Lowrance LGC-3000 aerials

BruceB · 20 November 2011, 22:33

Who supplies spares in the UK at reasonable prices and is there any way of checking whether an aerial is working or not with basic tools?
My Lowrance LGC-3000 stopped working today about 20mins after launching, the network still sees it and says its OK but its not picking up satellites.
Checked the various connections I could esily get to and all seems OK, it was dark when I got home so still need to play around with it some.
Is there a way if plugging it direct to the plotter still doesn't work to check outputs before replacing? its an expensive thing to just try a swop to see what happens.......

Chris · 20 November 2011, 23:29

saw an LGC-4000 on ebay earlier...

jyasaki · 21 November 2011, 00:38

Best bet would be to swap in and out if you can borrow one from someone with a similar system. The earlier antennae (2000 series) were somewhat vulnerable to being fried by nearby radar sets; haven't heard about the 3000's (mine's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.)

jky

Should mention that any NMEA 2000 antenna that you can connect to your wiring should work; doesn't necessarily have to be Lowrance.

BruceB · 05 December 2011, 21:55

Is the Lowrance black connector the same as the red network connection?
I see a lot of used LGC-4000 aerials for sale on ebay at a lot less than new and was going to buy one, they all seem to be black connectors though and I have only seen red or blue (my network is all red)
Is this another standard connect or is it compatible?

Chris · 05 December 2011, 22:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by BruceB

Is the Lowrance black connector the same as the red network connection?
I see a lot of used LGC-4000 aerials for sale on ebay at a lot less than new and was going to buy one, they all seem to be black connectors though and I have only seen red or blue (my network is all red)
Is this another standard connect or is it compatible?

Most of mine on Timebandit were black and they were the same size as red.

BruceB · 05 December 2011, 22:05

I just found details on a septic website saying the same thing.
Will just buy an aerial and see what i get

jyasaki · 06 December 2011, 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by BruceB

Is the Lowrance black connector the same as the red network connection?

The difference is size. Lowrance started with a large size connector on the LGC-2000 (about 3/4" in diameter), and changed to the small industry standard connector (about 3/16" diameter) with the LGC-3000 and up. They used to color code them (blue was large, red was small); other manufacturers don't adhere to the color code (black, silver, whatever.)

The large connector will work with a small connector network (and vice versa) with an adaptor.

jky

BruceB · 06 December 2011, 20:10

I had resigned myself to a £200+ new upgraded aerial and was about to buy online when I called Navico to try and get the mounting spat for it as nobody had one.
Thanks be I did. I've to send the aerial in and if its gubbed they will replace with a new upgraded one for around £45 within the week.
Whoo- hoo !

Ian M · 29 December 2011, 12:52

Bruce, How did this go. I have got problems with my GPS set up, an LGC 3000 connected to a Lowrance 5200C. It can flash "Positon Lost" and then "Position Acquired" in quite rapid succession. I have been through the nework connections and can see no obvious problems - cleaned the connectors etc. I was thinking the next move would be to buy a spare cable and go round replacing each cable in turn, but what a game! If it is possible to get the antenna checked that may be the way to go.

BruceB · 29 December 2011, 16:56

I sent the aerial on the 7th Dec with an expected turnaround of about 7-10 days back in my hand.
I have heard nothing and haven't been able to contact anyone at Lowrance for over two weeks that can even tell me if they have it (it was sent recorded/insured)
Getting ever so slightly p**ed off now as the boat has been stripped down for nearly a full month waiting for the areail to turn back up to be fitted.

Ian M · 29 December 2011, 21:32

Ah, not so good.
Perhaps I will look again at the cabling, don't fancy being out of action for so long. Hope yours re-appears soon.

Chris · 29 December 2011, 23:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian M

Bruce, How did this go. I have got problems with my GPS set up, an LGC 3000 connected to a Lowrance 5200C. It can flash "Positon Lost" and then "Position Acquired" in quite rapid succession. I have been through the nework connections and can see no obvious problems - cleaned the connectors etc. I was thinking the next move would be to buy a spare cable and go round replacing each cable in turn, but what a game! If it is possible to get the antenna checked that may be the way to go.

I think you can connect the aerial using the NMEA cable directly to the GPS. This is the only device that you can do this with. The idea being for people who do not want to set up an NMEA network you can still use a lowrance head unit with a GPS aerial.

No harm in trying!

As for it dropping off the network. Even if you think all your connections are good I did find that I had an issue on mine where the fuel guage sender kept giving an intermittent reading. In the end I worked out one of the T pieces was causing issues.

it worth swapping things over, for instance connect one of the LMF gauges to the T that your GPS antenna is using to see if the problem follows the T piece.

Ian M · 30 December 2011, 08:55

Thanks Chris, yes I had resolved to start swapping things around. The LGC 3000 manual states that the antenna has to be used on a network, as that is where it gets its power from, otherwise like you, that is the first thing that I would have done. Good point about the tees, I will not rule them out. I have got a spare cable on order, and will start going round with that when it arrives. The big issue for me is the weather, as each time I want to work on this I have to unbolt and lift the console, do the necessary and them replace the console as it supports my cover etc. All in all it means that I need at least a half day of reasonable weather to get any meaningful work done. Not many of those at the moment..............

BruceB · 15 January 2012, 18:44

The 5200C is a network aerial and can't be plugged in direct.
I got my aerial back last week, cost £40 including a free aerial spat. Bit disapointed that it took a month but can't complain that I got a new aerial for next to nothing, possibly the Xmas holidays slowed things up?