# Need help with new rig - Lowrance 110 & 111



## Meat-Man (Mar 30, 2014)

I've recently purchased a new (to me) rig and I am having problems keeping the GPS signal. Here is some info on the set up.

LCX 110 and 111 on the console. The console has a bubble. The boat is rigged with transducers for both but the previous owner didn't plug in the sonar cable to the 111 because of interfearance. He strictly ran sonar on the 110 and GPS on the 111. The puck is mounted onto the 111 via a support rod.

Question - Should I relocate the puck? Will that improve the signal?

Also, if you guys have any ideas how to improve or set up the units differently I'm all ears.

Thanks!


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

Did you try connecting the puck to the other unit? At least it will tell you if it's the puck or the unit, pucks do go bad so isolate if its that. Pucks do need clear view of the sky but seems most guys mount them all over behind consoles and windshields without issue.


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## Meat-Man (Mar 30, 2014)

Thanks K gone, I will try the puck on the other unit. Your response also triggered another idea. A second puck came with the boat - new never used. I think I'll give that a shot too.

Thanks again!


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

Also, Connect your two gps' together with NMEA 2000. You can share one gps antenna between the two units and when you take a fix with one unit (Man Overboard coordinate) the NMEA 2000 network will put the coordinate into the other unit automatically...so you will have coordinate redundancy. All you need is to buy a NMEA 2000 network starter pack from Lowrance and read the sticky at the top of this forum. Since both units use Blue NMEA 2000 connectors, you will need two adapter cables as I describe in my NMEA 2000 post.

The problem with the gps antenna... try a software update for the antenna. Research it on Lowrance website. With those two units, you will need to load the update from the Lowrance site onto a < 500MB chip otherwise the units may not read it.


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## Meat-Man (Mar 30, 2014)

Thanks workdog. I'm going to dig into it tomorrow night. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.


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## Meat-Man (Mar 30, 2014)

Update:

Well I don't know how to explain this. I switched antennas and switched locations a few times. At the end of the night I finished up with the original setup causing me issues - and it worked fine! I even trailered the boat around the block a few times and it kept the signal for the entire ride. Can't say I have a warm fuzzy feeling it will stay that way.

Any explanation? Maybe just a loose wire or connection? I'm stumped...


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

Meat-Man said:


> Update:
> 
> Well I don't know how to explain this. I switched antennas and switched locations a few times. At the end of the night I finished up with the original setup causing me issues - and it worked fine! I even trailered the boat around the block a few times and it kept the signal for the entire ride. Can't say I have a warm fuzzy feeling it will stay that way.
> 
> *Any explanation*? Maybe just a loose wire or connection? I'm stumped...


Do you have a lot of trees in your yard? Tall buildings on a couple sides? Was the boat in your garage? I'm figuring the gps was trying to get an initial satellite present position lockon which is helped by having access to more than 3 satellites. When you pulled the boat around the neighborhood, the gps accessed as many satellites as it needed to get a lockon. Once the boat was back in your yard, perhaps it doesn't have as many satellites in view, but enough to run now that the present position in the gps and the position of the boat are the same?


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## Meat-Man (Mar 30, 2014)

Workdog,

I specifically parked the boat in the same spot of the driveway. I was thinking the same thing - trees. Also, when it was on the lake Sunday I was having the same "lost signal" issue - no trees.

All this leads me to believe the problem will occur again. Maybe, maybe not. I'm still having a tough time thinking it was just a loose connection or misplace wire.


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

You should have had a clear view to the sky when on the lake, so it must be something else. I have my gps antenna mounted flat on the dashboard. I do have a fiberglass hardtop. The only time I lose signal is when someone throws a bag of potato chips on top of the antenna...it will not look through foil potato chip bags. 

Check your connections again. If you have a "Y" cable connecting your antenna to the LCX 111, ensure there is a 60 ohm terminator on the third leg of the cable. Your LCX-111 *power/data *cable has three "legs" coming from the plug that is in the back of the LCX-111... one leg is for power for the LCX-111, one leg is for NMEA 0183 which is typically unused, the third leg is for power to power the NMEA 2000 network. Your antenna to LCX-111 cable is a simple NMEA 2000 network. For the antenna to work there has to be power to the NMEA 2000 network. Ensure the power connection on that third leg is connected to battery juice (fuse box, switch, or direct to battery). Lowrance highly recommends that the NMEA 2000 network be switched, so that you don't have power to it when not using the boat (the NMEA 2000 network could drain your battery over time if the boat is not in use). *Perhaps the original owner has that leg of the power/data cable switched (as he should), and the reason the antenna wasn't locking on to satellites is because you had the switch shut off.* You should ensure that there is only *ONE *power connection to the NMEA network. Both your LCX-111 and LCX-110 have that third leg on the power/data cable. Make sure that only the unit the antenna is hooked to has that leg powered.

Additionally, I would still do software updates to your units and the antenna. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.


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## Meat-Man (Mar 30, 2014)

How can I tell which software is currently installed?


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## Workdog (Jan 10, 2007)

I believe the latest software for the LGC-2000 gps antenna is version 1.9.0. I can check my antenna software by selecting "Menu" button on the display unit (LCX-111 in your case), select "NMEA 2000," select "Bus Setup," then select the "LGC-2000." You should see what the software version is. For my LCX-37, I would select the "Menu" button twice, select "System Setup," then, select "Software Version." As I recall, Lowrance has a warning note to update the LGC-2000 first, before updating software in the unit.


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## Meat-Man (Mar 30, 2014)

Thanks Workdog. I really appreciate your insight!


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