Lowrance problem

[jlhegland]

Hello. I am having serious issues installing a new Lowrance HDS Live 12 with the 3 in 1 transducer. I’ve installed the unit with a Navico chip and the charts work fine. I’ve installed the transducer on my transom (not under the boat) and of course it is in the water (about 8”). I’ve lengthened the 25’ cable with a 10’ extension cable and run that into a Navico Sonar Hub. From the hub I ran a 15’ Ethernet cable to the bridge. It was unclear to me whether to connect the yellow cable to power but I joined it with the red cable and the power indicator is on. The power is on an external switch. After spending literal hours on the phone I’m told that I need to update the software version of the Sonar Hub which I bought about 2 weeks ago. Lowrance has sent me the software update and I will install it. I will admit that the LEDs are blinking green (indicating a software problem) but I can’t believe that the unit will not run at all because of this. I’m thinking of the skippers who may be out on the water for extended periods. Anyway does anyone have an answer for this? Thanks in advance.

 

[boomerang]

Have you selected the correct transducer from the transducer option menu? I have to be honest, Lowrance stuff isn't the easiest to set up, for me at least.

 

[jlhegland]

Thanks for the quick reply Shawn. The pull-down menu is pretty confusing, listing many options. One of the dead ends I’ve met at Lowrance tech help is that I can’t get to the answer of the question. The tech people all seem to have their own idea of what’s wrong. As it is I selected the transducer that seems to be the one I need but I don’t see how I can verify. But again, I think the issue is with the Sonar Hub. I’ll keep trying! Jeff

 

[bligh]

I have several of those units. I'm not familiar with the navico product though. I simply plugged the transducer into the HDS and it worked fine.

 

[kiefer]

lowrance problem

I also have several Lowrance HDS units, great product! I don't think you need the sonar hub. I ran transducer cable to lower helm and ethernet cable to unit on upper helm. You have to tell unit where the sonar source is, channel 1 or channel 2 Very intuitive system, menus make a lot of sense once you play with them a bit. Hope this helps you out. If you have any questions the Lowrance Canada tech guys are amazing and usually easy to get a hold of.

 

[jlhegland]

Good morning. I’d expect the unit to be plug and play, set up to read what ever transducer is sold with it but in my case it’s not. Originally I had the upper and lower units linked via Ethernet but apparently the Live model is not compatible with HDS gen2. Frankly, I feel like I’ve fallen into a worm hole with this one. I didn’t get on the forum to gripe, BUT...I’ve had a horrible time with Lowrance tech help. I’ve talked to several people at different times and have received different diagnoses and possible solutions (which haven’t worked) from each of them. I’m in Washington state - what’s a good contact number for Lowrance Canada? Always appreciate your help skippers!

 

[TBill36]

I had similar problems with my gen 2s. The Navico transducer worked OK at first and then intermittently. Then with different software upgrades, it didn't work at all. Look at your menu and get a transducer that is listed and preferably an airmar one. Also, the sonar hub is listed as supporting up to 500 watt transducers, so if you're trying to drive a 1000 watt one you'll likely have problems.

 

[oguidry]

Post your problem on The Hull Truth marine electronics forum.

 

[kiefer]

lowrance

Hi JL, I think the 3 in 1 transducer is not compatible with the Gen2 unit and I believe a software update will not fix this. I may be wrong so here's the number of Navico Canada. I find them a lot easier to contact and the guys I've talked to really know their stuff: 1-855-361-1564 warrantyclms.canada@navico.com may work for an email, even though this is not a warranty issue. Also, I hate to say this, but the 3 in 1 transducer is a poor choice for our kind of boats and boating. A 50/200 khz is a perfect choice, I have used both the P-79 shoot through in my last two boats and the B60 thru-hull in the one previous. The results have been outstanding and I have been very pleased with my Lowrance products.