How are most Champions pre-rigged for networking....???

Finally had a look under the dash of my 183 to see what's needed for the upgrades (2 520C's, one in dash one on bow) Looking to network both, and share an antenna.
Found one great thing! The power cable for the X-135 & X125 that were supplied in dash & on bow, are that of a higher grade Lowrance (exact as the 520C power cord! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/glasses.gif ) I thought the X-135 & 520C power cords were different (guessing it's a 520C cord, that will fit a X-135, but a X-135 cord would not fit a 520C, so they supplied it with the higher grade one)

Now here's what I found:

NOTE: *ALL cables mentioned below have blue ends*
Coming from the main harness out of the side of the boat (under the console) is a cable, that is attached to a "Y" cable (I take it that these Y cables do the same job as a "T" connector). The 2nd end of that Y cable is not attached or terminated (just the blue end, hanging), and the 3rd end is attached to another Y cable. That Y cable's 2nd end is terminated, and the 3rd is attached to a blue ended power cable (guessing it's a power cable because it has an inline fuse on the + wire). That power cable feeds back into the main wiring harness, and feeds back into the side of the boat.

The power cable for both the bow and console only have the sonar unit's wires powered. The nmea 2000 & data are taped.

What do I have going on under there??? http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/glasses.gif


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dont know about the Y conectors but here is how my system is wired...should work the same for yours mine are jsut a little diffrent....i have 3 "Ts" under my console...all connected in sequence..one for the LCX28cHD..one for the 3000 Antenna...and one for the 520 thats one the front...and have 120 ohm terminators...when i ran the wires all of mine were the blue end connectors...so to hook up to the newer units all you need is a adapter that goes from the blue Network cable to the Red connector on the units other than that its pretty easy really.....if you have a 520 now thats all working good its just a matter of getting the Ts and the Terminators....if ya need any help let me know and ill do what i can

Luke, yep that is what I "want", but what mess do I have under there now! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif

If what I have now under the console is not helping me, I'm going with a double T, with the one going to a 520C (using an extension) and the other going to the gps antenna, and the end terminated. The other end will hook up to another T with an extension going to my second 520C, and it's end terminated.


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<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by OhioChamp183 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Luke, yep that is what I "want", but what mess do I have under there now! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif

If what I have now under the console is not helping me, I'm going with a double T, with the one going to a 520C (using an extension) and the other going to the gps antenna, and the end terminated. The other end will hook up to another T with an extension going to my second 520C, and it's end terminated.


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not compleatly positive but what it sounds like you have under there was the same as mine pretty much.....they dont really network them at the factory unless its in the order...so more than likely what the Y is is just the Transducer cable that has a temp sensor in it...same as mine is.....i would go ahead and use it but just run all network stuff from scratch.....if you need a length of the long blue end network wire to run up to the front let me know i think i have some extra but ill have to check and see.....

transducer cable is seperate from these Y cables. Forgot to mention that. The unit (X135) that was in console did have a working temp, but that was probably from the transducer cable also (it Y's itself for a temp hookup).


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man i really dont know then....id prob have to see it to be sure.....have you hooked up the 520 to see if the temp and everything works yet.....i think id do that first and see....if it all still works ok id jsut start over with the network stuff and not worry about the Ys if you dont have to but i would use everything thats useable with the units you have and the new network

yea, it's a mess i think. This mess was never hooked into a sonar, so I'm sure it has nothing to do with the existing hookups. The only open end of one of the Y cables (only one that wasn't hooked to another cable or terminated) was just kinda hanging out with the power and transducer cables. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif

Of course, this mess is powered, at least I think (being one section of the chain is fused), so maybe I'll disconnect it, and take the boat out, and see what doesn't work anymore! Then maybe I'll have a better idea what the hek it is! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif

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Jeff....try giving customer service a call...615-494-2090 and let us know what they say....

Could help others, too... http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/smile.gif

Did that. Talked with Robbie. He's not sure what I have under there either. LOL

Called Three Rivers. They're going to call me back.

Like I said. I know what I want to do with my new system, just want to figure out what this is first!


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http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif Oh well....

If that is original circuitry from the factory, someone there should know what is being put into the rigs...

well, Justin at 3 Rivers just laughed!

Everyone seems to agree on how new system should look like, just that NOBODY knows what the #%!&! this is!

It has the blue cables only because this was an early production 07, built in around July of 06. There where no such thing as red cables as of then (520's didn't come out till around Oct of 06)

Gunna have to do some checking on the routing of this mess and see where it ends up! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif

Whatever it is, seems to not make sense. Someone at Champion must have taken one too many hits from the bong that day! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif


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maybe it was a friday built rig and everyone wanted to hurry up and go home http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/Laugh.gif

Guess you should have waited three months to order your boat! http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif

I had the same mess under mine.. I ended up pulling it out and re-routing it to do what I wanted. You are correct, the Y cables are the same as T connectors. I have been told they don't work as well, but I have a few in service with no issues.

First, address the network itself. My boat had two long cables in it (~15 feet I think), one went to the back of the boat, on the driver's side, right up under the lip where the battery access door lifts up.. mine is a 203 from 2006. I still don't know where the other cable went, I pulled it out and routed it to the front. In your case you have blue cables, which work well for X-135 and LMS-332C, but need an adapter for the 520-C and GPS puck.. You need a blue to red adapter, the three rivers folks can help here. You will need one for each 520 and one for the LGC-3000.

To be absolutely correct, you want a T for the LGC antenna and one for the 520 under the dash. Stick em together, and run a cable from one end of the T's to the front of the boat and run the other cable from the other end of the T's to the back of the boat. The two ports that are free on the T's under the dash go to the 520 and the 3000. You will need adapters here, blue to red.

Then on the front end of the boat put another T on the long cable, and on the "T" part run an adapter and cable to your bow mounted 520. Use a terminator ( 120 ohm ) on the remaining port of that T.

On the rear of the boat, if you want livewell temperature or some other input, put a T there, or multiple T's if you wish, one for each additional feature you want in the rear of the boat. Fuel flow, livewell temp, engine temp, etc etc come to mind. Then put a 120 ohm terminator on the remaining port there too. There may have been a 60 Ohm terminator on the original setup. It's now a paperweight for really light paper. If you use no t's in the back stick a terminator on the cable directly.

Now look at power. You want to power the system from ONLY one spot. Yelling is acceptable here. The 'standard' spot is the black and red NMEA 2000 wires in the power cable feeding the dash mounted 520. Wire it so when you flip the console power switch on, you get power to that pair of wires. This starts up the LGC-3000 even if you don't have the 520 powerd up yet. Tape all the other NMEA 2000 wires as necessary. Don't let them touch each other or any thing else.

There are another pair of wires, blue and yellow. They also get taped up so they don't touch. They are NMEA 0186 network connections, and you can use them later to connect up any NMEA 0186 device to your network.

Thanks Richard! Sonds like you had the same mess I did!

I just got done talking with Jutin from 3 Rivers Marine, and we figured it out.
The mystery cable (that's not fused) leads to the back of boat, to a T with one end terminated, and the other for a GPS antenna. I am going to rip this stuff out, and put a cleaner/more efficient setup in, using T's. I just got done ordering what I need from Justin at 3 Rivers (THANKS JUSTIN!)
Console sonar/network will be powered, with sonar network cable leading to top of a double T, with one end terminated, & other top of T going to the gps antenna mounted on the console, & other end of T, using a 15 ft extension, going to the bow, to a T, where the second sonar is networked, and other end terminated. If I decided to run another gps antenna up front in the future, I'll only need another T for up front.

That mystery cable was the obstacle!!!

Thanks, Jeff

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glad you got it all figured out.....it can be a real pain to figure it out when your trying to get it all in and figure out what you need i know that for a fact.....think i called at least 2 of the BBC members when i was puttin mine all together to make sure i got it all right but it does make it a lot nicer when its all done thats for sure

Did Justin @ 3 rivers mention the yellow Ethernet cables at all?

I have 2 520c's currently networked with the red cables. I have a local Lowrance guy who is a real techie on this stuff. He suggested that I use the Ethernet cables . You can plug the 2 520's directly together and share data way points and even the sonar image from the rear transducer and console 520.

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Bought it used a few weeks ago... http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/glasses.gif

Saved enough money, vs buying new, to gas/maintain it for the next 10+ yrs or so! http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/wink.gif

I'm going to ask Justin about that tomorrow, before my stuff is shipped. Always wondered exactly what the ethernet cable really does.