Lowrance LCX-113c GPS Not finding location

fishstick

Greetings,
We have a Lowrance LCX-113c Sonar/GPS unit on our CD22 that is recently unable to obtain a GPS fix. The unit is pretty much brand new, purchased in May, and worked perfectly up until two weeks ago. Everything else on the unit, sonar, charts, etc. works properly. When looking at the map page it displays a "?" with the location marker positioned over central USA. I've gone through Lowrance's trouble shooting guide with no luck and contacted Lowrance support today, but they are closed for the weekend. I thought I'd post here to see if any anyone has experienced anything similar? I've also done some digging via the search function, but no luck. Thanks in advance for any help.
Nate

Big dave · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:25 pm Post subject:

Sometimes mine will loose position too. I unplug the data plug and then plug it back in and turn it on and see if that does the trick. You can also go into the menu and make sure you don't have WAAS in the on position, I always leave the WAAS in the off position on mine. It will drop position very easy if it is in the on position if the satellites are not in the right position.
You could also try a "soft" restart and you won't loose any data that you have stored.
Hope this helps
Big Dave.
Raven Dancer.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:26 pm Post subject:

I'm not familiar with the Lowrance, but most GPS units have a page where you can see what satellites and/or how many are being received. That page would tell you if you're getting a satellite signal. If you are, then it's likely a processor problem. If you aren't, I'd think it's more of an antenna or connection between the antenna and main unit problem.

Hope that helps get you started.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

Wandering Sagebrush · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:56 pm Post subject: How to Fix Lowrance GPS Systems

Nate,

I had a Lowrance X16 on Constant Craving, and had many of the issues that you mention. It would sometimes never lock on, sometimes quickly, and sometimes after an hour or so.

The fix was quite easy. I bought and installed a Humminbird 757c. This is my backup nav and fish finder. I use a Raymarine C80 as the primary. Other than a cracked GPS puck (over tightened by me), I have had no problems with the Raymarine.

My system was about 9 years old, so I would imagine that the newer Lowrance systems would not be as temperamental....

Steve

thataway · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:50 pm Post subject:

Jim's suggestion is a place to start. Generally the WAAS works fairly well in the Washington area --the biggest problem was in the North East. The WAAS satellites were changed a year ago July, so that should not be a problem currently--and the Lowrance units picked up the new satellites very quickly.

There has been a known problem with the Lowrance GPS antennas, and I would suspect that is the case with your unit. Some have been replaced under warantee with the Mark III version, which seems to fair better. I have a LCX 26 HD C--smaller screen than yours--and I have had no problem. I also have a Lowrance 3000C which is about 6 years old, and the antenna failed this year.

Also the Lowrance (as are many) GPS antennas are susceptable to the microwave energy of the radar scanner. If they are close to the beam of the scanner, this seems to increase the failure rate--if they are in the beam--it almost guarantees failure. Jim's idea of checking the satellites will give you the answer if the antenna is working or not.

I would pull all of the GPS antenna connections (you may have a short cable which coves inside of the cabin and a second cable which comes from that to the unit) and spray them with contact cleaner, pull the plugs in and out several times, and they re-assemble with dialectric grease, to prevent corrosion. A minimal amount of corrosion can cause loss of GPS signal.

There may have been some changes in connectors, so check to see if you have a blue or red connectors--they are slightly different. You can get an adaptor or change out the connector.

tpbrady · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:23 am Post subject:

While my Lowrance LCX-20 still works, I do have a problem if I get it anywhere near the radar scanner. As a backup I have a Garmin GPS-V that has a NMEA output connected to the NMEA input of the Lowrance. If I turn the Garmin on and disconnect the GPS antenna from the Lowrance the plotter will get its position and velocity from the Garmin.

johnbenj · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:46 am Post subject: Check the date

You should check the date / time in your Lowrance. If there is a big difference b/t the actual you'll experience problems. It's a long shot but maybe it will help you. Good luck, John

fishstick · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:11 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the info Big Dave. I've tried the soft restart with no luck, but am not sure what my WAAS settings are. I'll try unplugging the data plug as well. Will let you know how it goes.

One thing I forgot to mention was that the speedometer within the unit stopped working as well. I checked the hardware and wiring for it, but nothing was out of order.

Thanks again,
Nate

fishstick · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject:

Jim B,
I'll check for the satellite page. Thanks for the info.

Steve,
Hopefully I won't have to return the unit. I like it's features and it's easy to use (when it's working).

Thataway,
Thanks for the detailed info. We have the LGC-3000 GPS receiver/antenna module. I'll check with Lowrance to see if that is the issue. No Radar yet, but will look into connection corrosion. We aren't using any of the networking functionality yet either, just gps and sonar. I'll let you know how it goes, thanks again.

John,
Will have a look, thanks.

Nate

thataway · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:33 pm Post subject:

The GPS 3000 is the lastest model--but there may have been some updates. Without the radar, I would bet on corrosion. You will still receive satellites (see the page) even if the date is off.

Wandering Sagebrush · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:16 pm Post subject:

Nate,

The biggest reason that I got rid of my Lowrance was not the GPS, it was the sonar. I could never get the skimmer to read at higher speeds. I had the unit on my Arima, then moved it to the CDory when we bought that boat. I followed installation directions with as much precision as I could. Regardless, on both boats I never got it to read reliably above 6 or 7 mph. I tried all the tricks of angle and skimmer depth, sensitivity settings, etc.. Sometimes it would work fine, other times not.

As an aside, with both the Raymarine and the Humminbird, the wiring was significantly less complicated. No splitters, no unused plugs like the Lowrance unit had. And, with both the Raymarine, and the Humminbird I have had reliable high speed sonar operations as well as gps function. I am concerned that I have the Humminbird gps puck in the path of the radar emissions, but I have an extra 24" extension that should take care of that issue.

Good Luck,

Steve

thataway · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject:

We have the Lowrance combination GPS/Fishfinder on the Tom Cat and the fishfinder holds the bottom perfectly down to 300 feet (which is as deep as the water gets were we normally boat in the Gulf Coast, at speeds into the mid 40 knot range. It take a little fiddling to get it perfect--and the beauty of the polyethylene block helped that with re-screwing.

Wefings · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 3:36 pm Post subject:

My money is on a bad antenna ..... We have replace a bunch .
Marc

hardee · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 8:21 am Post subject: GPS Ant in Radar range

Dr Bob,

How close to the radar can the GPS antenna be? Should the GPS antenna be below the radar dome to avoid having the GPS cable going through the radar beam path? How wide is the radar beam at 2 feet from the scanner dome, (Raymarine 4KW)? This is a new concept for me.

Thanks for the help on this one, in advance.

Harvey
SleepyC Moon

journey on · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:50 am Post subject:

Please note that small boat radar is X-band, which is 8-10 GHz. Even the older ones were S-Band (2.5 GHz.) The GPS frequency is 1.5 GHZ.

The point of this is that there is frequency separation between the two units, and the GPS unit has a notch filter to reduce the interference of frequencies outside of the GPS spectrum. Note that all data leaving the GPS is digital, the RF processing is done in the sensor/antenna, so the S/N ratio in the cable is not affected by the radar output. The same can be said for the newer radars.

Radar operation should not interfere with GPS operation, unless the GPS or radar is screwed up. You can test this by bringing the GPS up and letting it lock on, and then turning on the radar. Try the longest range, since it has the longest pulse width. . If the GPS unlocks, I'd get a new one. They're cheap. A good Furuno is $300.

I've never experienced GPS failure when using the radar. Good Heavens, if you're using radar, you can't see too well, and knowing your position is important. And you're right, I have nothing better to do this morn.

Boris