Chartploter replace with ?

T

TOGO

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My Lowrance HD7 tells me that all the satellites have stopped working. I have tried both hard and soft reboot and they will not reappear. There is a upgrade that I will install but do not have much hope.

The question what do I replace it with Lowrance has a new HD7 gen2 which uses the same transducer, connections, and mount? easy install. Is there something I am missing or something I should know and don't??

Guy
 
Lowrance can fix it. Don't let em tell you they can't. Be persistent, when they offer you $100 towards a new one, ask em why you would want to buy another Lowrance, an electronic as expensive as this should last more than 5 years. They may ask you to box and send to them at your cost and they can fix it for nothing. Push for this, it worked for me. If you don't get anywhere, phone again to talk to someone else.
 
It's possible that the GPS puck could be the problem. We had similar issues with an older unit (lms-337df). We replaced the puck about 5 or so years ago and are still using it today. It's got to be close to ten years we've had that unit. Actually had it on another boat before the C-Dory. I'd give lowrance a chance to troubleshoot it before you replace it.

On edit, I now recall a fault flashing on the screen, "GPS module not responding", when we replaced our puck. You could also try disconnecting the GPS cables and cleaning the contacts. We have had to do that with our globalmap5200c before.

Karl
 
Yes the fish finder works but it took a soft reboot to get it to respond. I am concerned about sending it back to them with a long wait. our boating season here is short thy drain the lakes. (North Eastern WA).
It sound like it could be a puck but I am only guessing what a puck is. Can you buy them from someone?

I appreciate the responses.

Guy
 
I understand. There are lots of models to review. One idea is keep it and use just the FF and use a 10" 3 or 4G iPad as a chartplotter
 
Sorry Guy,

It sounds like you have an internal GPS receiver. Please disregard my previous post. You could still give lowrance support a try. Perhaps they have a quick fix. Sorry for the confusion.

Karl
 
A update I talk with Lowrance support today and got a few things to try.
Go in to the WAAS settings if it is on turn it off if it is off turn it on.
Install the the latest software it does have some satellite pick up changes.
There repair turn around " 20 days" when questioned he said our policy is 20 day or less.
He also told me that the in internal antenna should be only used on a out in the open. When I told him it had been in the cab for 3 + years his answer was that does not make a difference. I think I can understand that. This was installed on the boat when I bought it. There is no input for a external.
The tech was polite and appeared to be knowledgeable.


The bad part or good part take your choice when I turned it on this morning it found 3 satellites I had not made any changes.

I have changed the WAAS to on it was off. installed the software and it still works. My worry now is the failure heat related? I did have a indication of that last year.

I am on my way with TOGO to Clarkson,WA to the Snake River Hope the Sonar works as I do not Know the river.

Guy
 
Feeling your pain on this one, I am presently stuck in the loop of gps module not responding on my Lcx-104c. It has failed to lock on to satellites before and I just reboot it with a "auto search" and it would bee fine for a day or a year or an hour. It was frustrating but manageable. Saturday it just decided not to lock, so I tried the soft reset then the hard reset then a call to Lorance support for a helping hand. We will see how that goes.
I have a LCC-12W gps receiver (antenna) that may have gone bad, It has a short four pin connection on it so I can plug it directly in to the head unit and by pass the long cable, I have done that no help same problem. I have done some looking on the internet and see that this is not an isolated problem. The only way for me to see if it is the receiver would be to hook it up to a known functioning unit and see if it locks on to satellites, then I could purchase a replacement puck. They no longer support the 12w and you can not find them any place, not even used. I have found a aftermarket puck that will work with it but Lowrance would not say that,they said I need to purchase a complete new system.
 
Feeling your pain on this one, I am presently stuck in the loop of gps module not responding on my Lcx-104c. It has failed to lock on to satellites before and I just reboot it with a "auto search" and it would be fine for a day or a year or an hour. It was frustrating but manageable. Saturday it just decided not to lock, so I tried the soft reset then the hard reset then a call to Lowrance support for a helping hand. We will see how that goes.
I have a LCC-12W gps receiver (antenna) that may have gone bad, It has a short four pin connection on it so I can plug it directly in to the head unit and by pass the long cable, I have done that, no help same problem. I have done some looking on the internet and see that this is not an isolated problem. The only way for me to see if it is the receiver would be to hook it up to a known functioning unit and see if it locks on to satellites, then I could purchase a replacement puck. They no longer support the 12w and you can not find them any place, not even used. I have found a aftermarket puck that will work with it but Lowrance would not say that,they said I need to purchase a complete new system.
 
OK, a puck is just a GPS receiver. A GPS receiver can come in many physical shapes and forms. So, for instance a small receiver that plugs into a PC is usually called a puck, because it's small and shaped like a hockey puck. Others are built inside a display. Others are larger and stand alone, plugging into your display with a cable.

I'm willing to bet that your HD7 has an internal GPS receiver. My HD7 Gen 2 has such a GPS receiver and has worked well for 2 years. The problem with such a receiver is that it's hidden inside not only the display, but it's inside the cabin. It's a receiver so it needs to receive the GPS radio signal. Normally the fibreglass cabin doesn't interfere with the signal. However, sometimes metal stuff gets laid over the receiver or mounted outside, blocking the GPS receiver line of sight.

So the first thing to do is to check that something metal isn't blocking the radio signal the GPS receiver is trying to find. If there's no signal, you'll get the message that all satellites are down, since the receiver isn't "seeing" any. And since it's intermittent, metal things may be getting shifted around. Are there any metal cages on the cabin top?

I've sent electronics back to get repaired, and I think that's a good Plan B.

Boris
 
If you do wind up replacing it, I'd go all the way to the gen III touch. I recently installed a HDS7 gen III touch in my boat and while I didn't think I'd like the touch screen, now that I have it, I love it. It's much faster for navigating between menus and the gen III processor is faster so things update more rapidly. It also has chirp sonar built it.
 
Still waiting to hear from Lowrance but have purchased a replacement gps antenna. It should take care of the issues I was having. I will update after I make the install with the replacement part information. So that others can get one if needed. From my research this issue is very common and there is a lot of unhappy users, seems that your satisfaction with help from Lowrance is related to who you talk to at Lowrance.
 
I am puzled by the lack of service.... most companies love to sell you repair stuff....like a remote GPS puck... I had one go bad on my Raymarine and all it required was a replacement puck that they happily sold me.... On my tug I have a Hummingbird Sonar that I love... it is like having a picture of the bottom.... but to make it work properly I had to buy an external GPS puck...the internal GPS worked but not well.... now it is fine...just dollars....

We just installed a new touch screen Lorance sonar on the fireboat next door.... and I am impressed... I never thought I would be so impressed by the touch screen but it is super...good sonar picture ...very clear and easy to use.... more fisherman quality..and I don't think I would install it on my C-Dory as a only GPS/Chartploter it just does not impress me as marine quality.... something I would bit trust my life with..

Joel
 
Lowrance gps antenna replacement has been completed and is now functioning as it is supposed to. It took a few emails to Sparesmarine to get it working but they were most helpful. I would recommend them with out any reservations.
 
Dan, would you mind telliing me what Lowrance unit with P?N you used? And Sparesmarine appears to be located in England. How did that work?

Boris
 
Boris,
I have a LCX-104C fish-finding sonar & mapping gps, it had a LGC-12W gps receiver that functions as a antenna for the unit. I replaced the antenna that had failed with a Evermore SA-320 NMEA 0183 Smart gps antenna from spares marine, yes they are in the UK and that was not an issue at all. The person who answered my questions when I emailed them regarding "still no joy" a reference to when it does not function after installation was outstanding. Steve Walker the person I dealt with responded to my e-mail within ten minutes and it was midnight his time, I was just hoping they would get back to me in the morning. He gave me some instructions and they were spot on, had it up and running in about five minutes.
The first part of the repair started out with Lowrance support and they took three days to get back to me with " sorry we no longer support that unit" and not a word about the Sa-320 antenna. They did offer to sell me a new chart potter and fish finder, I guess that is were their focus is.
Two thumbs up for Spares Marine and Steve Walker who by the way previously worked for Lowrance here in the states and stated this replacement antenna was a far superior antenna then the ones used as original equipment.
 
Dan, that was wonderful. It's interesting that the GPS uses a standard connector to plug into the Lowrance. Their newer units have special connectors, even for ethernet. I suppose to just make them proprietary.

Anyway, glad it worked. Amazing, in England, they speak English even at night.

Boris
 
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