Lowrance X19c plotter

[John42]

My plotter is about 19 years old and now turns on with vertical lines. I did a hard reset and the plotter came to life but when I turned it off and back on, had to do a soft reset to get a picture.

Any ideas on a permanent fix? Replacement is expensive plus I have to install a new transducer, cable etc and may need some sort of network to tie GPS into new unit.

Thanks
John

[tkeithlu]

Welcome to the forum, John42.

19 years is a lifetime in electronics. Let me suggest an alternative, given your concern for cost. We run off a refurbished Lenovo 10" Yoga. They are tough, being designed for classroom use by kids, including solid state hard drives. The entire plotter task became:

Refurbished computer $150
Open CPN free
GPS USB antenna $20
NOAA charts free

We did add a second monitor for about $100.

[John42]

Do you refurbish the Lowrance plotters?

I just checked it again - powering on the vertical lines come up but turn off and hold four arrow key pad down and it power and picture comes up!

Thanks

[Orin]

Originally Posted by John42

Do you refurbish the Lowrance plotters?

I just checked it again - powering on the vertical lines come up but turn off and hold four arrow key pad down and it power and picture comes up!

Thanks

Do you have experience troubleshooting PCBs or soldering?
I’ve had similar issues with automotive displays that ultimately required a new screen (fairly cheap) and some specialized soldering gear to put in the solder on ribbon cables. It’s not uncommon for that style of connector to fail after 20 years. Might be the first place I checked while troubleshooting, followed by any capacitors on the board that appear to be smoked. Then on down the list until I am finally sitting over the board with a multimeter and a schematic. The first few steps into that will get most problems in older electronics, but many companies hold their schematics close and don’t like to share.

It is very time intensive to troubleshoot a complex board. If you have to pay for it, then it’s almost always cheaper to replace the entire unit. I have not worked with most recreational marine manufacturers, but a number of the commercial ones will refurbish their electronics by figuring out which board is bad and replacing the whole board.

You might also try flashing the firmware if available. Sometimes this solves issues.