Lowrance autopilot cable steer

[BC FD]

Yup. Cabelas was clearing a bunch of stuff out.


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[Beachit]

How did this Lowrance Outboard Cable Steer Pack system end up working for you performance and noise wise.  Thanks

[lrg355]

Just bought a Hds 7 Carbon with total scan transducer for 799 online. Carbon is 1 gen up from Gen 3 but the latest this year is HDS Live, but expensive. Best deals are usually 1 gen from latest.

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[Beachit]

NICE on the graph, Any idea how the Lowrance Outboard Cable Steer Pack systems work performance wise?  Thanks

 

[Andre wallyandre]

4 hours ago, Beachit said:

NICE on the graph, Any idea how the Lowrance Outboard Cable Steer Pack systems work performance wise?  Thanks

 

 

The computer and the Gen ? That control are the same and the motor on the wheel is a Octopus; Octopus is very well known in the AP world as the best  for the cable steer.

That being said you can expect the same result as the hydraulic model

[BC FD]

Works great.

I am very impressed.

3 weeks ago we put in at Kingston and ran out to Main Duck Island.

I let the autopilot drive back in at about 28 mph and it did great.

I used the arrows to alter course every once in a while but very nice.

We trolled for 4 or 5 hours and it worked perfectly.

I think I said in a previous post I used an HDS 7 Gen 3 to control it.

Love that unit as well.

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by BC FD

[Beachit]

GOOD to hear as I am thinking about purchasing one... THANKS for the feedback!

[BC FD]

No problem.


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[dbitting]

They doo offer a tilt add on  look for NAVICO and you should be able to find it. I installed  the cable version over Winter because as many mention when you ask someone to steer  you end up with a mess of tangled lined  I bought ming for $1299.00 in addition to a build a boat kit  which had 2 HDS9 Carbon units sound system and speakers along with external GPS antenna( not needed  autopilot has one in the kit)  and NMEA 2000 network starter kit. I can say I love it i can go out alone to the ocean and  hit a button to hold heading  set my lines and once complete set routes to troll . All you have to do is watch for others! I installed it on an 89 Penn Yan Tour 212

[Beachit]

EXCELLENT... THANKS for the input!!!

[dbitting]

I use mine at Sandy Hook, NJ during Striper season.   You can go online to Navionics.com create routes and save them to your account.  you then can download them to a card and transfer the routes to the Sonar nit. if you use HDS units you can watch the video on how to to so.  I do not recommend creating long routes on the HDS unit as i have experienced where the route cut across land and i didn't see it on the small display. Lowrance recommends  doing them online. I have created routes from wave points while marking bait balls and fish. I would troll around looking for markings and create wave points for them when i think  i have enough i create a route and when it asks to use the wave points i select the ones i created  save it as some name. i can use that route to troll all day forward and reverse. you can setup s turns zig zags and  spiral circles if you wish. It makes fishing so much easier alone, or even better with the in experienced passengers. I can set 8 lines and sit back and wait for the rods to pop off.  when stripers would hit i stop navigation and just select hold heading to keep tension on the lines. someone always watches for traffic and if you need to disengage quickly there is a oh Sh_t button the dash its RED you hold it and your back in command! If you have the Lowrance HDS unit and i think the TI gen 2 models or Simrad units  this is the bomb. If you have any questions feel free to ask attached are Images of the new dashboard and installation of the auto pilot unit. you will have to open the back wall a bit and i just built a 3 inch extension around it  then mounted all the electronic boxes and NMEA network there. If you know basic wiring and can follow instruction you can install this all yourself save a bunch of money. The image of the fish was that girls first Striper and I attribute that to the electronics we chased these beasts for 5 years and tis year we were on them! Thank You Lowrance

[Beachit]

AWESOME info and pics...THANKS  AND of course NICE fish!!!

[JTM203SOUTH]

On 2/16/2018 at 7:19 AM, wallyandre said:

No, compatible with: Gen2, Gen2 Touch, Gen3 and Carbon

Also compatible with the Simrad Go series and Evo2 and EVO3 

 

I recently purchased A Lowrance Cable steer A/P new . It will be run with a Gen 2 HDS .Unlike the captioned schematic,the installation instructions which came with my unit did not show the Rudder Feedback cable being plugged into the NAC-1 or anything else. I contacted Lowrance tech service and was told nothing plugs into the feedback port on Lowrance units which doesn't seem to make sense. I have asked them to confirm or clarify this info, but have not heard back from them.  Does anyone know if this is correct ?  Thanks.

Edited January 7, 2020 by JTM203SOUTH

[Andre wallyandre]

4 hours ago, JTM203SOUTH said:

I recently purchased A Lowrance Cable steer A/P new . It will be run with a Gen 2 HDS .Unlike the captioned schematic,the installation instructions which came with my unit did not show the Rudder Feedback cable being plugged into the NAC-1 or anything else. I contacted Lowrance tech service and was told nothing plugs into the feedback port on Lowrance units which doesn't seem to make sense. I have asked them to confirm or clarify this info, but have not heard back from them.  Does anyone know if this is correct ?  Thanks.

In the schematic the no was for a previous question. As written it is compatible with the Gen2, Gen2 Touch, Gen3, Carbon and Live. The NAC1 computer does have a rudder plug because I think they use the same box for the NAC1 and the NAC2. I will try to dig a little more on this and let you know. I'm pretty sure it's only a virtual rudder. I run my boat w/o a rudder and it's straight has a arrow

[mr 580]

If your cable steer unit has VRF- Virtual Rudder Feedback then the NAC1 Feedback port is not used.  I think the Lowrance units have VRF and don’t require the stand alone Rudder Feedback Sensor which would plug in that NAC1 Feedback port.

[JTM203SOUTH]

Thank you, Andre.

 

 I would be interested  if you find out anything else.

 

Jack

[Andre wallyandre]

Yes there is a rudder available for the NAC1; RF40 a medium-duty rudder feedback. Comes with a 50ft cable. Plug & play to a NAC-1 or a NAC-2 Part#: 000-14439-001 Sgg retail price: $419.

[dbitting]

A rudder feedback is not required  with the out of box setup. If you follow the instructions  during installation  the cable steer unit has the VRF mounted already when you finish install  you rotate steering full left then full right  and back to center. You remove the VRF and line up the red dots. your Rudder feed back is complete. There would be no reason to have an additional RF at $500 unless the steering is so sloppy it stay on point. I had to fuss with mine and it works great. My only mistake was i put my Point1 on the Bow and it should be at the Stern

[Andre wallyandre]

I agree

[L&M]

2 hours ago, dbitting said:

My only mistake was i put my Point 1 on the Bow and it should be at the Stern

 

Normal mounting is usually mid ship to maintain a good constant trolling feedback. Why would you want to mount it either fore or aft?

[dbitting]

According to Lowrance  Aft near the transduce is the optimal location for accurately marking wave points. I watched a Lowrance Install video of a dual HDS system with networking, a Point1 GPS, NEMA 2000 and trolling motor hookup on a bass boat and that was the recommended location. Because i already had a hole in my bow the Point1 covered it well. I do not notice any issues, however in Spring i am going to move it to confirm. I have a second GPS Point1 ( Not Autopilot ) if there is a difference IDK but they are different firmware and PN. Since i have 2 Point1 units i guess i could use the AP version midship and add  the other to the stern and assign the wave point GPS to come from the aft Point1.  My units are currently out of my boat because in July i was out on the Atlantic Ocean and my main screen locked up freezing my whole system, GPS, Navigation, Autopilot and Side scan Sonar. I was so pissed off the only way i could recover was to unmount the displays and move sonar to the second unit reboot. i since sent the unit to Lowrance after 2.5 hours telling me all the issues i was having. I wanted to pack everything and sed it back but they only wanted the unit in Question. A fuel sensor bought in July never worked. Didn't want to discuss that. sent the unit packed with the screen cover and the factory shpping foam paid shipping and insurance to Lowrance. A week later i get an email my unit was being returned. When i got it it was wrapped in a single sheet of bubble wrap, no screen cover and a box bigger than the unit so it traveled across the US rattling around in the box with a note we found nothing wrong with the unit.  Ended up complaining to the BBB and received a resolution  within 24hours. New screen, Fuel sensor, HDSCarbon unit and a new 2yr warranty!

 

Bit of a rant sorry

[Andre wallyandre]

@dbitting: some explanaton for the Point-1 and Point-1AP: Point-1 and Point-1 AP have different software with different dampening characteristics. Point-1 is optimised for stabilizing the chart display and for radar overlay, Point-1 AP with much less dampening is optimized for autopilot usage.

I would like to know exactly a list of all youre Lowrance electronics on youre boat.

I will also post some pics of troubleshooting on this post

 

[dbitting]

Thanks for the post. Since my unit is being replaced i will have to do the configuration all over again. 

 

2- HDS Carbon 9

NAC-1 Cable Autopilot

SonicHub w/ Iphone6 for music

1 TotalScan transducer

1 HD 83/200 transducer

Bennett Tim Tab NMEA2000 kit

Lowrance NMEA2000 fuel flow sensor

Lowrance NMEA2000 fuel tank sensor

Point1AP 

Point1 (not hooked up)

Navionics SD Card (Annual Updates)  Used for mapping routes and navigation

IPhone10 Plus to download map routes Created and saved to the cloud

NMEA2000 Network  terminated at the Stern and at the dashboard

Ethernet cable between units

 

In the beginning of the season everything worked flawlessly. by Summer the unit froze once or twice, however July is when it locked up. I did not get to use it again until October and i already moved transducers to the other unit so i finished the fishing season that way. I decided to call support  during the winter because no down time and they can take their time troubleshooting the issue. I was told they are sent to Mexico to be repaired not that it matters where its fixed  but i expected much better handling of a +$1500 item. i will see in Spring how it works as Striper fishing starts around the end of March

[Andre wallyandre]

Before I forgot there is also a important update for the NAC-1: 

NAC-1 Software Update

Release Date: 3 October 2018

Version: 1.0.03

We are pleased to announce a software update for the NAC-1 autopilot computer.

Some customers have reported that the NAC-1 is not memorising external feedback sources like RF25 or analog signal into NAC-1 computer. After repowering the unit could randomly select VRF.

The software has been improved to prevent this from happening.

Software upgrade can be done from AP44/48 and IS42 using USB, MFD using the SD or microSD card slot, or by using the ST10 and swup tool software. 

Download NAC-1 Software Update

[dbitting]

I would have to double check but I am thinking it was already done. I know the HDS units are indicating no updates needed.