i just came home from another mapping mission and tested the GPS NMEA stream to lowrance for the first time.
it works perfect. finally i have parallel sonar tracks that i can combine to a sidescan mosaic. 
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Wow looks so much nicer now that your sharing the GPS. What mapping software do you use to generate the images ?
I use reefmaster to combine the tracks to a nice visual map. And a little bit of Photoshop for my own logo and stuff.
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@aussiemaverick i have read through all of your topics and replies relating to integrating the Lowrance HDS with an AP. I am trying to transmit live Lowrance HUD to a base station PC like you have done over 4G however I am not savvy in networking at all and have been struggling. I have you come around to writing a detailed overview on how you have achieved this with 4G?
Fantastic work here gentleman, I can concur, the previous posts have never worked for me. Look forward to testing this. I use Humminbird mostly which works well on the older units but the new ones have the same protocol issues as the newer Lowrance units so hopefully this sorts it out.
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Hi @kojirov
Have a read here so you can understand the simple wifi method.
Lowrance HDS stream full sonar to PC / mission planner - ArduRover / ArduBoat - ArduPilot Discourse
Using wifi its simple - the PC and HDS will be on the same network and same IP range.
4G/ 5G can be more complicated because of two reasons
- now the PC and HDS are not on same lan and need internet connection between them
- often 4G providers don’t assign a public IP address to your 4G router (instead they use carrier NAT)
If you 4G/5G router gets a real public IP address, you can use common port forward / server publishing configuration in the router to advertise TCP 554 to the internet. And then on VLC or mission planner - use the public IP of the router to connect to the stream.
Another method is to use a VPN on the 4G router to connect back to your PC network. A VPN may help the carrier NAT problem, and also help if the 4G connection is changing IP addresses.
There is many other options too, including proxy, and other providers etc. So the answer isn’t - one size fits all for 4G/5G connections.
Ok I have tested this on an HDS Pro which only has RS-422 and it does not work.
Could you provide us with some more information, like how it is connected and which menu settings were done. Maybe we can find if anything is wrong or if it indeed simply doesnt work
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Sure, but before I waste your time, have you managed to get telem data from the RS-422 protocol on a Lowrance HDS?
No I haven’t, since I only own an elite ti. But my device is a very old one and my understanding is that it basically has the same features (regarding rs 422 and connecting devices) as a HDS. So I figured it should work, in theory.
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Oh ok, thank you Bastiaan.
If you do manage to get it to work I would be extremely appreciative if you could school me.
I got RS422 to work on different HDS models for the depth (rangefinder) telemetry - also the GPS data.
The posts above show both rs232 and rs422 working.
I didn’t try a HDS PRO.
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I will certainly keep trying as this will be extremely helpful to me.
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Unfortunately I don’t have a simple solution how we could get your set up to work. But since we have multiple people here with multiple devices that got a bi-directional gps-depth connection to work, I’m fairly certain we’ll get your hds pro connected too.
If you could share some pictures or a schematic of the exact connections you made and the sonar model, I’d be willing to dig into this.
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Thanks for all of the helpful info. I have a Lowrance HDS 7Live that i am trying to control remotely. I have a WiFi router/bridge onboard with a WiFI/bridge in my truck to shortcut connecting through a cell provider. i am attempting to control the HDS remotely to allow dialing in the sonar/sidescan for mapping conditions and have not had much success.
I have tried the below configs with moderate results.
- HDS as a Wifi Hotspot router - Wifi repeater on board, android device connected to repeater.
- HDS connects to WiFi repeater onboard - Repeater to Truck router hotspot - android connected to truck router.
- HDS connects to WiFi router onboard - truck WiFI repeater - android device connected to truck repeater.
- HDS connects to WiFi router onboard - truck WiFI repeater - android device connected to WiFi router ondoard.
All of these are using the Link app to connect and control.
All of these options, i was able to connect. but to tune the sonar… no, it was real glitchy.
I will experiment with the streaming in the coming weeks.
My question is, how are yall connecting to the HDS, and what are the capabilities?
My boat has the following onboard.
- Lowrance HDS7 Live.
*Lowrance Point 1 GPS antenna with NMEA 2k network.
*Working NMEA 0182 to TTL adapter connected to Pikhawk.
*WIFI router/bridge device.
*Dual blended GPS input to the Pikhawk.
I can deal with streaming but would really like control of the HDS.
Thoughts?
I’m a IT network engineer so i can provide my thoughts.
Ideally you have a software tool to measure how good your network is talking - eg a simple ping will show if you have packet loss etc. Use this to measure before and after.
Also don’t use wireless repeaters - they are crap. Don’t repeat the wireless signal of the HDS, just connect the wireless bridge to ethernet on your boat.
Normal wifi 2.4 and 5ghz are that crap over bigger distances with a moving target.
I’d suggest a couple possible solutions
900mhz wireless bridge - could be quiet simple if allowed in your area - and if doesn’t overlap with any telemetry radios
4G - May need workaround with VPN / port forwarding if don’t get public IP on your 4g router.
Often 4G providers give your router a 10.x address instead of a real IP public address, so it makes connecting your laptop to the HDS slightly more complicated. This is called carrier NAT.
900mhz is really good for longer signals, and still get reasonable bandwidth - easily enough to stream the sonar and control the HDS. However be careful with 900mhz to make sure its legal in your country. Years ago I got a message from the ACMA govt communications authority to say equipment I deployed was interfering with a mobile phone network. Fortunately I had it in writing from the same department that I was allowed to use that frequency and channel width. Turns out the initial permission was bad advice and I had to change from 40mhz channel width to 20mhz (i think)
If you go the path of 900mhz wireless bridge to truck, and still want 2.4ghz / 5ghz wifi off the truck for your android nearby the truck, Just use another accesspoint - and connect the 2 radios using an ethernet cable.
Let me know if you have more questions.
My suggestion for ideal simple setup to allow reliable HDS control / viewing from shore would be as follows.
On boat - HDS connected to 900mhz wireless bridge using ethernet cable
At ground station - 900mhz wireless bridge connected to 2.4/5ghz access point using ethernet cable
Connect phone wifi to ground station AP wifi. Launch link app.
All devices on same network subnet to make it simple.
It seems I took quite a bit for ‘granted’ in my previous attempts as I was actually using an RS232 TTL converter to TELEM2 on my CUAV V6X controller.
This works perfectly for my Humminbird Helix G3’s and G4’s but not with the Lowrance pro.
A deeper dive and paying a little more attention to the details I realised you are using a SERIAL4/5 port which I do not have. I have since got the same RS422 converter as above but it does not work on my TELEM2 port.
Here is what is available on the V6X controller board:-
NOTE - I ONLY NEED DEPTH DATA FROM LOWRANCE
Below is for single TELEM port (EG only depth data)
This is not for dual port (ie depth data AND GPS DATA)
Make sure pin 1 - is pin 1. It may not be the left most pin. Also the YL-128 RS-422 adapter is a little confusing. Eg TXD DOES go to TXD on the FC. This is a little counter intituative.
FC TELEM2 to rs422 adapter
Pin 1 to VCC on YL-128 RS422
Pin 2 to TXD on YL-128 RS422
Pin 3 to RSD on YL-128 RS422
Pin 6 to GND on YL-128 RS422
Lowrance to rs422 adapter
green wire to Y
orange wire to Z
yellow wire to B
blue wire to A
[SERIAL2_PROTOCOL] = 9 (Rangefinder)
[SERIAL2_BAUD] = 4 (4800 baud)
[RNGFND1_TYPE] = 17 (NMEA)
[RNGFND1_MIN_CM] = 13
[RNGFND1_MAX_CM] = 30000 (i.e. 300m).
[RNGFND1_ORIENT] = 25 (i.e. down) if mounted on a boat
Set your lowrance to 4800 baud (or just make sure it matches whatever you set above)
And make sure your lowrance is configured to output at least 1 nmea0183 depth sentences (eg DPT or DBT)
DPT is depth
DBT is depth below transducer
I think this covers everything you will need just to get depth working from lowrance HDS pro to cuav v6x
Good luck and let me know your results.
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