Connecting Lowrance HDS7M to NMEA 2000 network

[joyceboat]

Greetings once again from England.
This is for the technical experts on the forum. Can you help me?
I am constructing a nmea 2000 system to join a hds-7m unit and a Lowrance elite-7x sonar/fishfinder. The first step is to connect my Lowrance HDS-7M stand alone plotter to the nmea2000 network.
At present my Lowrance dsc 250 lvr radio is conected at the rear of the hds-7m via the data wires nmea 0183.
There alre 3 fittings at the rear of the unit pwr/data, enet,nmea2k
What is the procedure for connectin the hds-7m to the nmea 2000 network?
Would I need to alter any settings on the hds-7m
I am a 62year old boat owner with the computer skills of a 5 year old so I would be grateful if you could keep the instructions simple
.Thank you.

 

[dingbat]

The first thing you need to do is buy and install a NMEA 2000 backbone. Once installed, you connect the NMEA port on the back of the machine to the back bone with a drop cable. Should be "plug and play" from that point

 

[joyceboat]

Hello dingbat. Thank you for your swift reply to my post.
I have bought a lowrance backbone.t -connectors,drop cables etc.and connected drop cable to the hds-7m black nk2 connector. Before I add power @12v. I wondered if the hds-7m requires its own 12v supply or is it powered fromthe nmea2000 backbone?

 

[dingbat]

Hello dingbat. Thank you for your swift reply to my post.
I have bought a lowrance backbone.t -connectors,drop cables etc.and connected drop cable to the hds-7m black nk2 connector. Before I add power @12v. I wondered if the hds-7m requires its own 12v supply or is it powered fromthe nmea2000 backbone?

Everything is powered thru the backbone.

 

[jhebert]

Everything is powered thru the backbone.

[I commented about this earlier but the reply was lost by the website host due to a database error.]

This is WRONG. The NMEA-2000 network power is only intended to provide minimal power to devices connected to it. You can generally tell what devices need to have their own power: those devices have a power cord. You can generally tell what devices expect to be powered by the network: they do not have a power cord. Using this guide, it becomes rather simple to figure out what devices need to be supplied with their own power and which can be run from the network.

A NMEA-2000 network device is rated for its LEN or Load Equivalent Number. The LEN is a unit of current in integer steps of 0.05-Ampere. The maximum power for any device on a network to draw is specified at 20-LEN or 1-Ampere. That is an unusually high rating, and most devices that are drawing power are drawing less. According to NMEA-2000, all devices must specify their electrical consumption in units of LEN. It is the responsibility of the network designer to provide sufficient power on the network to power the total load.

Concerning the ability of devices of various brands to interoperate: on a NMEA-2000 network there is no guarantee that any two NMEA-2000 devices will interoperate. The ability of devices to exchange data and communicate depends on what data they want to exchange. The data is described by the parameter group number or PGN. If one device sends a certain PGN and another devices receivers that PGN, then the two will communicate.

There are recommended connectors that should be used for NMEA-2000. Not every manufacturer uses the recommended connectors. The most commonly used connector is the NMEA-2000 MICRO connector.

NMEA-0183 is completely separate from and very different from NMEA-2000. In the case discussed here, the LVR-250 radio is a not a NMEA-2000 device and must be connected to the HDS-7m via NMEA-0183. For some guidance in making NMEA-0183 connections, see

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/guideNMEA0183.html

Once you make the electrical connection between the LVR-250 and HDS-7m, you will need to configure the HDS-7m to send certain data. See

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/HDS_Menu.html#NMEA0183

 

[jhebert]

[This post was a duplicate.]

 

[joyceboat]

Good morning jhebert from England,
I hope that you had the opertunity to read my last post before it was removed by iboats.
If not thank you for your advice and for pointing me to you links.I shall read them over the next few days.
My appologies for misspeloling your name.My two typing/keyboard fingers have a mind of theit own.
Regards,

 

[joyceboat]

lOWRANCE NMEA 2000 Progress update.
Everything is sitting upon my shed bench for connection and testing
The two t-connectors and power cable have been connected together but no 12v power has been added to the network.
The lowrance hds-7m has been connected with a drop cable.Powered up via red and black 12v cablesand is functioning correctly.
The lowrance LVR-250 dsc radio has been connected via the hds-7m data cables nmea0183 as instructed by jhebert and is also working correctly.
I am awaiting delivery of extra t-connectors and drop cables which will enable me to add a Lowrance hds-7x sounder and Lowrance elite-7 hdi sounder.

 

[joyceboat]

Hello Again from England.

Lowrance nmea 2000 Progress Update.

The parts arrived to day and have been connected the the lowrance units.Very easy to do thanks to the instructions from jhebert and his links.
Great news! Every thing is working as it should on he bench I only have to install everything into the boat console.
Many Thanks to everyone who offered their advice.

 

[jhebert]

Hello from the colonies--I am glad you got the network built up and the devices are working. Now I hope you can find some of that $9-per-US-gallon petrol for the boat.

--jimh