Lowrance Ethernet cable caution...........

[Cane Pole]

billbob has been having some intermittent problems with his HDS units. blueball came over for a visit and we put him to work. We tore into to the hds wiring, looking for a bad connection. Really didn't find anything major wrong. Jeff White did a good job splicing the wires. The connections were solid. We replaced a few wires that were not up to snuff (cig lighter power plug). Of course, when we powered the units up, everything looked just fine. Well, when we got to the water Saturday, we had the"no source" signal display. Intermittent #@@#%^&*))&%$ network cable.

We took the Ethernet cable inside and isolated the cable wire that was intermittent. billbob cut the Ethernet cable so I could isolate the break. To my surprise, the wires were solid conductor twisted pairs. Standard color codes were used (W/B-Blue) (W/OR-Orn) , typical signal wires. But why on earth use solid wire? I know from experience by connecting and disconnecting solid connector cables, that sooner or later the solid conductor will break inside the insulation, causing intermittent operation. Connecting the Ethernet to the head unit (especially when mounted on a ram mount causes you to bend the cable frequently at the cable connector boot. Do not flex the cable often at the unit (connector molded strain relief). A wire will eventually break and as likely as not become intermittent since the break is inside the insulation and the wires will occasionally make contact and the unit begin to operate.

This really applies to the folks that remove their head units frequently. It will happen.

I posted on the Lowrance Facebook page questioning why the Ethernet cables were so "stiff". Never got an answer. Well, now we know the rest of the story.

I have the Ethernet pin out wiring if anyone wants it.

[Barnacle Bill]

Solid wire anywhere on a boat is dumb, dumb, dumb.

[crappiemax]

Good stuff to know. Thanks for sharing.

[BigRiverMarine]

I am having the same trouble with a NEW cable. Now I know what to look for. Thanks for some great information. Send me the info you have. PLEASE!!!!!

[Fisherman_Wantabe]

.

. But why on earth use solid wire? .

Cost! Solid is cheaper in bulk than strainded Cat5 and easier to make the cables to start with. But I agree for the use they should have used strainded.