Long story short... Got a SH installed, worked great for one trip. Next trip, no power. Following trip, the HDS 7 it was powered thru at console blew a fuse and went out. Had a 9 installed in its place and moved the 7 with new fuse to bow. Got new Hub, plugged it in (powered thru new 9 at console) & it worked fine, BUT... Now it won't turn off when I cut power to the HDS 9...it stays on until I cut power from the battery. WTH?

Are you using the yellow "Wake Up" wire between the HDS and SonicHub? If so you need to trace the wire to see if it is shorted to a +12V wire somewhere. The yellow wire is basically the on/of switch for the SonicHub. +12V applied to the wire turns it on an no voltage on the wire turns it off.

So I have this yellow coming from HDS not hooked up to anything:

And this yellow & red into one red going to battery (I'm assuming at this point):


What now? I don't understand why the HDS powers it on, but won't turn it off. Thanks for your input.

Sometimes reading the installation manual is priceless.

^^Dude, I had a shop install it. This is the second one. First worked fine for a day. Turned off and on thru HDS then it died. Got new unit...no wiring change just swapped hub and plugged in. Now it works. It powers up thru HDS, but keeps power even though I turn the HDS off. I've been on the phone with Lowrance about it & they're just as puzzled...so unless you have anything to contribute to the solution go eat Stinkbait, jack.

Deuce,

Below are the two methods Lowrance recomends for connecting the power wires. You are using the first method without the optional switch. If you want the HDS unit to switch on/off the SonicHub conect the HDS yellow wire to the SonicHub yellow wire as depicted in the second picture.

You've done exactly what should NEVER be done. I used to be amazed at seeing this done over and over (for years), even from dealer installs. Once the wrong info gets around, it never goes away. For all Lowrance products, connect RED wires to +12V, connect BLK wires to GND. Yellow wire of HDS display is an OUTPUT, so there are times there is nothing it needs to command (example, a boat without Sonic Hub or external Structure Scan box). Yellow wire of options such as Sonic Hub or LSS are INPUTs.

You did not "power the sonic hub thru the HDS 9". The HDS 9 is not a power source. I don't know what you mean, but each device should have its own connection to power (those RED and BLACK wires).

The Sonic Hub gets power via the RED/BLACK wire pair. The yellow wire is like a wired remote for an HDS to tell a slave device (such as Sonic Hub or LSS) to power up. By connecting the yellow wire to the RED supply wire, you are causing the Sonic Hub to wake up and start consuming power the instant you turn on your battery switch. So, the Sonic Hub is consuming power, but it doesn't yet know what to play, so there is no sound from the speakers. In this state, it WILL drain your battery to dead as a door-nail, even though there is no music.

When you turn on the HDS, it has controls that can signal what music channel to play via the NMEA network. So, once you turn on the HDS, it initializes to the last music source you were playing before turning it off. At that point, the Sonic Hub begins playing that particular channel instead of being quiet awaiting command. So, you thinking the HDS is turning it on is incorrect - it was already ON but did not know what to play.

The HDS has a setting for what to do when the HDS turns off if there is a Sonic Hub:
1) Turn off the Sonic Hub. Your's can't do this because you didn't connect the yellow wires correctly.
2) Let the Sonic Hub continue to play whatever it was playing when the HDS turned off. You clearly have this option selected.

To fix your mess:

1) Connect all RED wires to +12V. Each device's red wire should have a fuseholder with a proper size fuse.
2) Connect all BLACK wires to GND.
3) Connect YELLOW wires together from all of the following: LSS box of any type, Sonic Hub, any HDS that you want to be able to control or use the options (where options are the Sonic Hub, LSS, etc.)

Yellow wires DO NOT connect to anything else, just yellow to yellow to yellow - as many as you have. I have five yellow wires connected together on my boat: 3 are from HDS units, one is a Sonic Hub, and one is an LSS box. Even though the red wires are directly connected to 12V from the LSS and Sonic Hub, they consume virtually noting until an HDS puts a voltage on the the yellow wire. This is what gets the attention of the options so they begin to operate. You shortcut this, and that's why you have the mess you've partly described.

As noted, this is all clearly covered in the installation guide. How hundreds get this screwed up is beyond me.

^^ we'll give it a shot. Thanks.

Thanks Flippin-Out. I was not aware of the soft option available on the HDS on what to do with the SonicHub when the HDS is powered down.

You still need to change the wiring. Sound from speakers or not, the Sonic Hub is consuming power until you properly connect the yellow wire.

Sad that a shop wired it where the Sonic Hub drains the battery 24/7 unless you turn off battery switch. I do not like the yellow wire with switch option as it ends up being left on when not needed. When connected to the HDS yellow wire, you will never drain a battery by leaving a manual toggle switch on - the HDS will turn it off for you every time, and never forgets to do so - as long as you turn off the HDS.

Grout-Scout had a serious comment when he said look in the install guide. The pictures are right there to see. I'd be asking the installer why they didn't follow this. he was being serious, and you jumped him for no reason. You want to jump someone and blow up - go to the installer and wave the install guide in his face. Back off with the mouth if you ever want help here.....

I forget where, but it's way down in the system settings menu. It is one of the things I always check when I set up a new unit. Ask me again later if you don't find it.

Yellow to yellow & she's all good boys, thanks. I really appreciate the help...my dad was the electrical genius & I didn't get those skills passed onto me, ha. She powers down now when I turn off the HDS. So just to be clear...it shouldn't be pulling from the battery 24/7 now?

Still puzzled as to the fact this was how the first hub was wired and it powered down fine until it decided to die.

This kind of work isn't my expertise, that's why I had a shop install it. I did consult the manual, called Lowrance, & contacted the installer...got conflicting or no info from those sources; that's why I started the thread...for additional help... Not to be mocked without any investigation of what I've already done on my own to figure the problem. No thanks to Grout, I think we got it solved.

Glad you got it working . I am still pondering what Flippin-out posted about the soft option in the HDS on what to do when powering down the HDS head unit. I'm curious on how this works. If set to let the SonicHub continue to play, does the HDS continue to output +12 on the yellow wire when powered down, or does it somehow signal the SonicHub via the NMEA netork to ignore the yellow wire?