GPS Networking

[Alphid]

Hello-

I have two GPS enabled Lowrance units: LCX-15cl and LCX-17M. I have one GPS puck that I would like to use for both devices. I have been told by Lowrance that I can do this but have questions on the following:

Do I need to get a special attachment to connect the GPS cable to both units or do I splice the data line to connect all three cables together? (based on the wording I've recieved from Lowrance it appears so below, but I imagine I am miss reading this)

What else do I need to buy to make this work?

The other directions sound simple enough I am just not sure what I need to complete the network.

here is what lowrance sent me:

You could actually connect the NMEA-0183 communication wires from the LCX-15MT and LCX-17M power cable in order to send the GPS signal from one unit and over to the other unit. On the unit that has the GPS Antenna connected into it, you would take the Yellow wire from that NMEA-0183 harness and connect it to the Orange wire of the unit that is going to receive the GPS signal. Then, connect both bare/silver wires together. You are probably going to have to purchase some additional lengths of 18 AWG Marine Grade wiring in order to connect both wires to each other's power cable harness. After the wires are connected properly, you then just have to go into both unit's menu setting and activate to send/receive the GPS Signal.

On the unit that has the GPS antenna connected and is going to send the signal to the other unit, you will power your unit on, then press Menu twice, select System Setup and press ENT. Then, select Communications Port and press ENT, select NMEA-0183 Output and press ENT. Once you have a visible "X" icon in the box next to NMEA-0183 Output then this GPS is set to send the signal to your other unit.

On the other unit, you will power the unit On and go through the same Menu sequence. Once you are in the Communications Port menu, instead of selecting NMEA-0183 Output, you will select NMEA-0183 Input and press ENT until the "X" icon shows up next to NMEA-0183 Input. Once this has been done, both units should now be providing you with a GPS signal.

please help a poor bass fisherman who loves technology!

Thanks,

[Transporter]

The two machines are going to talk to each other, 0183 has input and output lines and share sentences of data, simply put you will be connecting the wires from one to the other, like connecting telephone wires. From the info they sent you need nothing other than some extra wire to extend the connection. You can just twist the wires together to test, follow their instructions closely on wire color, by the way, you can't hurt anything if the connections are not quite right, just be sure pay close attention to the wire colors, the bare silver are just signal grounds but are needed. 25 years ago there were no simple instruction like they sent you, we had to go off of schematics, I used to interface Loran C to auto pilots and similar equipment and depending on the system it was trial and error until you got the wires right. You won't have any trouble.

[Alphid]

So with that being said, I can just splice the connectors that I currently have and I should be good? I am surpised that there isn't a easy connectors that can do this without having to connect bare wires.

also, does anyone have a picture of what they did so I can feel more comfortable doing this?

thanks!

[Transporter]

You have the cable that plugs into the back of the device, it supplies power and ground to the unit but has several other "unused" wires in it, these are wires you connect together to the cable from the other device, they will then talk to each other. Yes, just twist the bare wires together until you verify proper operation, then make a permanent connection, soldering and shrink tube would be the most permanent, proper sized butt connectors with the heat shrinkable ends on them, "PROPERLY CRIMPED" are very reliable as well. the reason they don't make connectors for this application is most likely because there are literally dozens of different possible manufactures combinations involved all with different connectors, the industry standard applies to wire color only for 0183. Some higher end electronics provided connectors specific to their application, but Lowrance was never one of them and were a pain to solder the tiny connections anyway.

Hope this helps, I have no pictures of any of my interface projects as they are all behind helm panels and inside conduit at this point and was never big on taking pictures of work, it seemed pointless until now.

[Alphid]

with this being said then, i would not have a connection into the actual GPS port on the second unit that is recieving the GPS signal from the first, correct? The GPS signal from the first unit would flow through the power cable on these unused lines and then using the menu prompts the second gps would 'understand' to pull the information from the GPS line, correct?

So in general the 0183 line is the power cable?

Thanks for the help on this, I got the wiring diagram from lowrance but it is tough to follow as it only should the front of the units.

A

[Transporter]

Let me try and put this into the proper terms and hopefully make it clearer for you. The unit that has the GPS antenna connected to it and displaying data is known as the "master", the unit that has NO GPS antenna connected that you want to display the data is known as the "slave". You connect the yellow wire from the master to the orange from the slave, connect the bare silver wires from the master and slave together, go into the menus of each unit and do what Lowrance said to do. NEMA 0183 is a communication protocal, allowing data to be shared between different devices, it has nothing to do with the power and ground circuits that supply voltage to the unit. I am not familiar with the units you have I have never used Lowrance for GPS, I am guessing the wires you need are part of the unused wires located in the harness/cable that plugs into the unit that supplies power to it, (most common), you will need to determine that. If the power cable is just two wires then there will be another cable/harness that connects to the unit that has the wires that you need, (least common), again, you will need to determine that.

Hopes this clears it up.

[Alphid]

This clears it up perfectly. thanks for the help on this. i will have this connected this weekend and ready to fish!

thanks