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Old 06-04-12, 03:55 PM   #1
tmcwhitt
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Default Attention Todd - Lowrance HDS 7 Problem

Went fishing the other day and hit a large wave and lost my HDS7 unit completely GPS and Depthfinder. Figured I jarred a connection loose on the power supply to the unit. Ran around most of the day without anything then all of a sudden it started working and was fine for the next 3 hours of my trip both the GPS and Depth.

It amazes me how a boat can sit still between trips and have a problem arise that wasnt there the last time it was loaded on the trailer.

On my next outing turned on my unit and seemed to work but could not get an accurate depth reading turned it off and back on and it locked on the bottom and was fine for a few minutes, then it started reading 2.4 feet which I new was incorrect because of where I was at. Tried cycling on and off and still could not get it to work just had a very colorfull screen with no depth readings. Then I turned on my GPS map with the overlay data and all I got was a dashed line in the area that was suppose to have the depth. I tried it several times throughout the day and still couldn't get it to work. I have it networked to my HDS 5 on the front of the boat and was able to let my partner in the rear of the boat see the depth reading from my transducer on the trolling motor but I had nothing but the GPS map contour details to run by on the HDS7 I had no depth finder.

Any suggestions on what I need to try at this point. Could my glued in the hull transducer be out. I do have the LSS-1 transducer but I cant run with it so I didn't try to see if it would read while I was sitting still.


Thanks,
Tom Whittington
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Old 06-06-12, 09:47 AM   #2
Todd Driscoll
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Yes, I think you have a slightly loose power connection to the HDS 7.

Regarding your sonar bottom lock issue, several things to check. Do you have current software? Recent updates have enhanced sonar performance. For Gen1, it's 4.1.36.68; Gen 2 it's 1.1.39.39. Check yours at Menu, Menu, System, About.

I've included suggested settings for 2D sonar below, but the most important one is Fishing Mode. Assuming you are in < 60 feet of water, make sure Shallow Water mode is selected. Having it in other modes can cause your issue.

With the Ethernet-link between your 7 and 5, you are running Network Sonar (only one ducer powered at a time), as you indicate the ability to view the TM ducer on the 7. Are you making sure you change the ducer source to the back ducer when looking at the 7 and running on plane?

Could be a bad or loose ducer. Easiest way to determine is grab an extra one, hook it up, and just hold it over the side of the boat.

2D sonar settings - Sonar Auto mode works very well. Keep the unit in 200 kHz. Under sonar settings, select Shallow Water (for our purposes this is water < 60 feet deep) and set scroll speed to normal. Also, under Installation select your appropriate transducer. Under Sonar Menu, I run Ping Speed at 18. Colorline I like at 85. For shallow water, especially around grass, I prefer color palette 1. For deep water or with lakes void of grass, I like palette 13. This was called bottom color tracking in the older units, helps separate fish from the bottom/cover, and also shows hard bottoms/shell beds better.
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Old 06-13-12, 10:25 AM   #3
tmcwhitt
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Default Attention Todd - Lowrance HDS 7 Problem

Thanks Todd, Checked all my power connections everything checked out. Going to lake tomorrow going try hooking it up to the transducer on my trolling motor and see what happens.
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Old 06-15-12, 10:27 PM   #4
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Well I went to the lake and swapped out the HDS-5 in the front of my boat with the HDS-7. The HDS-5 depth reading didn't work when I hooked it up to the transducer for the HDS-7. Tried the HDS-7 in the front of my boat and the depth worked fine. Bought a new transducer and haven't installed it yet. Now I have a new problem with the HDS-7. The screen constantly blinks on and off. It docent turn itself off it just blinks. I checked my warranty this morning and it ran out about 2 weeks ago. By the way the minimum repair charge for the HDS-7 is $450.00 ouch. My question is what can be causing the blinking it doesn't matter which place I hook it up it blinks and almost seems the longer its on the faster it gets. I would like to try a soft and if needed a hard reset before I send the unit in, but cant find the procedure for HDS-7 anywhere on the Lowrance site.
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Old 06-17-12, 10:57 AM   #5
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HDS soft reset - Hold PAGES, press and release PWR. Continue to hold PAGES, until unit boots to map.

HDS hard reset - Hold both ZOOM IN and ZOOM OUT, press and release PWR. Continue to hold both ZOOM buttons until unit boots to map.
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Old 03-01-13, 11:58 PM   #6
tmcwhitt
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Default Attention Todd HDS 7 Problem Solved

Well I'm back adding to this original post. Checked on getting my unit repaired about 4 months ago and was given a new price. It was going to be $600 this time. I thought that was ridiculous but Lowrance was going to swap my unit to a new HDS 7 Gen II. Well about a week ago I decided to bite the bullet and send it in. I couldn't get the Lowrance return authorization site to work so I called them on Monday. I got through in about 30 seconds that was the first unbelievable thing that happened. I explained to the tech what my unit was doing after he got my warranty info. He give me a RMA number and told me to box it and send it in. I asked don't you need my credit card info and he said no it was under warranty. I told him according to the Lowrance site it was out by about 5 months. He said the site has not been updated for a while and my 1 year warranty had been automatically extended to 2 years. Sent unit in on Wednesday and got it back the next Friday and it is a HDS 7 Gen II. I have to give Lowrance credit they ended up handling this very well way to go Lowrance.

Thanks,
Tom
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Old 03-02-13, 09:39 AM   #7
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Thanks for the update Tom. Glad our CS department got you fixed up.
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