Another wiring question

[GotOne]

I'm not a good manual reading guy, so I thought some of the experts on this site could help. Just bought a 3500 and a 332c w/o gps. Want to install both on bow. I taped off wires like recommended in above post. However, if I want to network them, do I have to use the multi-colored wires? If so-how? Also, can I connected both sets of power wires to the same single source of power (switched power cource)? Or would be be easier just to connect all the power wires to a power source? Also, also, any problems if I put the gps antenna about 1" away from marine antenna?

Thanks,

Bill

[GotOne]

btt

[Hooked On a Feeling]

Wallabee, if I can give some advice... read the manual. I sometimes have to read the manual 2-3 times before I grasp the concept. The manual is worded better than what we can do for you here. It will explain how to network your two units. As far as the antennas 1" apart, I think you'll have some problems. I'd say a min. of 3' apart.

[slick814]

multi-colored wires are more for your convenience in the future, should you have problems and need to diagnose them. THe wire color won't make a bit of difference in the performance. However, I'd recommend using different colors, because if you have a problem in the future, having even 3 or 4 wires that are the same color makes it a pain to troubleshoot.

As far as the antennas go... not sure, but I'd think that it could cause an interference problem with them so close to each other. a GPS antenna is a receiver, basically, and the marine is a transmit... so you might get a bit of interference that way. Try using them together with the antennas that close without mounting them, see if there's a problem, and if not, go for it. If there is, move them farther apart until the problem goes away.

you can use the same power source for multiple things, I'd just make sure that you have some kind of switch or fuse to shut one off if you need to, and also to protect the rest of the equipment on the circuit.

[Mykal]

Wallabee, I recommend going to the Lowrance HSOforum and clicking on the Lowrance-net general information link for starters. Like Hooked On a Feeling mentioned above, read it several times and call/email them if you need to. I have separate GPS and sonar at console and will be networking a 4800m to read GPS signal from a 3500c with separate sonar at the trolling station. On my 4800m GPS there is a set of red/black power wires for head unit, bare silver nmea ground shield, nmea orange/yellow transmit/receive, and white speaker wire. I believe the transmit/receive wires are for the old 183 network, I'm not currently using them at all. I do not have a 332 so it may be different on that unit as well. You will want to power the NMEA network ONLY from one unit, (Lowrance recommends a switch on this connection as it draws continuous power) and power each HEAD unit separately. Make sure to tape off all unused wires separatley. Do not hook up all these wires as you may damage the network and your units. You will need to purchase the Node kit and build a backbone for your network. You may also need to download software updates for your units. It's worth the trouble reading the proper way to wire this up to avoid problems. Once I get the 3500c in place this week I'll share the results. Hope this helps.

[Satchmo]

Wallabee--There a couple of differant ways to network your units. You may use the multi-colored data wires or you can build the NMEA network backbone with the proper network cables, nodes and terminators. The easiest is to use the data cables. Hooked up properly, this will supply GPS info to both units. Remember however, that while the master unit will supply GPS position info to your slave unit, you will NOT be able to save waypoints on the slave unit. This must be done on the master unit. When positioning your GPS receiver and your VHF antenna, be sure that the VHF cannot transmit anywhere near the GPS receiver. I.E.--Your antenna is laying down with the end near your GPS receiver. It is reccommended that the end of the antenna be 6ft. away when the VHF is transmitting. Some guys are tempted to transmit short distances with the antenna in the down position. Your GPS receiver is designed to receive 2 to 3 watts of signal, while the VHF radio will transmit 25 watts on high power. If you transmit with the GPS receiver near the end of the VHF antenna you run the risk of permanently damaging the GPS module.

[GotOne]

Thanks all for getting back to me. The 3500 and the 332 w/o gps will be side-by-side on the bow, so the only thing I need is power to the 332. If I hook up both power supplies from the 3500 to the same switched power is that ok? Secondly, for networking can I hook up 3 "t" connectors together. Run 1 "t" to back of 3500, 1 to 332 and the other to the gps puck and on each end put the supplied 60 ohm terminators? The manual shows 120 ohm terminators, however the boxes came with 60 ohm. I put the LGC-2000 (gps puck) about 2" away from the base of the marine radio antenna-so the 3500 is on the bow-I think it should be ok-right? oops-just checked and I only have 2 "t" connectors. So if I hook up the gps module to the end of the second "t", I think it should be ok. I know it will end the network, but at this time I do not need it.

[GotOne]

btt

[Satchmo]

Wallabee-- If you have a single open end on a network you need to use a 60 ohm terminator, however if you have two open connections on a network you must use two 120 ohm terminators for the system to work correctly. Give me a shout and I'll give you some advise..

[Mykal]

I wanted to post the results for connecting a 4800m GPS to a 3500c GPS now that I have a Lowrancenet successfully intalled. This is fairly new technology and have received conflicting information from various sources so I wanted to post what worked for me. I was told I could use the "Y" cable that came with the 4800m as a soft "T" connector for expanding this network. Problem is, the "Y" connector has 3 male heads on it so this cable will not work if adding another device to expand the network to 3 or more devices, (i.e 1 gps/sonar, 1 gps antenna, 1 gps/sonar.) If you have a "Y" cable, it must be removed. I purchased the node expansion kit, one extra "T" connector, one extra 2 ft cable (for drop to unit) and one extra 12 foot cable. The 3500c came with it's own "T" connector, 2 ft drop cable, 12 ft cable, and gps antenna. I have the 2 12 foot cables coming together under the bow in case I want to network a 3rd gps unit up there in the future, so I have the backbone running in sequence from console to bow to stearn.

Three reasons for running a network. 1. Powering only one antenna to feed all GPS signals for consistant gps reading and to reduce the number of wires to buss/battery and if my GPS antenna goes bad, I have an extra one (from 4800m)to replace it with, quickly and without rewiring. 2. Lowrance will be coming out with nmea network software enhancements that will allow stuff like entering a waypoint on one GPS unit so it will tranfer to the other unit down the network and vice versa. 3. If one unit fails on the network the network will still operate the remaining units.

The key for me is having electronics redundancy as I have had units go bad on the water at the worst possible times. The 4800m and the 3500c both have identical connectors, so if one unit ever fails I can move another unit in seconds to bow or stearn kicker staton and vice versa. I also have the same redundancy for sonar units, which can be moved from bow to dash to stearn in seconds. In my opinion, it's worth the time and a lot of fun tinkering with too!