Lowrance unit shuts off.

[Gonefishing760]

My lowrance. Unit has been randomly shutting off after an hour or so of use. When I go to turn the unit back on I get the start screen but then it goes black. It seems like the unit is overheating as it is hot to the touch. After waiting a while the unit will come back on briefly but then turn off again after a short time of use. I've checked all the wiring and it's fine there's no short in the system no fuses blown or anything that sticks out. Has anyone out there had this problem before if so what was your solution? Is there anything I can do before I have to send the unit back to Lowrance?any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[mjf55]

How hot would you say the unit gets? Spontaneous combustion hot, burn , uncomfortable, etc.... Are the wires leading to the unit hot, if so, how about at the fuse / circuit breaker. Is it in the sun? In an enclosure where the ambient temperature is hot.
Depending on the answers, but if PROBABLY is the unit.
Let us know.

EDIT: What model is this?

 

[gm280]

Yes heat can cause interesting things. But so can voltage or lack thereof. When your unit shuts down, it there anything else running off the same battery? Have you checked to see what the voltage is on the unit at that time? That would be interesting to know. JMHO

 

[oldboat1]

I had some quirky stuff going on with a h.bird unit I bought last year. It would shut down if I had it operating before firing up the boat -- think I probably had some other unexplained shutdowns as well. I hooked it up directly to the auxiliary battery (separate pos and neg wires, inline fuse on the pos side), and haven't had problems since.

 

[Gonefishing760]

Low voltage must have been the issue. I took my multimeter and tested the auxiliary battery that runs the unit and my trolling motor and it was turning out 10.5 volts. I then tested my main battery that's used to start the boat and it was putting out 12.5 volts. I then switched the fish finders positive connection to the main battery. I took the boat out today and the finder ran fine all day. The screen was still a bit warm but I'm assuming that's normal. What's does it mean when a battery is losing voltage? New battery? Thanks for the tips this forum always helps.

 

[bruceb58]

How are you charging this second battery?

Charge it completely and do a load test on it.

 

[Gonefishing760]

Well the secondary battery is charged through the rectifier that's part of the outboard motor. There is a inverter box that both batteries link this allows me to plug in the boat to a 120v house hold out let.

 

[bruceb58]

I wouldbe checking what the voltage is at this battery when the motor is running. This battery is likely toast so need to measure so you don't wipe out the next one.

 

[oldboat1]

maybe a terminology issue. An inverter would allow you to plug in some A/C devices, using your battery as a power source. It does the opposite of your engine's rectifier, which converts A/C power from your outboard stator to D/C power to charge your battery. Maybe you mean an isolator, which can allow you to charge two batteries from your engine. (And you may have a two bank charger that allows you to charge both batteries from an A/C source -- not sure.)

What engine do you have? Would be curious about the alternator system output -- also curious about your boat set up. Do you use a battery switch, for example, for the two battery banks? Not an authority on wiring by any means, but possible your charging system might be overtaxed -- or the trolling motor is too heavy a drain on your auxiliary battery. Lot's of potential issues.