I have an HDS unit and am thinking of buying two additional units. I have the HDS currently mounted in the console of my boat and would like to have a second unit at the console just for GPS. The third unit I want to run up front and since I have a motorguide Xi5 I want to use the structure scan that I currently have. I have looked everywhere but I cant seem to figure out exactly what all I need to link all this together. The second unit at console does not have to have sonar capability but I would like all units to be linked for waypoints. Any help would be appreciated!!

Simple... Ethernet cables.

If you want to run point 1 antennas then you need the nmea network as well.


With Ethernet cables you can even see the sonar on your second graph by it reading from your first graph.

So you can run a t-connector and run three units on ethernet? That is the part I was unsure of

Depends on the graphs you have but if you have a LSS blackbox module then it has 3 enet ports on it. You will run an enet cable to each graph from it.

If you have Touch models then it can be different, just depends on wether you have a 7t, 9t or 12t. If your graphs are non-touch then they have to go through the LSS box.


I don't now what the Xi5 is using to network with Lowrance. Might be the nmea??? Nmea has t's, Ethernet does not.

I'm running the gen 2 touch unit currently and for sake of ease that is what I will be buying. My unit doesn't have the box it just links directly with the lss-2. My XI5 links through NMEA I am almost certain but it sounds like from what you are describing I can't tie all three units together without a hub??

Sorry the model have in the dash is the HDS 7 and I will be adding a 9 and another 7

I think the 9 has 2 enet ports and if it does then you will be ok. I know the 7 only has 1 port. Now if you were getting 3 - HDS 7's then you'd have to get a LSS box or the nep box. As long as the nine has 2 enets you will be good to go.


You will attach 2 enet cables to the back of the HDS 9. One will attach to the HDS 7t at the console and the other will attach to the other HDS 7t.

If all you're wanting to do is share waypoints -- not look at the same transducer with different units, The NMEA is all you need to each unit. You can eithernet connect the "main" unit from the console to the bow, then NMEA connect the "gps" unit to the other two. This will allow waypoint sharing on all three, but the console and bow is the only two that will allow for transducer sharing.
Hope this helps.
John

Yes John that is exactly what I want to do. Thanks guys for your help!!

There is one catch by going nmea only though, the wypts will only transfer if you have all 3 graphs on at the same time. They won't automatically transfer like they do through enet. Nmea won't do map sharing either.

The 9 Touch does have two Ethernet ports. So that would let him use two Ethernet cables to link all three units without any loss of function/feature. This would always allow map and waypoint sharing as well as seeing the structure scan from any station. This allows him to not be concerned about any NMEA limitation - though he'll still need NMEA for the TM interface.

Yes I knew I was going to need NMEA because I want to also add a point one module. Thanks for all the input guys

If you're confused with the enet cables just wait until you try to hook up the point 1 nmea network. That's much more complicated.

Haha. Awesome news!!