Where to get power from?

First off I would like to say thank you to all of you that post on this site as I have learned so much about crappie fishing in general from you all. There is way more knowledge on this site than I could ever figure out on my own in a lifetime.


So here is my question I found a really good deal on 2 hds 5 gen2 units with lss1 box and transducer. I am hoping to find a hds7 or 9 in a gen2 touch or gen3 to go along with them. I want to mount the two 5" units at the console and the other unit at the bow. I am totally new to the "fancy fish finders" as my boat right now has a lowrance mark5. One of my questions is where is the best place to get my power supply for everything? The unit on the boat right now is wired into the original fuse panel that is powered by the starting battery. Is that an ok place to power everything from? Would I be better off to add another fuse panel dedicated to just my hds units and lss1 box or should I power everything directly from the battery with inline fuses? Also the hds5's I'm buying do not have the user manuals with them, is there a place I can still get one so I can figure out what size fuse to use on them? I am open to any and all suggestions as I have never had any experience with these.

If you are not having issues then power them just like they are. On the bow you can run a separate set of wires to run them. All the fish finders I have installed use a 3 amp fuse. The original fuse panel is a excellent source of power. I personally would not add a separate fuse panel as it is not needed but only you can make that choice. Hope this helps. Remember the old rule keep it simple

https://ww2.lowrance.com/Root/Lowran...0305-002_w.pdf

Thank you sinker that is what I was hoping to hear was keep it simple. I had just seen before guys talking about getting interference and didnt know which was would be better. SuperCorona is that a owners manual you linked? I can't get it to load but thank you at least now I know there is a possibility of finding one.

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Originally Posted by sweathermon

Thank you sinker that is what I was hoping to hear was keep it simple. I had just seen before guys talking about getting interference and didnt know which was would be better. SuperCorona is that a owners manual you linked? I can't get it to load but thank you at least now I know there is a possibility of finding one.

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Yeah, it's the owners manual. Loads up quick for me in Chrome.

I'm on my phone and it says file to large. Ill check it out on my computer when I get home. Thank you!

From what I've read on here, dedicated wires, from the start battery to your units, is the best way to go. It's also been advised to upsize your wiring, to alleviate voltage drop. Whatever is recommended, go one or two sizes bigger.
With that said, I just installed two Garmin 73 series units. For the console unit, I used the existing fuse block under the dash. I wanted to experiment. With my particular setup, it is easy to change, if needed.
For the bow, dedicated wires.
Both, so far, are ok. It seems to be hit and miss, who has issues and who doesn't.

If it was me, I would add a dedicated fuse panel. Wire it directly to cranking battery with a 15 amp fuse at battery using 12 gauge wire twisted to help prevent any interference. Then I would wire each unit to its own seperate fuse on the fuse panel with its appropriate size fuse. That way you would have good solid power. Plus if you had a problem you know exactly where to start trouble shooting. Plus a lot less chance of interference.

A lot of the older,cheaper units perform fine on the boat power because of small power requirements. Newer units are much more sensitive to low voltage and amperage fluctuations. Thus the need for seperate power supply.

I put in a 12 circuit Blue Sea fuse box with a negative bus ground, keeps the wiring nice and clean under the dash, easy to trouble shoot and easy to add more electrical trinkets to!!!

I would do what Cray said.
I have 2 hds units Gen 1 (7&8) with an LSS1 and decided to wire into the original fuse panel. Everything worked okay...for a while. The problem I soon noticed was that every time I started my outboard the unit at the console (8) would turn off. This happened as a result of voltage drop because the wire running to the original fuse panel couldn't maintain the voltage require to power the depth finders while drawing the power to crank the outboard (2 stroke 40 hp at the time). The only thing I did to fix the problem was run 10 ga stranded wire from the battery to the console and tied my electronics in using the 3amp inline fuses that came with the units. If I were to do it over again, I would have added the 2nd fuse panel making it a much neater job. I never had a problem with those units shutting off again. I've since replaced that old 40 with a new 60 hp 4 stroke and still no problems.
Fuse panels have a lot of stuff going on in there at times with all the pumps, lights and accessories going on/off all day. On older boats especially they just weren't designed to handle the power requirements needed for running todays electronics.

Thanks for the reply's everyone. Crappiemax that's exactly what I was afraid of as I also have a 40hp merc. I only want to do this one time and want to do it the right way. I also know that as time goes I will most likely want to upgrade even more in the future and hopefully that will make that even easier! Thank you all again for your input, I'm new to all this but you all make it easier!

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Originally Posted by Cray

If it was me, I would add a dedicated fuse panel. Wire it directly to cranking battery with a 15 amp fuse at battery using 12 gauge wire twisted to help prevent any interference. Then I would wire each unit to its own seperate fuse on the fuse panel with its appropriate size fuse. That way you would have good solid power. Plus if you had a problem you know exactly where to start trouble shooting. Plus a lot less chance of interference.

A lot of the older,cheaper units perform fine on the boat power because of small power requirements. Newer units are much more sensitive to low voltage and amperage fluctuations. Thus the need for seperate power supply.

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Cray I was just thinking is there a need for the 15 amp fuse at the battery since everything connected to the fuse panel will have its own fuse? I do not totally understand how electricity works so I'm not saying your wrong but was just curious if there was a reason behind that? Is that just added protection? With spending the kind of money it cost for these new fish finders I definitely dont want to take the chance of frying one for sure!

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Originally Posted by sweathermon

Cray I was just thinking is there a need for the 15 amp fuse at the battery since everything connected to the fuse panel will have its own fuse? I do not totally understand how electricity works so I'm not saying your wrong but was just curious if there was a reason behind that? Is that just added protection? With spending the kind of money it cost for these new fish finders I definitely dont want to take the chance of frying one for sure!

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Just added protection for the wire running from battery to main fuse panel. Figuring you would have a longer run on it rather than installing it close to battery and having 3 long runs from finders. I use the rubber spade fuse holder with the rubber cap to seal fuse. Can get them at most any parts store today. Install a ring eye on one wire to attach to battery then solder and heat shrink long wire to the long wire.

Here is size I prefere
https://www.delcity.net/store/Mini-B...SABEgJHb_D_BwE

And something on this order to hook individual wires to. Blue seas is another place for marine stuff.

https://www.delcity.net/store/ATC-&-..._10960.h_26034

Fuses protect the wiring.
You can ADD a fuse to protect the device (fish finder).
Electrical interference typically comes from electrical motors. Trolling motor being the main culprit. However bilge pump, live-well pumps also create electrical interference and they are typically powered off the starting battery, same fuse panel most connect their sonar units. Best to run separate wiring back to the battery for the sonar units. That includes the neutral wire. A separate 15amp fuse block and neutral block is a great suggestion. Remember, the fuse at the battery protects the wiring, the fuse at the fuse block protects that circuit and/or device. Never put in a fuse larger than the wiring can handle.

Thanks for the feedback guys! I really like to try to understand why to do something a certain way and learn as much as I can so maybe someday I wont have to be asking all the questions maybe I can help answer some! Hoping to get everything installed next weekend. Got 2 hds5 gen2 units and an hds7 gen3 unit to put on and I'm super excited! One other question if you all might know, can you hook an lss1 transducer to an lss2 box? The setup I bought the lss1 box had water inside it and I can't get it to come on and they seem to be kinda hard to find. Just wondering if I can't come up with one if an lss2 box would work with it? If nothing else I will call lowrance Monday and see what they say.Thanks again guys!

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Originally Posted by sweathermon

One other question if you all might know, can you hook an lss1 transducer to an lss2 box? The setup I bought the lss1 box had water inside it and I can't get it to come on and they seem to be kinda hard to find. Just wondering if I can't come up with one if an lss2 box would work with it? If nothing else I will call lowrance Monday and see what they say.Thanks again guys!

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Yes LSS 1 xducer can be plugged into StructureScan HD box ...

Some report better functionality using the Sonar modules ...on the premise that it frees up resources for the head unit processor ...

Rickie

As Rickie say's you can interchange them. I have seen reports that guys felt the lss1 actually performed better than the lss2 transducer on the lss2 box.

Just FYI lowrance makes a adapter cable to plug lss1 to back of your gen3.....But if you do a search on BBC or Walleye Central guys have been plugging lss 1 directly in to gen2 touchs and gen 3 touches, claiming it works fine.

- Lowrance HDS 12 Gen 3 transducer choice - Page 3 - Walleye Message Central
Post 27 Walleye central