Solix losing GPS, low voltage alarm

[JohnN]

I have three networked solixs, a 15, and two 12s. I recently upgraded to the new Ethernet hub (the clear one). I’m now getting low voltage alarms and “gps signal lost” alarms regularly. I’ve verified at the power cable that it’s receiving 12+ volts to those wires - the power is not the issue. Could the new hub be causing this issue? I suppose I can swap back in the old one to check, but I’m trying to get an idea of where to start looking for the issue. Very frustrating. Thank you!

[bobcoy]

what did you do with the power cable? Did you install the new one? If so it could have a poor connection. Or if you used the old one the connection may have been loosened. What has a low voltage warning? You say you have 12 volts at the power cable for a Solix? If you did not have that wire on the Solix you had no load on it(must be unpluged to connect to the pins in the plug. The voltage will be lower with a load on it. Same if it is the Enet switch. Go and check the other end of the wire. More than likely it is a loose connection which just happened to get worse with the install. Try checking all the power connections involved. Stuff happens when things get moved around. You will find it. JMO Bob

[JohnN]

Thanks, Bob. The only thing I changed was the Ethernet hub. I kept the power cable from the old hub in place. Literally nothing else changed. I can’t imagine the power cable for the hub would make a difference, but who knows. I’ll swap the old one back in this weekend to see if that resolves the issue. I haven’t noticed any network performance difference with the new hub.

I put the voltmeter on the ends of the solix 15 power cable (where it connects to my fuse panel) while it was displaying the low voltage alarm on Sunday. The Solix 15 said it has 10.X (10.2-10.3, I think) volts while the voltmeter on its power cable said it was getting 12.X (12.6 if I remember correctly). The GPS alarm is on all units, but I think I’ve only seen the voltage alarm on the 15.

I did forget to mention that this issue seems to be getting worse. The GPS alarm started a couple of trips ago. Now the low voltage alarm, and it disconnected my trolling motor from the network near the end of my trip on Sunday. That plus the repetitive alarms finally got me to look into the issue.

[bobcoy]

There may be a couple issues(GPS and a voltage issue). Is the Enet switch cable on its own wire direct from the battery or shared through buss bar or junction box. Does the GPS hook to the 15?(or its internal selected) If the 15 has the GPS it could just be a power issue to the 15 and GPS power can start giving problems if the voltage is 12.0 or less. The 15 would stay on, but the GPS hooked to it won’t work well. The power cable to the switch will at least eliminate that possibility. Clean all the connectors you come across on your mission. Good luck Bob

[JohnN]

The ethernet switch is running off the same fuse panel as the 15 (as does every other HB item ... I have the panel running off a 10ga wire direct to the battery). The GPS does run though the 15. Thanks for calling that out - very helpful. I'll focus on the 15 power supply first!

[OK_BassBum]

What is your battery setup, do you have enough juice for all 3 solix's? Did you ever reset to factory default after installing the e-hub? Kinda clear its brain.

[JohnN]

Plenty of juice - it’s running off a 125ah ionic and I verified voltage as mentioned. I didn’t mention that I also verified it at the battery both via voltmeter and their app. I didn’t do anything other than swap out the old ethernet switch (the black one) with the new switch (the clear one). I do need to install the latest software updates, so I’ll do that as well to see if it addresses the issue.

[JohnN]

Thought I’d follow up on this. I charged the battery (125ah ionic) to 100%. That got the alarm to go away, but the solix is still reading 1.5-2 volts lower than what it should be. So I replaced the ring terminals that were connecting the bird to the fuse panel but didn’t see any improvement. I’ve verified that the power is coming into the power cord over 12 volts but the solix says it’s only getting 11. Could a bad power cord be causing this? Other ideas?

[bayoufellow]

I was having a voltage drop as you described on my setup--checked everything (same battery as you also). Long story short--replaced the 10 gauge wire with 6 gauge (8 gauge would probably have worked, but I did not wish to upgrade wiring again anytime soon). The voltage drop now is where it should be. I had added Apex 19, Apex 16, Target Lock , Mega live , and mega 360. Almost everything on the bow deck (longest run of wire), but I ran separate runs of 6 gauge wire to bow and console. Hopefully that will do for a couple of years.

[knoxcogator]

I also have 3 solix units networked together & have got the low voltage warning(less than 20% battery left) on my front two units. This just started happening the last two trips. I bought the new Quest last October & at the same time bought a Monster Marine "Beast" Battery to run all electronics and for a starting battery. I bought the new clear hub a month or so ago also, all lights are green except one that is amber & all are flashing. I've had no problems with the low voltage warning until the last week & I don't think it's my battery?

[JohnN]

I was having a voltage drop as you described on my setup--checked everything (same battery as you also). Long story short--replaced the 10 gauge wire with 6 gauge (8 gauge would probably have worked, but I did not wish to upgrade wiring again anytime soon). The voltage drop now is where it should be. I had added Apex 19, Apex 16, Target Lock , Mega live , and mega 360. Almost everything on the bow deck (longest run of wire), but I ran separate runs of 6 gauge wire to bow and console. Hopefully that will do for a couple of years.

Curious … did you see a voltage drop at the connection point with a voltmeter, or just according to the solix? My solix 15 is on the front end of the run at the console. The two solix 12 units at the bow read higher voltage at the end of the same wiring run!

[SLYDoggie]

Both my previous Solix and current Apex units read lower voltages with the larger screen sizes. It isn't that much... just a couple of tenths of a volt with each step up in size. For example, with my 12V Impulse Lithium battery, my Apex 13 might read 12.8V while my Apex 16 would read 12.6 and my Apex 19 would read 12.4. If I swap the power cords to the units, those same readings stay with the unit and not the power cord. I've just always chalked it up to higher Amp draw as you go up in sjze.