Lowrance network help

I've probably pestered the boys over at Walleye Central enough, thought I would post here too. The more I research Lowrance networking, I think the more confused I have become. Please bear with me as I explain the situation. I must say I'm relatively new to all of this but am starting to grasp it some. I have purchased LMS 520c to put on the bow of my boat and a LMS 525c for the console. I want to get them networked so that I can basically share waypoints and trails between the two and I also want to share a gps puck. In order to to this, do I just need to connect the two head units together with an Lowrance Ethernet cable? Or do I need to set up an NMEA 2000 network also?

The LMS 525 came with a black double tee connector. It connects to the head unit and the gps puck. Would I just need a red tee connector to add to this and then plug the network cable from the 520c into it? Also read that NMEA should only have one power source, so should I just connect the nmea wires from one head unit to a power source? I know lots of questions, any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks

You need the NMEA 2000. The Ethernet on the 52X seris will primarily allow you to share transducers.

Are you going to use two pucks?

I have two pucks, but only want to use one if I can. Will NMEA allow me to share waypoints etc.. and am I thinking right in that I only need to get one red lowrance tee to hook up the 520 to the network? Would that allow me to share a puck?

You'd pull one of the terminators off the T and replace it with a cable to go to a new T. The cable would go into a "bus" connection on the new T, and the terminator would go on the other bus port of the new T. The 520 would go on a cable connected to the device port on the new T.

That will share the puck and let you mark waypoints on both units at the same time. Your waypoints would be more accurate if you used two pucks mounted near the transducers. You'd need one more T and a cable to do that.

Or I could just hook the new T up to one of the existing tees correct? So if I got an ethernet cable would that allow the displays to share screens so to speak?

Oh yeah, forgot to ask about wiring. Both head units have wires coming of the power cable for NMEA network power. I read that the NMEA network should only have one power source. So should I only hook the power up for NMEA from one of the head units?

Apparently that wiring just powers the NMEA at the head unit, so I need a Lowrance Net Power cable and another tee to power the network? Do you put an on and off toggle for this source too?

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Originally Posted by Ozark88

Oh yeah, forgot to ask about wiring. Both head units have wires coming of the power cable for NMEA network power. I read that the NMEA network should only have one power source. So should I only hook the power up for NMEA from one of the head units?

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Right.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ozark88

Or I could just hook the new T up to one of the existing tees correct? So if I got an ethernet cable would that allow the displays to share screens so to speak?

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The cable going to the new unit would connect the two Ts together. They won't join directly.

Ethernet allows transducer sharing between the units.

One last question..........hopefully, if I hook up the nmea wires from one of the head units to power, then that's all the network needs for power? Or do I need the LowranceNet Power Cable as well? Sorry, to be such a pain in the butt.

Found all of my answers here :-) Lowrance NMEA 2000 Network Lessons Learned - Ohio Game Fishing Community

With the 52X series, one of those units will power the bus, so you don't need the Power Node. You'll want a switch on the bus power. The easiest way is to connect the network power lead to a line that is switched by your master switch.

Thanks for all of your help CatFan!!

Ozark88:

The network only needs one power source - providing power to the network via one of your head units will work.

Here is what I understand about Lowrance networking; there are two generations of Lowrance networks:

1) The first generation (roughly 2003-2007) was proprietary to Lowrance and used "blue" (actually, blue/gray) network cabling accessories/components. During this period Lowrance manufactured and sold units that used the "blue" network components. Examples of these units are the LMS-330c/332c/334c/X102c/Globalmap 3500c/3600c, etc. (none of these products have the "fourth" ethernet jack)

2) The second generation (roughly 2008-present) is based on the NMEA 2000 standard where the products are more interchangeable between brands (Lowrance vs. Hummingbird). Lowrance's initial NMEA 2000 cable accessories/components were red and gray in color. The newest Lowrance.NMEA 2000 cable accessories/components are all black. These NMEA 2000 compliant products are functionally interchangeable even though they are different colors. i.e. red/gray and black components work perfectly together. Examples of these units are the LMS-520c/522c/525c/527c/X510c/Globalmap 5200c/5300c, etc. (ALL of these products have the "fourth" yellow ethernet jack). Note: most simple networks need to be terminated on each end by 120 ohm resistors.

Thus you will hear people referring to their Lowrance's network as either being "blue" (first generation) or "red/black" (second generation). All of the above products shipped with either the Lowrance PC-26BL or PC-27BL power cords - which has the integrated network power supply cable. Up until this point the network was designed to be powered by one of the networked units. When Lowrance introduced the HDS units, this changed - Lowrance now designed the network to be powered using a separate power node (N2K-PWR-RD) which supplies DC power directly to the network backbone.

Network versus Ethernet:
Like CatFan noted, the NMEA network allows all networked mapping units to share one GPS antenna, share new waypoints (as new waypoints are saved, they are transmitted and shared with other mapping units), and allows sharing of some basic digital data. The network does not allow the sharing of any SD card (Navionics, Lakemaster, Fishing Hot Spots) map information between units.

Again as CatFan noted, an ethernet connection allows the sharing of the actual sonar information. The simplest setup involves plugging one transducer into one unit. Run one ethernet extension cable (yellow ends) between the two units with ethernet capability. The second unit sees the exact same sonar read-out as the source unit. In other words, when you have two ethernet units like you do LMS-520c/525c, you no longer need the Lowrance transducer switch box (SB10-BL). Sweeeeet! The broadband sonar unit, expansion ports, etc. have numerous ethernet output jacks. With this additional investment one transducer can be shared with three+ units.

Best wishes - and keep your lines tight!

Thanks, I appreciate it!!