Lowrance Rant

[Buc-Eye]

Fellas this is just a rant but may be helpful for others.

I bought a Lowrance HDS 5 unit in the late fall of 2010 for $499. My boat has an enclosed cabin and is stored indoors during the winter. Due to the fact that I live 2.5 hours away from the lake, I am a weekend fisherman so the unit has less than a hundred hours on it. Needless to say, this fish finder has been gently used.

This weekend I took my boat out of storage and prepped it for the season. My Lowrance unit fired up at first but then shut off heading into East Harbor. I tried the normal troubleshooting checking fuses and voltage with all leads coming back normal. I called the Navico which owns Lorwance and their warrantee only covers their product within a 2 year window. If you are out of warrantee, you can send in your broken unit and they give you minimal credit towards the purchase of another RECONDITIONED unit or the option of using your credit towards an upgrade of a higher end reconditioned unit. I asked if they could repair mine and the answer was no. My situation is one thing being that I spent $499 dollars but the fella’s who are looking to acquire a HDS 10 unit for over 2k may want to think twice about a company who will only stand behind their product for 2 years.

[wakina]

Is it a Combo unit, just sonar or just GPS? If you have not already done so, Pull the power plug from the back of the unit and check for power in the plug. If a combo unit or just sonar the power plug will be the one for the transducer. Make sure power is present in the positive socket and that the plug and pins are not corroded and are making contact. Reverse the procedure to find out if the ground side of the plug is ok. I had a similar problem and found that the plug was bad, locking ring did not engage the grooves as it was twisted/turn into the locking position allowing for a poor contact.

[BILLY JOE]

the connections are the same as the older LMS units also do you know anyone that you could try plugging your unit into there harness.if it still dosnt work then you know its your unit for sure.

[wakina]

the connections are the same as the older LMS units also do you know anyone that you could try plugging your unit into there harness.if it still dosnt work then you know its your unit for sure.

LOL that is much easier than the way that I had suggested and used cured my units problems. Well anyway you slice it, that is nice call BILLY JOE!

[LOWE LIFE]

Mine started to have issues last year. Check for interfearence from other wires. My prob was the batteries did not have enough voltage.. I swapped it out and haven't had a problem since.. Maybe this will help?? good luck and be safe
LOWE LIFE

[Buc-Eye]

Wakina,Lowe Life
Thanks for the advice! I do have an old working LMS 332c unit that I will use to help the trouble shooting process in the future. I have a friend who was a navy electronics engineer who pulled the thing apart and got it running again. Lucked out! I just was taken back at the response from Lowrance considering the investment that many of these units require. Thanks again for the input!

Tight Lines!
Buc-Eye

[Buc-Eye]

Left your name out on accident Billy Joe. Thanks to you as well!