New Nitro Z19 Owner,

[DaveF]

New Nitro Z19 Owner, love the boat but still learning Lowrance Ghost network

 

[RippnLipz]

Welcome!, and enjoy the new boat and trolling motor. I have a ghost also...I really have been enjoying it.

 

[DaveF]

Thank you. Have you had any Ghost system issues? My first Canadian trip early last year the system locked up while using auto pilot totally disabling the trolling motor. After calls and emails to Lowrance to no avail I was able to find how to do a factory reset on Youtube which did worked. I now have a laminated copy of the factory reset procedure stored in the boat incase its needed in the future.

 

[RippnLipz]

Yes, I had a few growing pains right at the beginning. Before I even dropped the boat in the water after purchasing it brand new I was having sort of the same issue you were while fiddling in garage with it. It would randomly give me five beeps and then the head would constantly flash three times and the motor would become completely unresponsive. I would also do full factory reset and full calibration procedure to get control back but after sitting for a bit it would just return. Speaking with other experienced ghost owners, I learned that the power supplied to these units must be clean with solid voltage. All of the owners and Lowrance tech support immediately told me to ditch the plug at the bow, have batteries load tested and re-test ghost. I was going to take the boat to a service center, but after calling them and talking with their tech, I learned they would hook the ghost up to their power supply to diagnose and test to exclude a boat problem. I knew then I had to cover my bases and make sure I did not have a boat power issue or I would look like a fool. Being an electronics engineer, I took it upon myself to go through the whole trolling motor circuit. I knew my batteries were good as they were tested for load and brand new lithium's. I changed the plug at the front of the boat to a hardwired connection and also changed the circuit breaker at the batteries to a higher quality component. I also went through and checked all connections and crimps to make sure there was no issue there and found a few questionable connections. After completing this, the troller has been absolutely fantastic since. Talking to a marine electronics guy, he explained to me that although these are 24 volt or 36 volt systems, the voltage is bucked down to 12 volts at the control board for controls. This means that if you are even losing a small amount of input voltage in your connection, the 12 volts will not be a solid 12 at the PC board. This what was causing my motor to freak out and give strange errors all the time because the voltage was dipping too low for the control board to even know what to do with. I'm not sure if it was the hardwired connection at the bow of the boat that fixed the issue, or replacing the circuit breaker BPS installed, or repairing some questionable crimps that eventually fixed it, but one of them did. I feel it was the breaker or the plug, the crimps I repaired on the circuit were just my OCD of doing wiring for a living and not so much an issue(crimps and heat shrink not up to my standard). Hope this helps.

Hardwired serviceable Connection Terminals. This is what I replaced the plug at bow with.
Connection Terminals

Circuit Breaker I replaced the one BPS installed with. 60a with a manual trip option.
Circuit Breaker

I also got a split cable boot adapter I modified to plug the hole the removed plug left, but allow wires to pass for hardwire connection
Cable Boot

Also make sure you are on latest software(Software version 1.3.04)...lots of bug fixes in that one.
Lowrance Updates

 

[DaveF]

I'll have to trace my battery wires up to the trolling motor, I assumed they were direct and not spliced but never looked. My trolling motor doesn't have a plug, the cables run directly under the front access cover where the front Lowrance is mounted so theres probably a splice there I'll start with. I'm not sure of the OEM circuit breaker quality but its factory mounted where rain water leaking through the rear hatch seam will drip on it so I installed a drip deflector. Some of the wiring in this boat is sloppy, actually very sloppy. I tried to buy an electrical manual through the dealer and was told its proprietary and not available which will be concerning as the boat ages. Thank you for your thoughts and comments.

 

[RippnLipz]

Sounds to me like you are already hardwired at the bow, but doesn't hurt to check the connection behind the plate for sure. A weak battery in your array can cause an issue too. I have some Nitro/Tracker docs I have gathered online over the years, they may be of assistance to you some day. They have helped me in the past, and seem to be pretty accurate from my past experience. Used them recently to splice in a blinker style trim switch. Tight Lines!

 

[Starbanker]

New Nitro Z19 Owner, love the boat but still learning Lowrance Ghost network

Had a hell of a time on setup, couldn’t hear beeps lights not bright enough and had to do the circle setup about 5 times. Now wow. On the Mississippi River with an 7mph current it held spotlock. When I first got it the height adjustment knob was stripped out. Found out you can’t test deploy on trailer. Had to set height with a screwdriver jammed in collar. Not very fun on first trip the lake.