lms 332 screen dim or flickers

[saggys unlogged]

Is this the kiss of death for this unit? The screen will become dim, no backlighting, then flickers and now works. Any resets that can be done? It did this when wet, then started working as it dried out.

[jarhead]

Have you checked the wiring?

[saggys unlogged]

Checked wiring seems ok. Screen seems to loose backlighting as I can still see images just very faint when this occurs.

[Smitty]

Is the voltage reading at the unit adequate? I know with mine I had to run a heavier ground wire to my fuse block, as it seems the 332 is a bit more sensitive to voltage drops and the bright backlight draws quite a bit of power.

[saggys unlogged]

I check the voltage with my DVM, thanks for the tip.

[ffishman]

You may want to try spraying some dielectric grease on the connector.

[Smitty]

Saggys, if/when the unit is working you can also put the screen in "digital" mode and it will show the voltage that the unit is sensing.. Prior to changing my wiring mine was reading under 11v, and would regularly blip or shut down when I started the main engine, keyed the mic on my VHF radio, etc.. Afterwards I'm measuring a solid 12.3-12.5 and no problems at all.

Good luck.

[Sean]

I had a similar problem with mine too.The lighting was flickering and it dropped 70 waypoints in a matter of 5 minutes. It did rain the night before but had never had a problem. It works fine now.

[mbrandt]

I have the same problem on my LCX-25C. I was just getting ready to send it in as it seems to be getting worse. One work around I found when it flickers off, I hit the power button and it goes to the second lighting level. I then turn the brightness up on that level and it is almost the same. Reading this thread I see it looks like a voltage problem. I was suspecting that. It doesn't shut down, just turns off the back light. I use the same gauge wires to my fuse block as the ones on the connector. Do you think increasing this will help? Should I try bypassing the fuse block and wire direct to the battery? I did set it up so I can see the voltage and it flicks off when the voltage fluctuates. As the day goes on, it seems to get better. Just looking for more tips.

[BGunn]

I once had a problem with a unit that was caused by having the wires between the unit, and the hole in the console to tight.
It put just enough stress on the plug on the back of the unit to cause problems. I put a slight amount of slack in the wires and all the problems went away.

Might be worth a try.......

[Smitty]

mbrandt, on mine it wasn't the wire gauge from the unit to the fuse block. I actually had to go to a heavier gauge wire from the fuse block back to the battery for the ground. Easy to tell if you've got a long piece of 10-12 gauge wire, just run it temporarily between the negative terminal on the battery and to the ground on your fuse block and see what the voltage does. Mine acted the same when I went to the "medium" level for the backlight, but since I increased the wire size for ground my voltage increased and it's no longer an issue even on the brightest backlight setting.

You could also try wiring the unit directly to the battery, just in my case it only took 1 new wire rather than both ground and 12v (positive).

These 332c's are VERY sensitive to voltage drops and seem to pull a fair amount of juice, especially with the brighter backlight on.

[yarcraft91]

Smitty:

I have the similar 334i and the voltage readout has always been 0.6-0.7 volts less than actual battery voltage, on two different boats. Both boats had dedicated 14-ga wires between the 334i and the battery. I always assumed the difference between the voltage readout on the 334i and actual battery voltage was due to a blocking diode in the 334i internal power wiring. Are you reading 12.3-12.5 volts when the engine is running or when engine is off?

14 ga wires are more than heavy enough to avoid excessive voltage drop in this application- with the backlight and internal GPS both operating, the 334i or 332 only draws 700 milliamps- that amounts to a 0.07 volt drop across 40 feet of wire, more than enough to run from most batteries to most consoles and back.

If your 332 has the in-line glass cartridge fuse holder, I recommend replacing that with the newer blade fuse holders (ATO/ATC), as the glass carttridge fuse holder that came with my 334i had a contact problem that made power voltage at the 334i unstable. A blade fuse holder cured that and I see Lowrance now ships the blade fuse holders as standard with their new units.

[Smitty]

It's been so long since I've used the boat I'd have to remember. :-(

A .5-.7v drop would likely be about normal given the distance, so I'd guess I'm reading right around 12v with the engine not running and 12.5 or so with the kicker running (haven't paid attention with the main outboard running). I'll validate next week, taking off Saturday for a week of fishing in West Central MN!!

I'm not using the glass inline fuse, I installed a fuse block that uses the blade style for all of my console electronics. I initially had 16 guage wiring to the block and dropping it to 10 guage made a world of difference, although I would agree that technically 14 guage should suffice. I must have watched Tool Time that week. :-)

[ripley]

guys this is aways a problem going to the fuse block.they only use maybe a #10 awg wire to supply everything at the helm.for todays units with large screens or high output the wire can not handle the load. your best bet.run a supply wire #14,#12 direct to the battery. and make sure you have more than 12 charging volts.at the unit. ----<*]]]]><

[mbrandt]

Yesterday I decided to run a new cable direct to the battery and then got to thinking about my setup and how I do the majority of my fishing. I rarely if ever use my trolling motor. Once or twice a year and that's mainly in the spring. The rest of the year I am usually trolling with my kicker. So I got to thinking that here I have this great big group 31 battery not being used very much. On my boat, it's in the front. I know it is against convential wisdom, but I ran in a cable from that battery to the graph and left all the other electronics on my starter battery. That unfortunately is a group 24. That is the only size I can fit in the locker where it goes. If I do use the trolling motor, I am up front and have my main graph off and use the 15MT on the bow which runs off the starter battery. I figure this way, I get some cycles into the trolling motor battery and get some use out of it. I just put a new one in in the spring and was thinking at the time this is a waste as it's just there for the occasional use. Over the winter, I'll try and figure something out to set it up like REW has and have the batteries all in parallel as talked about here.

http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115231

or maybe wire in a switch so that I can switch power sources if I need to use the trolling motor alot. All that stuff running off of the small starter I guess finally took it's toll. The kicker doesn't charge it so it runs most of the day by itself. This will take some of the load off. Never had a problem tho until I got the lcx-25c.

[mbrandt]

Well, it is not the power supply that is making the back light dim when on high, but something else. Was out today with the new hookup and it continued as before. When set on high, the backlight flickers and turns off. You turn it down to the next level and it is fine. After a hour or so you can then go back up to the high level and it is usually fine the rest of the day. It is like it needs to warm up.

Any ideas?

[GBS]

I think your original post said it all: "It did this when wet, then started working as it dried out."

Sounds like you have a case or screen that is not sealed. Condensation likely forms inside, enough that high power shorts it out. Using a lower power setting warms the screen up a bit as a normal side effect of using the unit, and after enough time the condesation has baked out and things run fine.

Long term, eventually the unit will fail due to corrosion. How long - weeks, months, etc. is a wild guess. Start calling Lowrance now - it takes a while to get through to them. They will offer to fix it out of warrenty for a couple hundred bucks. Send it to them when the season is over. Cheaper than buying a new unit.

[mbrandt]

Just as a followup on this backlight flicker. I went to the Lowrance site to get an rma # to send the unit in and it talks about this problem. It states what we have already stated about good connections and all, but it also asks you to install the latest software. I looked up my unit and low and behold there are updates in it that pertain to the backlighting. Since I don't have the problem of it just turning off like a lot do, maybe this will fix it. Won't have it on the water for a few weeks and unfortunatly, it never fails sitting in the garage. So we'll see what happens. I never bothered with the updates as I thouigh they were mainly for the GPS and I don't use the gps on this unit.