What’s better than two MFD’s?

[Lite Tackle]

Three!


Need to clean up the wiring (I mean the whole boat), but just a 15’ N2K network cable and a t-connector tied into existing network and power to the battery and she works fine. Will be ideal for anchored bait fishing, halibut drifting and pretty much any trolling. The spare HDS 8 was just sitting in the den collecting dust. Did have to source the Ram Mount which turned out to work well.

 

[leeccoll]

A bit of genius there LT.

Don't let it go to your head!

 

[SkunkBoat]

What about the guy fishing the port side????

 

[Lite Tackle]

What about the guy fishing the port side????

So... If I follow you, your question is “what’s better than three MFD’s?“ Interesting.

 

[seasick]

How about a heads up display?
Seriously, what maps do you run in the HDS8? Is it a gen 1 HDS? I ask because I have a problem with a gen 1 HDS5 running latest Navionics East Coast chip. It intermittently restarts the map loading. Sort of like a power restart but not as long.
Lowrance said to talk to Navionics. Navionics said to talk to Lowrance. ( aren't they the same parent company?) In any case, I just live with the random restarts. I suspect the processor is not up to snuff for the newer map data

 

[Lite Tackle]

I’m running a 12” touch at helm with Navionics platnuim +, a 8” gen2 in radio box and a 8” gen2 at stern. Sharing maps is no issue. All are running latest software. My understanding is you can’t share from gen 1, you can share from gen 2 or 3 to gen 1.

 

[seasick]

Got it. My HDS5 is standalone, not networked. I think my problem is just a not powerful enough processor or too little memory, both of which were improved in the gen2 and up.
At first I thought it was a power issue but when I simulated a drop in voltage on the workbench, the unit did a full restart and that is not what it does when at sea. I think it reloads the maps,
It's hard to be sure since I can't make it fail at will. It's very random. It's would not be a big issue if it weren't for the fact that I have it set to split screen with depth on one screen.When it does whatever it does, it looses the sonar data also. No depth readings when drifting the shorelines is not the best situation to be in.

 

[Fishtales]

You need the big aft monitor!!

 

[Lite Tackle]

Got it. My HDS5 is standalone, not networked. I think my problem is just a not powerful enough processor or too little memory, both of which were improved in the gen2 and up.
At first I thought it was a power issue but when I simulated a drop in voltage on the workbench, the unit did a full restart and that is not what it does when at sea. I think it reloads the maps,
It's hard to be sure since I can't make it fail at will. It's very random. It's would not be a big issue if it weren't for the fact that I have it set to split screen with depth on one screen.When it does whatever it does, it looses the sonar data also. No depth readings when drifting the shorelines is not the best situation to be in.

Update the software from lowrance site. If you are not seeing a low voltage alarm on unit, voltage is not issue. Move chip to other slot and rechoose Navionics from menu. I don’t believe the processor is causing issue as I ran a gen 1 with Navionic on my whaler for years. Could be a short in unit.

 

[seasick]

Update the software from lowrance site. If you are not seeing a low voltage alarm on unit, voltage is not issue. Move chip to other slot and rechoose Navionics from menu. I don’t believe the processor is causing issue as I ran a gen 1 with Navionic on my whaler for years. Could be a short in unit.

Firmware is up to date ( latest software is fairly old though)
No power alarms, I checked. Unfortunately the HDS 5 has only one card slot
As mentioned, Navionics is new version with latest updates. It has more features than older versions.
I think I mentioned that I run split screen on the unit, maps and sonar. That probably adds extra processor load. If I run split screens with builtin maps, I don't have any problems so I doubt it is any kind of short.
What I haven't tried is running maps without split screen but that is because I usually need to know depths.
By the way, the restart or whatever it is has occurred while anchored with motors off.