Motorized Livescope Mount

[Revolution Sonar]

Been working on a prototype of a motorized scope mount for several months and thought I would share. I was waiting and thinking I would build this around the Lowrance (bought a live 12 unit in April) only to switch to the Garmin once I saw the comparison videos. So I picked up an Ultra 12 and LVS32 and got it installed over the holiday weekend. I also bought/built a cnc milling machine to make the parts of the unit out of aluminum instead of 3d printed abs.

My goals are to make it very compact, light, durable and easy to deploy and retrieve. I've had a working bench mount prototype since March so most of the programming is done. It is very neat, fast (faster turning than my Xi5 by a lot) and quiet with very fluid movements.

The first setup I'm working on will have an rf remote that will turn on/off and steer clockwise or counterclockwise. Then I will add compass heading lock - logic coding for which is done but but I want to tap NMEA 2000 to get the compass heading from the Livescope transducer so that I don't have to have an additional magnetometer chip and requisite compass calibration. BTW, The prototype unit has a 540 degree (270 deg each way from strait ahead) to prevent cable windup. I also have programmed a sweep setting - tap sweep button, rotate unit, tap again - then the unit will pan back and forth between the two at a slow rate. The final phase of development will have a compass chip in the remote and the unit will mirror the motion of the remote (the coding for this is done too).

I'm still working on a quick detach system not unlike a ski binding for one handed deploy and stow. This, like a ski binding, will have a breakaway function as well. And the part of this that is really motivating me is an automatic deploy and stow system that I have modeled in cad and hope to complete over the winter. Very trick and done with a single stepper motor.

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If you have any thoughts or ideas, please share.

Paul Bird
Ranger z521
Yamaha SHO 250
Lowrance HDS gen 2 12, HDS Live 12
Garmin Ultra 12
Garmin Livescope LSV32

[BassTracker175]

Excellent! Sell the IP to Garmin or someone or brand your own! It will be popular!

[fishin couillon]

Thoughts??? Sounds like you have it all thought out already.... Sounds pretty awesome and the fact that you came up with all this stuff and actually have it working.

Is this for yourself or you plan on putting on the market??

[Revolution Sonar]

Is this for yourself or you plan on putting on the market??

Not sure. Depends on how good I get it. If it is totally ironed out and rock solid then maybe.

[j791]

Here’s the thing, you have to be able to make very small adjustments with LiveScope. Look at the 17sec mark on the below video. See how the fish and tree light up...I just barely moved it to get the best picture. I was unable to make this small adjustment when it was mounted to my Ultrex.

[Super 91]

Sounds amazing. I'd love to see a unit you can auto deploy and stow, but either way, it looks like you have some pretty great plans!

[Revolution Sonar]

With my setup i have it programmed to make a single (1) degree adjustment on a quick tap. Kind of like a 1 mph adjustment on a cruise control +/- tap.

5 quick taps = 5 degree of movement. Press and hold will progressively accelerate in a given direction.

[smbass77]

I wish I could understand all that technical talk in your description, but I can understand the picture.....very nice!!!

Are you an engineer by trade or something?

[Chris9702l]

Sign me up for one!

[chester_fb]

Take my money!

[puhlw]

I think the trick will be keeping the cost to a reasonable level.

If you really wanted to get fancy make it so you can lock it in a direction and it will turn as the boat moves to keep looking at the same point. (Think of how autopilot on a minnkota electric steer works.)

[Reelcrazy]

I think the trick will be keeping the cost to a reasonable level.

If you really wanted to get fancy make it so you can lock it in a direction and it will turn as the boat moves to keep looking at the same point. (Think of how autopilot on a minnkota electric steer works.)

pretty sure the heading lock lock he spoke of would do that. It would make it turn to stay pointed on a heading despite what the boat was doing. I would be interested in a cheaper version that simply moves in 1 degree increments or turns as you described without being hooked to anything else.

[TOUCH OF CLASS]

Can we program it to the ultrex remote

[Super 91]

Now that would be cool.

[Slim95]

Everything you have come up with is awesome! God Bless engineers. Not sure how hard the programming would be but i think giving people the ability to choose from an adjustable degree of panning per click or tap on said device. Will you have the ability to control the rate at which the stepper turns the shaft. I know a lot of times simple is better but i like the ability to customize. would making a mount that fits the popular trolling motors be out of the question? Kind like how the 360 is deployed on the ultrex? Killer project! I have wanted to do the same for a while now but i don't have the programming abilities at the moment

[Taylor1595]

Very interesting and will definitely be watching this develop. Would be amazing to have an auto deploy and stow mount with heading lock and scan capabilities. Would be awesome to be able to keep the livescope transducer focused on a school of fish even with the boat moving a little because of spot lock.

[Guntucky]

If I had your ability , I would really try and bring this to market somehow. Mine is mounted to my Ultrex, just waiting on someone to bring a real mount to the market, you may have just hit the nail on the head with yours.

[Revolution Sonar]

Are you an engineer by trade or something?

College degree is in computer engineering. With that, I haven't programmed in 20 years so the rust buildup is extreme. And the programming is highly technical with LOTS of math - like 5,000 programming lines of just math.

Will you have the ability to control the rate at which the stepper turns the shaft.

Maybe. Every option requires buttons and increased complexity. Not hard at all to program but the complexity to ease of use curves cross at some point. If I had an IOS/Android app it would be easy to add this. But tons of time to make a good app.

The latest version of the remote on my desk has a 9 axis compensated magnetometer chip (compass) in the remote which operates similar to the new Garmin trolling motor. I have a "sweep" setup programmed where you point remote and press sweep button to set the start heading of the sweep, then move the remote to the where you want the sweep to end and lift off button to set the end of the sweep. The speed of sweep is based on the time difference between press and lift. So basically it replays your remote control motion and speed of sweep with the remote and continues back and forth. During the sweep, it is also is constantly adjusting for boat movement - direction AND rotational speed. Imagine the motor is sweeping transducer clockwise and the boat is moving clockwise faster than the sweep. The result is movement counterclockwise to adjust for the boats rate of rotation.

BTW, The motion control algorithms I have so far are simply an embarrassment to Minn Kota and Motorguide. My device never jumps, is never jerky and is very, very fluid. I sure hope their new offerings have improved this.

would making a mount that fits the popular trolling motors be out of the question?

Ultrex mount was easy and is done. The others just got released at icast. Lowrance will be easy as it would just be attached to the fixed portion of the shaft. Garmin looks doable as there are mounting locations under the head for the bounce support rod. No clue on the Motorguide.

If I had your ability , I would really try and bring this to market somehow. Mine is mounted to my Ultrex, just waiting on someone to bring a real mount to the market, you may have just hit the nail on the head with yours.

The difference between making couple of these for me and producing for sale is unbelievable. First off, to produce something like this is extraordinarily hard to cost things out. One IP66 (highly water resistant) motor is $220. Yes, $220 just for the motor. If I order 500 the cost is $100. For 1,000, $80. I got 10 non-water resistant motors custom built to my spec shipped from China for $450. Will they hold up? Not sure but I'm going to test as these brush-less motors are somewhat resistant to water. BTW, they said it would take three weeks to get them, it took four months. Then there is stuff like NMEA 2000 certification - months of time and multiple thousands of dollars. FCC certification for the remote the same. I also got a quotes to injection mold a couple of the parts and each mold was $7,500 to $10,000 - and I needed 7 of them.

This is why I shake my head every time someone says how crazy it is that these new trolling motors are $3,000. Really? These companies are millions into development software, licensing, and lord only knows how much in tooling/molds/fixtures. I marvel at what these companies can do and its a miracle that they are $3k.

With that, I'm going to keep moving forward and we will see where this goes. It's the stuff I like to do when I'm not fishing. If there is interest in following the development, I will continue to share.

Paul Bird
Ranger z521
Yamaha SHO 250
Lowrance HDS gen 2 12, HDS Live 12
Garmin Ultra 12
Garmin Livescope LSV32

[Smbass1]

I would never recommend mounting it on the Trolling motor, to much of a chance for interference. Plus the shaft of the Trolling motor blocks some of the signal. Maybe sell the ideal to a larger company. I think you are on the right track sounds like something I would buy if it goes to market.

[TOUCH OF CLASS]

10 cents per hour labor and all the parts you want makes very inexpensive items.