Electrical Issue with my Ranger

[Stoty]

I put the electronics/batteries in the boat yesterday, and I seem to be having a problem with the electronics.

 

There’s a breaker on the side where the engine/electronics battery is, and when I push that in, it turns on the electronics automatically, and they won’t power off. When I try and power them off, they seem to power down, but then reboot themselves automatically. When I push the red button on the breaker, it shuts everything off so there isnt power to anything.

 

Do I have something hooked up incorrectly? Has anyone ever had this problem?

 

Thanks for any help!

 

*Stoty

[danbouck]

Doesn't make sense to me. You should have constant power there but should be able to control whether they are on or off.

 

Someone should have it cleared up soon.

[xeon]

I think its a sign..... more fishing...

[Gerry]

Is it just the sonar(s) or are talking about all the gauges too? Do you have the keypad type or do you have the key ignition?

[Andy]

Is it just your fishfinder? If so, is it a Lowrance? Is it making strange beeping sounds and is the screen acting up? If so, it's likely a moisture problem or short inside the unit itself. I had to replace my Lowrance fishfinder last year. It would turn on by itself in the garage or on the water, and do all sorts of weird stuff. Not all the time, but enough to be a nuisance. Worth considering. I have read of others having the same issue. Andy

Edited April 4, 2009 by Andy

[Guest skeeter99]

I put the electronics/batteries in the boat yesterday, and I seem to be having a problem with the electronics.

 

There’s a breaker on the side where the engine/electronics battery is, and when I push that in, it turns on the electronics automatically, and they won’t power off. When I try and power them off, they seem to power down, but then reboot themselves automatically. When I push the red button on the breaker, it shuts everything off so there isnt power to anything.

 

Do I have something hooked up incorrectly? Has anyone ever had this problem?

 

Thanks for any help!

 

*Stoty

 

get rid of it and buy a skeeter LOL!!!

 

seriously it sounds like you have a hot ground or a wire crossed

[Guest skeeter99]

or take the power from somewhere else

 

by pass that breaker and see how it goes

 

I always isolate my electronics(fishfinder) from the engine /boat electronics

 

easier for trouble shooting and when one dies they all dont die unless your batter is pooched

[Stoty]

Is it just your fishfinder? If so, is it a Lowrance? Is it making strange beeping sounds and is the screen acting up?

 

Yes, that's what the front fish finder is doing. The mounted GPS on the dash is fine.

When I power them down, they just reboot themselves.

 

Would an improper ground or a crossed wire cause this? Wouldn't they just not work if the wiring was improperly done?

[Stoty]

Is it just the sonar(s) or are talking about all the gauges too? Do you have the keypad type or do you have the key ignition?

'

 

It's just the sonars.

No keypad.

 

Its' a 2006 175VS, not sure if that helps or not.

Edited April 4, 2009 by Stoty

[Gerry]

Ok. You probably have a grounding issue, i.e. short. As has been suggested, try running a new wire direct from the battery and see if that eliminates the problem.

[River Rat]

I are the front and back graphs networked to a single GPS 3000 attena (puck style) ....? You may not know as you just bought that boat in the winter.

 

The GPS antenna has to be powered up by either the front or rear graph power cable, then the other has to capped off with 120hz resistors to complete end the loop.

 

Messing around with these power cables can really mess up your graph, do it wrong and you will send 24 volts to the graphs and blamo...warrantee null, graphs pooched.

 

Pay the money, take it to a proper shop and get it looked at. I could look at it for you but I would charge WAY too much money......

 

RR

[Stoty]

No they arent networked in together.

The GPS has an internal antenna.

[Andy]

In my scenario, all I had was the fishfinder, no other electronics wired/tied in with it. It had been working fine, and then out of the blue it started scewing up, likely moisture or humidity during a rain, dampness or storage caused a short in the unit. I wouldn't have a clue what's going on in your boat if both units are starting up by themselves, especially if they share wiring or are linked together. Lowrance has a troubleshooting section on their website, which I didn't find very useful. Here is a link to another Lowrance troubleshooting site, it might be worth a look. One post about one half way down describes exactly what I had, and may be similar to your problem.

http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/foru...s=6&start=1

Good luck, Andy

Edited April 4, 2009 by Andy

[grt1]

I had the same problem with the hummingbird at the back of my boat, ended up replacing the depthfinder and solved the problem.

the only way I could shut it offf was to remove it from the housing it sat in.

[Billy Bob]

I still need a little more info. Is the Sonar/GPS unit a Lowrance LMS 522C unit ? It sounds like it is.

 

It don't matter much where the power is coming from to power that unit as long as you have inline fuses protecting it.

 

There really is no need to take this to someone to install a Sonar/GPS unit. But for now you might just want to disconnect the unit's power source and do a temporary wiring directly to the battery. It's just two wires since you have a internal antenna, so positive to the positive battery side and of course negative to the negative side of the battery. PLEASE USE a inline fuse.

 

MY bet would be you might still have the problem because I am thinking you have a unit defect. So if it still will not shut off with the temporary wiring set up you will in fact know it's the unit.

 

Now depending on how old the unit is there is the SUPER CUSTOMER SERVICE LADY that works for Lowrance that will definitely correct and satisfy you. Here name is LINDA COLT and here is her email. [email protected]

 

BTW here is what other say about this SUPER LADY.

http://bbcboards.zeroforum.com/zerothread/193749

[ecmilley]

stoty you have a lowrance issue nothing wrong with the ranger wiring from the sounds of it, when you get moisture isues in the graph's it plays hell with the internal power supply and the graph will turn itself on and off and do all kinds of strange things, i went through this with some eagles already

[River Rat]

I agree with Billy bob if it's a 522....but, did you say that they were both coming back on after power up....? at the same time ?

[Stoty]

Its an LMS-339 unit, and the other I believe is an x135.

 

The x135 is the one going nuts with beeps and such. The GPS unit seems fine, just wont power down (like the x135).

[Stoty]

I took some pictures of the wiring I did.

 

 

Solid red & black wires are coming from dash board. They are the ones that are controlling the sonars/horn, etc. Other two are from the engine.

When those wires are connected to the battery, the sonars automatically power up, and when I try to power them down, they automatically reboot themselves.

 

 

This is the main breaker between the battery and dash board. This is how the boat came (breaker needed to be reset, due to that little black tab being out).

 

 

Breaker after being reset. Once it was reset (black tab in), the sonar's power up automatically.

 

 

Trolling motor batteries, and 2 hook-ups for the built in battery charger (i am assuming).

 

 

Closer view.

 

 

I believe everything is wired correctly..it doesn't look to be rocket science.

 

 

Any ideas??

[Guest skeeter99]

looks okay

 

so now you need to look at where you are geeting your power and ground from the dash

 

change it and see if problem persists

 

 

yes it looks like a on board charger, look in some of the compartments close to find the unit or a extension cord in the bottom of a compartment

 

and it looks like a 24 volt system with the battery hooked up in series the way it is in picture

Edited April 4, 2009 by skeeter99

[Stoty]

I noticed you dont have a on board charger or maybe not hooked up, get one they are worh their weight in gold

 

Ya, there is one on there. There's even an outlet right on the back of the boat, to just plug a cord into.

[Guest skeeter99]

Ya, there is one on there. There's even an outlet right on the back of the boat, to just plug a cord into.

 

 

perfect I was going to buy the kit for my skeeter to do that

[mikeh]

Call and ask the guy who sold you the boat to make sure you have everything connected properly.

[mikeh]

I had an Eagle finder that was 3 months out of warranty that when I went to scroll down it would power off. Lowrance offered to sell me a new unit for something like $20 off retail, told them to I wasn't interested.

[eye-tracker]

If it was one sonar unit I would figure it is a issue with the unit, but both doing a strange thing sounds like a common ground issue. I would check over the wiring and make sure all your grounds are connected. DC acts very strange when you have a faulty ground. Do your bilge pumps, live-well pumps or anything else hooked up to the same fuse block act strange?

 

-s