Adding new Lowrance HDS units to an existing NMEA 2000 backbone.

[Joepapar]

I have a 2008 Ranger 188 with a Lowrance 520 in the console and a 510 on the bow. They are networked through a NMEA 2000 network. I recently added a Lowrance HDS8 gen 2 on the console and a HDS5 gen 2 on the bow. Can I add the 2 new units to the existing NMEA backbone or do I need to create a separate one? If I can add them to the existing network, what conversion cables and/or components do I need?

 

[jhebert]

Re: Adding new Lowrance HDS units to an existing NMEA 2000 backbone.

Any NMEA-2000 device can be attached to a NMEA-2000 network. The concept of a network is to attach the devices to a common backbone.

You might find a bit of reading about NMEA-2000 to be helpful. There are plenty of carefully written and well organized articles on this topic. Try


continuousWave: Whaler: Reference: NMEA-2000

The above article gives a concise summary and links to over 20 more articles that cover the topic.

 

[Joepapar]

Re: Adding new Lowrance HDS units to an existing NMEA 2000 backbone.

Thanks. I'll read through it. It looks like a 127-05 adapter will allow me to add newer lowrance units to an existing older network.

 

[jhebert]

Re: Adding new Lowrance HDS units to an existing NMEA 2000 backbone.

If you have older Lowrance devices and your NMEA-2000 wiring uses the older LowranceNET BLUE devices, a new Lowrance HDS device will have the newer LowranceNET RED devices (which are now actually black mostly). These newer devices are the NMEA standard DeviceNET Micro-C connector. Going forward you will find all newer devices will be more likely to use the DeviceNET Micro-C connector. Because of this, you will likely want to segment the network backbone wiring into two segments. One segment can use the older devices and a second segment can use the newer devices. In this way only one adaptor cable will be needed; use it to join the network segments.

You can tell the difference in the connector by the color and the action of the locking mechanism. The older devices have a twist-lock or bayonet-lock action; the newer devices are smaller and have a threaded locking collar that threads into place.

 

[Joepapar]

Re: Adding new Lowrance HDS units to an existing NMEA 2000 backbone.

That sounds like a good plan. Thanks for help.