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Posts: 313
Location: On your favorite spot | I run a Lowrance 5200 GPS, older Lowrance locator, and an Eagle Fishmark 480 off my starter battery. Yesterday my FM 480 would not turn on. I wired it into a heavier gauge wire and it turned on briefly, just long enough to read voltage at 11.7, then blipped off. My GPS and other locator worked fine. My questions are:
Is it possible the voltage is not sufficent to run the FM 480 but ok for the GPS and older locator? Seems like the GPS would be the first thing to go. Is there a power heirarchy when multiple units are hooked up?
Would the lighter gauge wire cause a problem if voltage was a little low or are my units just competing for power - maybe just need a new battery? I also tried to turn my unit on with the outboard running and that didn't help. |
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Posts: 5874
| I think 11.7V should be enough to run that unit. No power hierarchy going on. The wire won't have anything to do with it either. 10.7 V is the majic number on my Lowrance units, I think. Can't say what the Eagle FM 480 is, but as a Lowrance product, I would suspect the same.
I would turn on the GPS, and go to the data screen that shows voltage. The turn on the 480, and see what that voltage reading on the GPS does. If your battery is good, I suspect it will stay rock solid. If it cannot tolerate additional load, the reading will dip trying to start the 480. A fully charged, good battery should read 12.6 volts. Also, if your alternating on the motor is working, that should take the voltage reading to about 13.5-14.5 volts. Assuming a good battery.
Maybe the 480 took a dump? Bummer if it did. |
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Posts: 720
| Hi Marc,
Did you lose your ground wire? |
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Posts: 311
| Had the same thing on my buddys boat, it was the spring loaded in-line fuse holder. It was not making a good connection. We replaced the holder and it works fine. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | 11.7V is way too low at the unit, it wasn't designed for that. It most likely has a 12V regulator inside to keep the voltage constant internally no matter what the battery voltage rises to. Your battery should be at 12.67V or higher when it is fully charged. Take a volt meter and read directly across the battery. If it is 11.7V there when fully charged, it is junk. Next, read from the + terminal of the battery to the - lead at the unit. If it reads more than a tenth of a volt less you have some bad wiring from either a poor connector crimp, or oxidation. Do the same with the meter on the - side of the battery and go to the + lead at the unit. Same thing there, if you read more than a tenth of a volt less the wiring is a problem. The previous advice with a bad fuse connection is the first place I would look also if the + wire is the problem. Any place the wire has connectors, switches, fuses or other breaks is suspect. Another possibility is the wire itself may have been damaged, getting broken inside the insulation, adding lots of resistance. Not likely, but possible if everything else checks out. Last possibility is that the unit is defective internally.
When doing voltage checks like this I usually have a friend hold the meter lead on one end and add a jumper in to get the extra length on the meter leads if needed. Not fun, but it will tell you exactly what and where the problem is. |
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Posts: 5874
| 11.7 V is enough power to run these units. Eagle specs call for 10 - 17V. Lowrance specs for the LMS 480 is 10-15V. As mentioned, I think mine shuts down around 10.6 or so.
I like the idea that perhaps the inline fuse holder could be bad. I just replaced mine with an automotive style. My X-111 would shut off when a wave would hit the side of the boat. |
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Posts: 433
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin | I stand corrected. I looked for a manual PDF on the Eagle page and the one I looked at says 10-15V Input Power. My apologies.
There is still no reason not to have full battery voltage (minus one or two tenths of a volt max) at any device connected anywhere in the boat. If the battery is good, and there voltage drop at the device is almost a full volt, then there is a resistance somewhere generating heat, not a desirable use for your battery power. This is much more of a problem on the high amp draw applications like the trolling motors than with the low amp draw locators, etc. I had a bow mount 74# thrust blow out a 50 amp inline fuse under high load and the fuse holder/wire insulation was almost melted completely tight just from the corrosion in the connection after a few years of use. |
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| I am with Smokin Joe... I have the same thing happem with my Lowrance X75 occasionally and when it doesn't turn on I just clean up the contacts on the spring loaded inline fuse holder(or just make sure its tight) and it it begins to power up. It appears to me it is an inrush current issue at start up and if the inline fuse hold is resistive enough it drops enough voltage momementarily and the unit does not start up.
John |
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| One more thing... The newer units come with an inline automotive style fuse holder. I have NEVER seen these issues with these units. As Shep said, a possible solution is to replace the springe loaded inline fuse holder with the automotive style... I have been planning on doing this myself 
John |
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Posts: 313
Location: On your favorite spot | appreciate the responses - i'm pretty savvy with my wiring and electronics but this one had me thrown - let me just say, sheepishly, it was fuse issue, and i'm sorry for wasting everyones time  but there was alot of good info here concerning voltage/batteries that i never knew |
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