Left the house around 7am this morning for Lake Tyler. Lake Tyler is not far from my house so I'm at the lake at 7:30am, launched the boat, and I'm on my brush top by 7:45am. Beautiful morning, except for a dark cloud moving in from the southeast. Sprinkled off an on for the first hour and then the flood gates opened. So I tucked tail and motored backed to the marina. Finally get everything loaded up and I'm back in the truck, soaking wet and not a fish to show for all my troubles.

Poor me most of the drive back to the house and I'm thinking - man, why is it every time I decide to go fishing it's raining or the wind is gusting 25-30mph. But, as I get closer to the house I'm seeing mostly clear skies to the east, towards Lake Murvaul, and it's looking like the sun is trying to break through.

Get back to the house, put on some dry clothes, and I'm on my way to Lake Murvaul. 12pm, and FISH ON! Caught this one on one of Pepop's jigs:

Tossed him in the livewell and caught a couple of more just like him.

Now, I'm thinking I'm going to load the boat and then my Xi5 twisted off my NMEA 2000 network cable:


Has anyone ever had this happen to them? How do I fix it and most importantly how do I prevent it from happening again?

Dang!!! You have luck like mine!! Sorry I got nothing on the cable! I could break one of need be but no idea how to fix it.

Thanks Slewfoot, I think I've got the breaking part down

The trolling motor was locked into an anchor position and was operating perfectly. It reached a point where the cables were wound tightly under the head unit on the shaft. Usually the trolling motor will unwind when it reaches that point but this time it tried to move the head a little further and snapped off the cable.

Palomar, try this thread http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...Xi#Post11785662

Thanks Bobcat1, that's excellent information.

My Xi5 has built in sonar and NMEA 2000 network connectivity and both data cables are factory routed through the slinky, curly power cable. The NMEA network cable is the one that snapped in two. As far as I know, my sonar cable is still good. The other cable has a slight air gap.

Man, I hate to hear that.

I just checked my Xi5 and by the sounds of it, you snapped the built-in transducer cable. The NEMA/Gateway wire is the little short cable that comes out of the bottom of the base and has the little connector with a plug on it. If it is the smaller coiled wire that runs from the base to the head, I would think that is the wire link between the two gps units and now the spot lock would not be as good now. I don't know what else that wire may also control. I would think that MotorGuide would fix it under warranty because it was not your fault.

NEMA/Gateway connection (cable on the left).




Hope it all works out for you.

I just went back and looked closer at your original picture and if that is the cable that goes in to the base unit right next to the power coiled wire, than I would assume it is the wire connecting the two gps units and anything else that connects the control head to the base unit. I would have MotorGuide repair under warranty.

I hate to pile on but this is the first time that I have heard of this doing this. Hope this does not become a recurring issue.

BlueNitro, you're right. I just got off the phone with a MotorGuide Consumer Affairs representative and he said it was the GPS module wire, the smaller of the two coiled wires, that broke.

Looks like I'll be taking it to East Texas Sonar for repair.

Agree with you on the recurring issue. Once this thing is fixed, I know I'm going to be subconsciously watching this thing every time I set anchor mode.