Sea Clear Power

[Erie660]

See my post above. I'm not running the Sea Clear as I instead put dedicated wiring together myself, but it nevertheless improved my graph's image quality dramatically. Before the rewiring job, I honestly thought my Lowrance was just that far behind friends' Humminbird image quality from the same time. Afterward, some of the sidescan images I get off my Gen 3 look like what you'd see in marketing materials. That might be overselling it as it's not always the case that I'm getting magazine quality images, but it made a huge difference without a shadow of a doubt.

I’m running a harness but I’m getting different voltage at the bow. I have a Helix 10 MSI and a Garmin 106sv at the console and a Helix 10 Mega SI and a 106 with Livescope at the bow. My voltage is good on both units at the console but on the bow I’m getting 12.6v on the 106sv and Livescope but the Helix is constantly running 11.7v, so almost 1 volt lower than the Livescope unit. So with all 4 units running the Helix on the bow keeps showing lower voltage. Does anyone have any idea why this might be? Thanks

[zero_cool]

@Erie660 - check your power supply connection to the harness. May be loose or not fully seated?

What about the fuse? New and in good working order?

Take it for what it is worth but I also saw that SeaClear noted a potential source of voltage drop was the factory fuse holders. Could be just good marketing but I used their's when I added a harness.

[Erie660]

@Erie660 - check your power supply connection to the harness. May be loose or not fully seated?

What about the fuse? New and in good working order?

Take it for what it is worth but I also saw that SeaClear noted a potential source of voltage drop was the factory fuse holders. Could be just good marketing but I used their's when I added a harness.

The 2 units at the console are over 12v constantly and the livescope and 106 at bow are showing 12.7 but the Helix at bow is the one showing almost 1v lower when the livescope is running. If it was a connection issue wouldn’t it be showing up on the livescope? I’ll double check but I’m sure I put the Sea Clear fuse holder on the Helix. If I don’t have the livescope running then the bow Helix is over 12v where it should be. I have the AGM 31 X2 that is powering everything.

[fishnfireman]

Was having a voltage drop issue much as you describe.
Turned out the blade fuse to that unit was not installed correctly.. One blade was behind the female receptacle instead of between them.
Just that little miscue was causing a 1 volt drop.

[Erie660]

Was having a voltage drop issue much as you describe.
Turned out the blade fuse to that unit was not installed correctly.. One blade was behind the female receptacle instead of between them.
Just that little miscue was causing a 1 volt drop.

Thanks, I’ll check that.

[mikeky]

The 2 units at the console are over 12v constantly and the livescope and 106 at bow are showing 12.7 but the Helix at bow is the one showing almost 1v lower when the livescope is running. If it was a connection issue wouldn’t it be showing up on the livescope? I’ll double check but I’m sure I put the Sea Clear fuse holder on the Helix. If I don’t have the livescope running then the bow Helix is over 12v where it should be. I have the AGM 31 X2 that is powering everything.

I have Lowrance units, all of them show voltage lower than the supply voltage. The voltage at all of my power cords match the battery voltage, as long as this is the case I have done all I can do and I'm not gonna worry about it.

[Slicefixer]

Watch Edwin Evers video with the electronics guru from Lowrance setting up his graphs. All of em show 11.7 and the guru never mentions it.

[WStorey]

I added one a few months ago but I also changed graphs too so it's hard to compare image quality. I like it for the peace of mind of not having to worry about voltage issues and knowing I'm getting the most out of my graphs.

[dwtaylor]

Watch Edwin Evers video with the electronics guru from Lowrance setting up his graphs. All of em show 11.7 and the guru never mentions it.

If he didn't have his battery fully charged it could read that too. If all units are off of a single power source/harness and all of them show 11.7 and the voltage at the battery is 11.7, I would say he has good power.

You aren't going to get 12.8V at your graphs if you don't have 12.8V at the battery.

[78Staff]

@Erie660 - check your power supply connection to the harness. May be loose or not fully seated?

What about the fuse? New and in good working order?

Take it for what it is worth but I also saw that SeaClear noted a potential source of voltage drop was the factory fuse holders. Could be just good marketing but I used their's when I added a harness.

I also added the SeaClearPower fuses when I installed the harness...

Watch Edwin Evers video with the electronics guru from Lowrance setting up his graphs. All of em show 11.7 and the guru never mentions it.

Most of that video was done with the motor off, and with 4/5 devices powered up, 11.7 probably isn't terrible as mentioned. Also, Lowrance has/had an issue with one of their releases showing lower than actual voltage when engine not running - not sure if they were using that version at the time...

As an aside, those EE/Lowrance videos are pretty good, but the Lowrance guy (Jacob, I think?) - his other videos where he's in his center console showing features, etc are almost painful to watch. It's like they have no script and he just randomly talks about stuff, and half the time the units aren't configured for what he wants to show or he can't get the unit to do what he wants to do, etc... Not all the time, but enough that I notice a trend. Doesn't seem like they do much prep work on those vids...

[dean c]

I guess it pays to run a boat brand that puts sufficient wiring in for graphs.

As stated, it depends on the boat manufacturer and what they did.

I run three Live 12’s and active target all off the stock buss blocks. My images are awesome. I give credit to the 100AH
lithium and the stock wiring system.

[Slicefixer]

I also added the SeaClearPower fuses when I installed the harness...




Most of that video was done with the motor off, and with 4/5 devices powered up, 11.7 probably isn't terrible as mentioned. Also, Lowrance has/had an issue with one of their releases showing lower than actual voltage when engine not running - not sure if they were using that version at the time

Certainly might have been running the older version 78.....videos are older the best I remember. I read quite a bit of info on the net regarding the "11.7" phenomena so it was definitely very common.

Mine NEVER show the same voltage at the graph as they do at the source (as I think is perfectly normal), but, they will show over 12 volts. The funny thing is they'll drop to 11.7 fairly rapidly and remain there for quite awhile with seemingly no issues. I'm running a dedicated series 31 lead that's practically brand new and charges up without an issue. I recently installed the ARC relay which has eliminated any battery related electronic issues if I fish all day. Prior to that I have gotten low voltage warnings at the end of the day if I'm running all 4 graphs, AT, 3D, 3n1, etc.

[Marc Marcantonio]

https://storage.westernbass.com/mag_...e34/index.html

[Erie660]

Was having a voltage drop issue much as you describe.
Turned out the blade fuse to that unit was not installed correctly.. One blade was behind the female receptacle instead of between them.
Just that little miscue was causing a 1 volt drop.

I replaced the fuse in the Sea Clear fuse holder going into the Helix 10 MSI and it did not help. I’m showing 12.9 v on a fully charged 31 X2 at the battery. I checked the voltage on the bow at the harness and it’s showing 12.7. When I power up the Helix only it’s showing 12.1-12.2 and when I power up the livescope it shows 12.7 and the Helix drops to 12v - 11.9. Could the power cable to the Helix be the issue? Thanks