Question about Helix & Lowrance transducers interference & networking

[csilvey24]

Hello all,

I have a 2021 Nitro Z17 Pro XS CT which I have been outfitting with lots of cool upgrades. I am very new to these units & transducers as I am just getting into this so I can enjoy local tournaments and just have fun overall when out on the water catching bass. I'm asking the below questions in advance before I put it on the water, so as of right now, the below equipment has not been tested on the water yet.

Here is my new setup:

At the Bow:

• A Minn Kota Ultrex 36v 112lbs trolling motor with spot lock, gps, AutoPilot, and built in Mega Down & Mega Side Imaging transducer
• Mega 360 Imaging which is attached to the trolling motor
• A Lowrance HDS Live 9 unit with a network cable ran to the driver console Lowrance unit
• A Humminbird Helix 10 Mega Down Imaging GPS G4N CHO Fish Finder/Chartplotter unit
  
• The trolling motor and the Mega 360 all connected to the Helix 10 unit

At The Driver Console:

• A Lowrance HDS Live 9 3-in-1 2D Down & Side scanning unit with a network cable ran to the Lowrance unit at the bow as previously mentioned
• A 2D Down and Side scanning transducer hooked up at the rear of the boat
• The transducer is of course hooked up to this Lowrance HDS Live console unit.

I talked with a rep at Humminbird and she told me that my bow setup was good. I didn't ask about the console. She said the Mega 360 Imaging is dominant, meaning it will override the built in Side Imaging from the trolling motor and that the trolling motor would only utilize the Mega Down Imaging. This made sense to me and I assume it is b/c of potential interference.


My question is three parts:

1. Will my Lowrance 2D Down and Side scanning transducer on the back of the boat interfere at all with the Mega 360 Imaging or the built in Mega Down Imaging transducer that is running at the bow of the boat? I'm just wondering if I can have all these up and running w/o inference from any of them?
2. I also have a Lowrance Forward Live Sight transducer (came with the boat). Can I add this to my trolling motor as well and hook it up to the Lowrance HDS Live 9 unit at the bow of the boat or would that cause any signal interference with the Mega 360 Imaging or the Mega Down Imaging transducers?
3. Since I have two HDS Live units, I ran one ethernet connection from one to the other. I plan on adding another Hummingbird unit to the console and network that one to the bow Helix unit. So essentially I will end up with one Helix and one Lowrance unit at the console like I already have at the bow. The question I have here is, what benefits come from networking the units together? I'm guessing I can share maps between them (correct me if I'm wrong), but what else and what about the transducers? For example, would I be able to see the Mega 360 Imaging from the Helix unit that I plan on adding to the console? Can I see the 2D Down & Side Imaging transducer that is connected to my console from the Lowrance unit at the bow? Just trying to better understand the networking aspect.

Thanks in advance for all who have time to help answer those questions for a newbie like myself and for helping me to understand how it all ties together!

[BoatBuggy]

1. Your Lowrance transducers at the back will not interfere with M360 or MDI at the bow.
2. Not familiar with Forward Live Sight but from what I can gather it runs at 455 or 800 kHz so you should be OK as long as the M360 and MDI are running at their default 1.2 mHz.
3. You can connect the Helix units together with an ethernet cable unless your Ultrex is i-Pilot Link in which case you will need an HB ethernet hub. If you networked another Helix to the console, you can see M360 at the console as well as sharing all the other HB transducers, waypoints and GPS and heading if the AS GPS HS puck is installed. I am assuming you will buy a G4N model for the console as well. Helix units do not share maps - you need a map card for each unit. You cannot see Lowrance stuff on HB units and vice versa.

[csilvey24]

1. Your Lowrance transducers at the back will not interfere with M360 or MDI at the bow.
2. Not familiar with Forward Live Sight but from what I can gather it runs at 455 or 800 kHz so you should be OK as long as the M360 and MDI are running at their default 1.2 mHz.
3. You can connect the Helix units together with an ethernet cable unless your Ultrex is i-Pilot Link in which case you will need an HB ethernet hub. If you networked another Helix to the console, you can see M360 at the console as well as sharing all the other HB transducers, waypoints and GPS and heading if the AS GPS HS puck is installed. I am assuming you will buy a G4N model for the console as well. Helix units do not share maps - you need a map card for each unit. You cannot see Lowrance stuff on HB units and vice versa.

Thank you so much! This info is much appreciated!

1. Awesome!
2. So I basically just need to ensure the Lowrance transducers are in a different freq range other than 1.2 mHz? If not, can you change the Lowrance freq settings? It is an i-Pilot Link.
3. That's great info on the Helix devices! I did buy the G4N model and plan on doing the same for the console as you mentioned. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I figured I prob couldn't share info between the two different brands. I was only referring to Lowrance being networked to Lowrance and Helix being networked to Helix.

Thank you again!

[BoatBuggy]

Thank you so much! This info is much appreciated!

1. Awesome!
2. So I basically just need to ensure the Lowrance transducers are in a different freq range other than 1.2 mHz? If not, can you change the Lowrance freq settings? It is an i-Pilot Link.
3. That's great info on the Helix devices! I did buy the G4N model and plan on doing the same for the console as you mentioned. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I figured I prob couldn't share info between the two different brands. I was only referring to Lowrance being networked to Lowrance and Helix being networked to Helix.

Thank you again!

Even though I have a Carbon on a boat, I don't really know much about Lowrance transducers other than you can swap between 455 and 800 kHz on the imaging and I think it's 80 and 200 kHz on the reg 2D. The HB Mega transducers can also use these frequencies but I'm not sure why anyone would want to.....

You actually can share some stuff between HB, Lowrance (and Garmin) units via the NMEA2K network. There are a few recent threads about it here. You may also be able to get your engine info over NMEA2K. If your boat came with Lowrance stuff installed, you probably have an NMEA2K backbone already set up.

[Mange]

Just remember that livesight will not work directly connected with HDS Live software after 22.1. With later software you need the PSI1 box.

[csilvey24]

Even though I have a Carbon on a boat, I don't really know much about Lowrance transducers other than you can swap between 455 and 800 kHz on the imaging and I think it's 80 and 200 kHz on the reg 2D. The HB Mega transducers can also use these frequencies but I'm not sure why anyone would want to.....

You actually can share some stuff between HB, Lowrance (and Garmin) units via the NMEA2K network. There are a few recent threads about it here. You may also be able to get your engine info over NMEA2K. If your boat came with Lowrance stuff installed, you probably have an NMEA2K backbone already set up.

Thank you! I'll see if I can find anything on those NMEA2K threads as I don't know anything about that yet.

Just remember that livesight will not work directly connected with HDS Live software after 22.1. With later software you need the PSI1 box.

What is the PSI1 box? Thanks!

[Mange]

PSI1 is a separate module between the HDS Live and the transducer.