Sonar Question

I've got a Lowrance X102c unit mounted on the console of my boat with the Johnny Ray quick mount. I have purchased another Johnny Ray mount, X102c power cable and x102c trolling motor transducer. This is to enable me to take my X102c unit off the console and place it on the bow when I'm spider rigging crappie.

My question: Would it be OK to splice in the sonar power cable to the trolling motor power cable without any interference / noise from the trolling motor while it is running? I would be awful handy if I could do this. Anybody ever done it?

I would not recommend doing this, pull a seprate power cable to the new location. The off and on cycle of the trolling motor is hard a other electronics.

...my lowrance manual recomends straight to battery....not even power distribution fuse panel as interference will come from other elect. devices....also they rec. routing pwr cable away from other power cables so as not to induce interference from other devices.....I've heard of too many problems from people trying to shortcut proper install.....I always think back to the motor oil commerical-----you can pay me now; or you can pay me later, later always more expensive$$$$$$..ca--ching....most finders couple $100's ....extra wire and fuse @$20-30....no-brainer for me....... :cool:

Yeah, I thought this may be a bad idea. What if I ran my power to the X102c from the same battery as the trolling motor. Would I still be looking at interference?
Ha! I have experienced the pay me now, pay me later deal. Don't need any of that.
Thanks for your input.

Hey Fatcrack:

It would be better to run power from your starting battery but you could hook it up temporarily to your TM battery to see if you get any "noise" by turning on the graph and then turning the TM on and off. Another option is to have a separate battery just for accessories.

Here is big problem with electronics integrated with trolling motor ( besides the noise). A battery is considered fully discharged at 10.5 volts. This is where the elecronics start having probs. Things just don't work well at this discharge level.
Trolling motors don't care about charge levels, they just keep on drawing juice til there ain't any left. As long as u stay above this voltage level, the boat will crank, and the tronics will work. You get below this mark, then u gonna have problems. I guarentee this.....

Tom

Hey there Fatcrack, I,m pretty sure my next unit is going to be the Lowrance x102c. I have a stick steering rig so one unit serves me fine. I use a front and back transducer and a switch box to choose which transducer I want to use.

I've been playing with a x102c on a simulator at the local Gander Mtn. store. I have a question for you though. I don't know if you are using yours yet but how well does the color screen show up in bright sunlight with polarized sunglasses on?

..to mention previously.....I have seperate DCycle battery for my Lowrance only thing else I run off it is low watt green light for night stalking....If nothing else it also provides a extra batt in case of emergencys.. :p ...piece of mind.........priceless.. :cool:

Thanks guys for the input. I know what not to do now. I'll make her work.

Slabbandit - the x102c is a great unit. The screen is a little hard to see in direct sunlight with the naked eye. This is not much different from other color screens I suspect. The unit does have a backlight option that I haven't really experimented with in sunlight yet. The backlight option is great for night fishing.
You couldn't go wrong with this unit.

Is this just a thing with color, or certain kinds of depthfinders?
I wear sunglasses all the time, unless I forget them, most of the time I
leave a cheap pair in a tacklebox for insurance - but my stuff, I've never
had any problem with Ray-bans, or the cheapo's. Moose, you gonna
fry yore eyes! I end up squinting so hard without them, gives me a
headache. Course I end up with a headache a lot anyway.