needed new shorts after that one! Let's hope they can find the issue with that over at the pierz place... I'm sure it will not be cheap. But, nonetheless, the ol Yamaha needs some engine maitenance.

[Fishin' Addict]

Not your problem - take it back and make'm fix it and don't take no for an answer. It should be on its own circuit.

FYI to everyone, I run the AM/FM radio, X-15, an Intellimap, a FM-480, a VHF Radio, all pumps and lights and recirculators off the cranking battery (I only have 3 batteries 2 for 24v trolling motor system and 1 for everything else. I've never had any problems like what your describing period. I'd stop over if I still lived in Hawley to look at it - it's gotta be like a birds nest of wires.

But take it back and makem fix it.

As for the US and the Eagle products - I buy that because I have a 320 also that I keep as a spare and it's just a little worse with the US. But the 480 for the dollar is a great unit it arcs well and functions to 100+' with no problems. It also has great resolution and average peak to peak power. But neither play well with the US. Basically I don't care too much because i just use the front US to keep track of where the bottom is and check the X-15 for signs of fish.

[Dahitman44]

Fa --

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

Stop by the house when you come back to visit -- not that you will have much time.

Yeah, torques me off.

[Dahitman44]

Bison --

I feel your pain. My Brother.

I'm kinda glad I can't say -- been there done that.

Not fun.

[SM1]

Hitman-

It doesnt sound like you want to take it in to have a dealer fix it. Did you have the unit installed or was this a self installation?

[Dahitman44]

SM --

All I did was have the dealer splice in the wires. I talked to my personal mechanic -- Tony -- and we are going to run some heavily insulated line to the power dircet and see if that works.

Like everyone has said -- it is a place to start.

Thanks

to all.

Hit