Hooking Up A Gps / Sonar ????

[lew]

I'm reading over the manual for installing my new LCX-17M and it's a bit confusing (to me anyways)

 

I currently have 2 depthfinders on my boat, and will be leaving the one on the bow as is, and replacing the old one on the console with this new GPS / SONAR

 

The bow mount unit has it's own transducer on the electric troll motor and is hooked to the fuse panel under the console completely seperate from the other and will have nothing to do with the new one.

 

The new unit will sit on the console, directly above the fuse panel.

 

As you can see in the attatched photo, the power cable that will go to the back of the GPS has 3 seperate wires coming from it.....a larger cable with 3 wires...red/black/white

 

A smaller cable also has 3 wires......red/black/white

 

The other small cable has 4 wires......orange/blue/yellow/bare.

 

The small red/black/white has a tag that reads.....NMEA 2000.......GPS power

 

The other small cable tag reads.........RS-232

 

From what I understand, NMEA 2000 is for networking different electronics together, but I won't be doing that.

 

Would that mean the small red/black/white cable would just be left out and basically taped off and ignored.

 

Now, what about the other 2 cables......the large r/w/b and the small one.....o/b/y/bare......do they each have to go to a seperate fuse, or are they put on the same fuse.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[Garyv]

Without seeing the installation manual I wouldn't want to venture an incorrect opinion, to much money paid to ruin the unit. You would probably be best off to contact Lowrance directly, Think the Cdn number is 1-800-661-3983. If I were you I would wait until tomorrow and talk to a tech.

Edited January 15, 2007 by Garyv

[lew]

Thanks Gary, I'm actually going to the Boat Show tomorrow where Lowrance has a booth, but often they are so busy they don't always have time to explain things fully.

[tschirk]

Hey Lew good choice.

 

If I recall, Lowrance power cable is Red/Black/White , the white should be taped off as it is for an external speaker which is not used on your unit.

 

If you want to do the best possible install then I would recommend a few things that minimize interference and improve reliability:

 

1) run a seperate set of power wires directly to your battery -reduces interference

 

2) use tinned & stranded 14awg or better - withstands corrosion & vibration, thicker AWG reduces voltage drop over longer distances, more strands = better vibration tolerance

 

3) measure out total length of the red & black power wires + 25% and tie one end to a fixed point and put the other end into a drill chuck - use drill to twist them together - reduces crosstalk interference

 

4) run power & transducer wires along the oposite gunnel of your boat away from the engine & other wires - reduces interference

 

5) fuse red wire close to the battery terminal e.g. 3amp - for saftey

 

6) solder, paint w liquid tape and heat shrink any connections - withstands corrosion & vibration better

 

Good Luck

Ted

Edited January 14, 2007 by Ted & the Gadget

[Chris Cross]

Yeah Lew you don't need most of the wires.

The red and blacks are the power.

The rest are to hook up to a computer and or radio.

If you use the unit as a stand alone, just hook up red to positive and black to negative (ground). And away you go.

Yeap that easy.

Anyquestions just let me know.

CX

[lew]

Ted and CX, thanks guys !!

 

I was hoping it'd be as easy as you've both explained it. I won't be installing it till about April but it's always good to have things figured out ahead of time.

[CDNfish]

Lew,

Here is the run down....

The "Orange" group is the NMEA bus and is used to connect to your marine band radio for DSC tracking. Just tape these off if you don't need them.

 

The main power is the first set of Red white and Black, hook these to the fuse supplied and to your power and ground source.

 

The second set is your GPS power and alos needs to be powered and ground in order for the GPS module to respond. If you don't do this you will get a "gps not responding" error. The bare wire can be taped off as can e the white as it is a speaker wire. Feel free to first connect the red and blacks and then connect them to the same power source, just be sure to fuse both lines.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Shawn Hannah

Lowrance (USA) pro staff

[Roy]

Thanks for that, Shawn and welcome aboard.

 

Thanks for that, Shawn and welcome aboard.

[huey graphite]

Lowrance manuals including the one for yours are available on their website. Yo have the ooption of viewing it or downloading it. They show how to make the connections.

 

http://www.lowrance.com/manuals/default.asp

 

 

Last year I found almost that exact model in a field near my home. I tried to locate the rightful owner with no success. I took it to the Lowrance office in Mississauga. They bench tested it and said it was good.

 

Just need to buy a transducer, power cables etc.

[lew]

CDNfish and Huey, thanks guys, your help is certainly appreciated.