wiring up lowrance hds 5m & 5x

just bought 2 new hds units off ebay (hds-5m &hds-5x).

im just wondering what to do with some of the wires. from the power/data outlet on the unit there are 2 cables. One cable is the positive & negative power cable (what does the yellow wake-up wire do) and the other cable is the data cable with yellow, blue, orange and green what do these connect to? the shield (ground wire) does this ground to the hull of the boat or to a common earth wire?


fords_rule85's picture

Posts: 116

Date Joined: 05/03/09

No expert

Tue, 2011-01-25 20:56

Hey mate im no expert but have some electrical experience, the red goes to battery posotive which acts as a power source and a memory source, the black goes to battery negative as an earth, the yellow wake up line is like an accessory wire in a car stereo and goes to a power feed that is only active with either the boat key on or a switch board toggle on and im pretty sure the data cable is only used for the more expensive/higher end units maybe to use multiple units together. This includes the shielded wire so from what i understand you dont need this unless you are using multiple lowrance units together e.g sounder and plotter together. Check out this link i found and good luck

http://primus.lowrance.com/icr/units/HDS%20Installation%20Guide.pdf PAGE 22 I THINK.

Buz's picture

Posts: 1555

Date Joined: 28/08/07

When i installed my HDS5x

Tue, 2011-01-25 20:59

When i installed my HDS5x into my tinnie (following the installation instructions) i only used the red and black wire, direct to the battery with an inline fuse on the red. Just taped up all the other wires. Works fine for me.

dagree's picture

Posts: 660

Date Joined: 08/12/07

Can't help with exact

Tue, 2011-01-25 22:41

Can't help with exact instructions.... My recommendation would be to read the wiring instructions supplied with the unit!!!!

____________________________________________________________________________

Cheers,

David (AKA Grumps)

Location: Heathridge.  Toys:  120 Series Prado ... 5.3 Stacer Seamaster/Merc 90HP.

Posts: 96

Date Joined: 21/12/09

Just follow that page 22. 

Wed, 2011-01-26 09:31

Just follow that page 22.  You will only need to wire up the red and black wires.  The yellow wire is a wakeup wire that you use to wake up other devices with a trigger input when you turn on the HDS ie amplifiers have a trigger to turn them on.  The other bunch of wire is for nema data ie I have a radio that will connect to it and get the GPS data.  So unless you have other devises your trying to connect you only need red and black.

spanishmackeral's picture

Posts: 940

Date Joined: 05/01/11

still not sure

Wed, 2011-01-26 11:25

thanks guys that link really helped as the instructions lowrance gave with the units was in way less detail (the reason why ive posted this)

 i have 2 hds units (the 5m and the 5x) so am i right in saying i would just connect those data wires together - yellow to yellow, green to green etc or is it done differently?

also really confused on where to earth the shield/earth wire to?

cheers rob

Posts: 96

Date Joined: 21/12/09

You don't need to use the

Wed, 2011-01-26 13:13

You don't need to use the data wires at all.  The only 4 wires you need to connect will be the black - and red + from each unit to the appropriate power.  Unless you have other devices your trying to connect you don't need the data lines.

Posts: 96

Date Joined: 21/12/09

If your tryng to network the

Wed, 2011-01-26 13:55

If your tryng to network the 2 units there is a port on the back marked ethernet.  You need a Lowrance ethernet cable to link them.

spanishmackeral's picture

Posts: 940

Date Joined: 05/01/11

what settings?

Wed, 2011-01-26 14:20

okay cheers 4 that just done that now and having a play with th units is awsome pretty easy to use and nice and bright too. settings are a bit confusing, especially on the sounder, do you bother with some of the advanced settings or just stick to the presets? and what colour setting is the best?

cheers rob

spanishmackeral's picture

Posts: 940

Date Joined: 05/01/11

just got the ethernet cable

Sat, 2011-01-29 15:49

just got the ethernet cable the other day so i could update the 5x and it works a treat. now i can have fun looking at the 2 units with different sounder settings

mr_dhuie's picture

Posts: 67

Date Joined: 24/04/09

 red and yellow to your power

Sat, 2011-01-29 16:48

 red and yellow to your power and earth blocks.(battery) your other colours are for your nmea. you use thse to have your lowrance gps and radio linked.

spanishmackeral's picture

Posts: 940

Date Joined: 05/01/11

sweat are their VHFs anygood?

Sat, 2011-01-29 17:20

sweat are their VHFs anygood?

Posts: 96

Date Joined: 21/12/09

Yellow is to power up a

Sat, 2011-01-29 17:17

Yellow is to power up a device with a trigger not the other way round, it doesn't need to be connected to anything.  "

When the Accessory Wake Up line is used to connect units with the accessory wake

up feature, you can power up certain connected devices from one location,

including digital sonar optimizers and expansion ports."

spanishmackeral's picture

Posts: 940

Date Joined: 05/01/11

so youd hook the yellow up to

Sat, 2011-01-29 17:20

so youd hook the yellow up to one of those down scanning units?

Posts: 96

Date Joined: 21/12/09

I havn't looked at the wiring

Sat, 2011-01-29 18:41

I havn't looked at the wiring diagram for the downscan but possibly, also may be used with the music head lowrance now do and an amp who knows.  LSS manual has a yellow wire with a switch but a quick google shows you connect the yellow from a hds head unit to the yellow of the LSS and it will turn on and off with the head unit.