Westernbass Magazine - FREE Bass Fishing Tips And Techniques - Summer 2014, Page 7

Westernbass Magazine - FREE Bass Fishing Tips And Techniques - Summer 2014, Page 7

When looking at a NMEA network think of a backbone with ribs coming off the backbone. The two ends of each tee will connect to another tee or to a connecting extension cable. The single opposing arm of each tee will go to a device of some kind.

With a correctly configured NMEA network, you can share waypoints between two or more units, share temperature readings between units and share external GPS antennas.

ETHERNET

An Ethernet network can be as simple as an Ethernet cable connecting two units together or you can network an Ethernet network using a sonar hub, Structure Scan box or an expansion port. An Ethernet network can share Waypoints and sonar information allowing two or more units to use the same transducer. An example of this would be when you have a Structure Scan transducer mounted on the transom of your boat and both the bow unit and the console unit are receiving the structure scan sonar from that transducer.

One note of interest on Ethernet networking is that when two units are connected to the Ethernet network and a menu change is made to one unit, that menu change will be made to the other unit also. Such as when setting one unit to use a certain transducer and the other unit to use a different transducer.

I have dealt with many questions from confused anglers who want the bow mounted unit to use the

SUMMER 2014

transducer mounted on the trolling

motor and the unit mounted on the

console to use the transducer on

the back of the boat, either glued

into the bilge area or mounted

off the transom. They will set the

console unit to use the transducer

on the back of the boat and then

when they put the trolling motor in

the water the notice the bow unit

is reading the transducer on the

back of the boat so they proceed

to change the menu setting for the

bow unit to use the trolling motor

transducer. Then when they go

back to the console that unit is set

to the bow-mounted transducer and they just set it earlier to the transducer on the back of the boat hence the question posted on the Lowrance forum from the confused angler.

The fix for this is to simply disconnect the Ethernet cable from the front unit and make any menu settings you want that unit to have. Then with the Ethernet cable still disconnected, make the settings needed for the back unit. When these settings are made and saved, reconnect the Ethernet cable and you should be back in business. I have seen times when the units will “talk” to each other and settings have been synced on their own changing the settings made when you had the Ethernet cable disconnected. This can take a little patience and persistence but you will win!

KEYPAD UNIT

It is important to understand the difference in network needs between the Touch units and Keypad units. Especially when connecting to an Ethernet network to share sonar information.

The first pictures on the next page is the back of a keypad unit. Notice that there is only one sonar plug, the blue connector on the far left is for a Broadband sonar transducer. A Structure Scan transducer will need to be connected to a Structure Scan module and then connected to the keypad unit via the Ethernet cable. Now a second unit can be connected to the structure scan transducer using the next Ethernet plug on the module and running an Ethernet cable to

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