Lowrance LMS520C - FAIL!

[pugger]

Ok, I had my boat out for the 6th time last Friday. The first 5 times the fact that the gps kept losing position was not a problem. After the second time, I took the unit to Tracker (whom I bought the boat from in June 2007). They checked it out & said it was fine. :freshbeer:

Fast forward to Friday, in the bay down the coast down a little ways. Foggy & raining hard at times. My wife & I were on our inaugural fishing voyage. At a prime moment, heading in, w/ visibility maybe 500 yards, the unit lost position & did not regain it for a desperate 15 minutes or so. Not that it would have helped too much, but the good folks at Tracker talked me out of purchasing a compass w/ the boat (among a couple of other things I would have ordered the boat with but I digress).

So, this time the unit failure really hurt. I emailed Lowrance, and I'm not wasting any more time w/ Tracker. I'm looking at moving the antenna up above the grab rail. The kid at Gander Mtn suggested mounting it on top at the back of the boat - first instinct was to toss his idea out, but at worst it's 1 novice calling another novice a novice :dizzy2:.

I welcome any ideas/comments .

 

[jim_s]

Can you move the antenna temporarily? It should be in the clear, no metal above it or beside it. If you can get it on top of the rail maybe tape it there and try it again?

Jim

 

[pugger]

you know, the wires coming out of the console are so short - it's hard to hook the unit up as it is. I'm going to see if there is extra wire underneath (a bud, who just bought/installed same unit on his older boat, tells me it's looped up underneath as it cannot be cut or spliced).

What I can't figure out is how/where to test - not taking the boat out this weekend. I guess I can just plug it in where it sits?

 

[pugger]

I received a troubleshooting doc from Lowrance by email today. Tried to follow it & man was I unpleasantly surprised. Went into my center console & that's when I discovered the myriad shortcuts & poor workmanship these folks did. Anyway, going to take the boat over to a friends tomorrow & we'll put 2 heads together on it.