Lowrance HDS10 issues; Help?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marc Marcantonio on May 16, 2012 at 8:43pm

Nick,

 

The next thing I would try is  a soft reset, and then a hard reset.  Hope you backed up your waypoints.

 

Not sure what you mean by "waiting for a response" from Lowrance.  If you call them they have been great about answering the phone promptly (Monday's can take longer).  If you emailed them I would not wait for a reply; call them!  Also not sure what you mean by sending it in with $600...it is within it's two year warranty, isn't it?

 

ciao,

Marc

Permalink Reply by Nick Berto on May 17, 2012 at 4:31am

Dana- thanks for the call last night, we'll chat more later...

Marc- I have not saved my waypoints to anything other than the unit, another huge concern of mine. I would like to be able to "pull" them off by using my other depth finder, they are interlinked. I emailed them as I have not been available to call them during their business hours. I will call them today. And no, it is out of Warrantee as of March and the $600 is how much the website was requiring when trying to generate a RMA.

Permalink Reply by Marc Marcantonio on May 23, 2012 at 8:17pm

Nick,

If more than one unit is networked with an ethernet cable, they willl both have the exact same waypoint library as they are automatically synchronized.  Then your other unit will have the waypoints and you won't lose them.  Regardless, always save your waypoints to at least an SD card, or your home computer (transfer them with an SD Card).

 

Then perform a soft reset, and if that doesn't work try a hard reset.  If it is still stuck, then the RMA is in order.  Let me know what you figure out.

 

ciao,
Marc

Permalink Reply by Steve Hastings on May 29, 2012 at 11:12am

Nick,

Depending on your results with the above, and your technical/ mechanical skill, the option to open the unit and clean the contacts where that button exists is an option. An option on Lowrance units I have used.

It is a very common design in electronics with this type of  soft touch button for there to be a small carbon conductor attached to the back of that flexible button pad.  When pushed it makes contact with small copper traces on a circuit board completing the circuit activating the functionality.  If you are capable of disassembling the unit you can clean the contacts of that circuit board and the carbon conductor on the back of the button and solve the problem in the high 90% of cases, especially if the resets Marc mentioned above do not resolve the issue.  While you are in there clean them all. Alcohol and q-tips, rub lightly. 

This is not a simple procedure and you can cause more problems if you damage anything else as you are disassembling and re-assembling if you are not extremely careful and understand what you are doing. 

I have not done it on the HDS10 so I don't know the specifics of dis-assembly, but it usually is a pocket full of star head screws to separate the front and back panels, and then everything is mounted to the front panel and has to be removed to get to the key switches. Some times its several philips screws and it all comes out at once others are layers of boards and components.  I would expect the latter for the HD10 based on complexity.

Good luck,

Steve

Permalink Reply by Steve Hastings on May 31, 2012 at 9:10am

Cliff... no one will accuse you of lacking all perception.  I would more accurately describe it as, knowing your limits and pay the $600 if you question those limits. An HDS10 is over 2K, $600.00 is expensive for any repair but it may not be the final price but I don't know.

  Anyone know if Lowrance has a trade in/upgrade practice for these units.  Some companies will offer trade in on newer units ( not necessarily these items)?

Steve