Lowrance X-20 User Manual

X-20

INSTALLATION

AND OPERATION

INSTRUCTIONS

INC.

74128

LITHO IN U.S.A.

988-0105-17

•LOWRANCE

12000

E. SKELLY

ELECTRONICS,

DR.,

TULSA,

OK

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TABLE OF

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
INSTALLATION

POWER
NOISE
TRANSDUCER

KEYBOARD BASICS

OPERATION
SENSITIVITY

CHART SPEED

RANGE
ZOOM

DIG ITAL
FISH I.D.

AUTO

ALARMS

CHART ALARM

FISH ALARM

SPEAKER

LIGHT
MODE

TRANSDUCERS AND CONE

SIGNAL

FISH ARCHES

WATER

SURVEYING A LAKE

BAIT FISH
HOW TO OBTAIN

SPECIFICATIONS
GLOSSARY

CONNECTIONS

FEATURE

INTERPRETATION

TEMPERATURE AND TI-IERMOCLINES

SERVICE

ANGLES

1
1
1

3
3
4
7
7
9

10

10

11

12

13
13

14

15
15

15

16
18

19
20

23
23

24
24
24
25

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4

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Copyright

All features

©

and

specifications subject

1989,

All

rights

Lowrance

reserved.

Electronics,

to

change

Inc.

without notice.

29

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-

SENSITIVITY
Increasing

called

"gain".

SCROLL

SHOOT-THROUGH-HULL

sonar

signals

The

the

sensitivity

SPEED

to

ability

-

See CHART SPEED.

pass through

the hull.

SUPPRESSION
interference or noise.

-

A method

of a sonar unit's

allows weaker

-

A transducer installation

a

fiberglass

used in some sonar units to

receiver to

targets

to be

hull without

display targets.

displayed.

Also

which allows the

help

a hole in

eliminate

cutting

C

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the

high quality
These units have

bottom
20, you

depth,

can "fine tune"

most from
You can

program

pended object

world of

sonar

designed

an automatic feature that

and structure. As

fish,

sonar.

your

the

enters an alarm

sportfishing

the unit to the

X-20 to sound an alarm when

fish from structure and other

sonar, Your Lowrance

for both

professional

you

surrounding

zone. You can

targets.

X-20 is a

and novice

finds and

displays

become familiar with

conditions to

a fish or other sus-

zoom in and

users.

the

X-

your

the

get

separate

your

you get

This is

down
X-20,

SURFACE CLARITY CONTROL

signals displayed

THERMOCLINE
cool

layers

fish

prefer.

TRANSDUCER

electrical

energy

When a return echo strikes

into electrical

near the water's surface. Also called

-

A

of water.

-

The

of water caused

layer

The thermocline

element of a sonar

from the transmitter

the

transducer,

energy

which is received

-

Reduces or eliminates

the

meeting

by

the

provides

system

temperature

that

into ultrasonic sound

it converts the

and

displayed by

undesirable

"SCC".

of warm and

converts the

waves.

sound waves

the sonar

most

unit.

To

where it all

the road.

started with

get

begins,

After

your

and

you've

X-20,

improper

read these

read the rest of this manual

the

to

for reference

water,

the more

when

you

your

head

INSTALLATION

first read the installation section.

installation can cause

instructions and installed

in detail. The more

unit will do for

sonar

you

you.

problems

know

Take this manual

for the water.

when

Mounting

-

paper.

A method of

boat.

The

upper

mounting

are the

range

limit is shown

lower limit is at the bottom. For

feet as the

-

A sonar unit that uses a CAT

segment

limit and 30 feet

upper

of the

depth range.

of 50 feet creates a 30

enlarges

targets

28

TRANSOM MOUNT

sensors on the transom of the
UPPER/LOWER LIMIT - These

sonar screen or

while

display,

foot

range

the

has 20

VIDEO GRAPH

display.

WINDOW
upper

window.

ZOOM
greater

-

A vertical

limit of 20 feet and a lower limit

-

A feature that

detail.

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transducers

limits

on the

displayed

at the

example,

as the lower limit.

or television

For

display

or other

on the

of the

top

a 20 to 30

example,

shows

and

type

an

foot

Install the X-20 in

any

when tilted for the best
wood screw or

back of thin

there is

through

panels

enough

to secure

room behind

transducer cables.

You can route the

power

hole in the base of the

in the

mounting

up through

wire down

the hole

cover the

surface. First

the hole and

through

the bracket and dash.

with silicone rubber adhesive

majority

of the

Power Connections
The X-20

operates

cable to an

from a 12 volt

accessory

convenient

viewing

bolt

angle.

mounting.

the

the unit to attach the

and transducer

gimbal

hole.

or

power

bracket.

pass

bracket.

gimbal

location,

provided

Holes in the bracket

Place a

mounting

hardware.

there is clearance

of

piece

plywood

Make certain

base allow

power

cables

Then

through

pass

them

the

through

the transducer connector and

Then

After

(RTV).

battery system.

buss. If

1

you

the

push

routing

power

the

cables,

Offset the bracket to

Attach the

have

problems

on the

and

one inch

a hole

cable
cable

fill

power

with

electrical
Electrical interference

the

The

negative

power

attaches to the
enough, splice ordinary

interference,

boat's

engine

power

cable has two

or

ground.

cable with the

shows as random dots on the

or an

Attach

crimp

battery

#18

holder is as close to the

possible.
short. Use a

The X-20 has reverse
power

wires are attached

This

protects

3-amp

fuse.

polarity protection.

wires are reversed.

correctly.)

then

attach the cable

accessory

wires,

is on.

red is the

directly

positive

to the

display

battery.

whenever

lead and black is

the in-line fuse holder to the red wire on the

connector. The other end of the fuse holder

or

accessory

gauge

power

the

power

(However,

buss. If the cable is not

wire onto it. Be certain that the fuse

source

cable and

(battery

your

No

damage

or

accessory

buss)

X-20 in the event of a

will occur if the

the unit will not work until the

long

as

OPERATING FREQUENCY

and receiver.

(See kHz.)

OUTPUT POWER - The

-

Frequency

amplitude

of a sonar unit's transmitter

of electrical

energy

the sonar unit to the transducer. Measured in
output power,

displayed.

the

deeper

PIXEL - The small dots or
PIXEL DENSITY - The number of

crystal display. Typically,

better the
PULSE LENGTH

measured in

resolution.

-

micro-seconds. The shorter the

the resolution. For

a one

inch resolution.

a sonar unit can

squares

read,

on a

liquid crystal display

pixels per square

the

greater

number of vertical

The amount of time that the sonar transmits.

pulse length,

30 micro-second

example,

a

transmitted from

the

wafts,

and more detail can be

higher

the

or CRT.

inch on a

pixels,

liquid

the

This is

the better

pulse length

is

equal

to

12 VOLT

BATFERY

FUSE

RANGE - The section of water shown on the sonar

example,

a 60 foot

has zero for the

range

upper

limit and 60 for the

display.

For

lower limit.

REMOTE

-

An

intelligent "repeater"

unit that receives

depth

information

from another sonar unit. A remote doesn't have a transmitter or re-

ceiver.
operate separately

RESOLUTION

However,

it does have it's own features that are

from the master.

-

The

ability

of a sonar unit to

separate targets

adiustable

and

from

each other or from the bottom.
SCALE - The

of a

depth

markings

target, simply compare

the scale markers on the

SECOND ECHO

of a

depth

the

bottom,

and

again,
SECOND

primary keys

echo. This is

target

striking

returning

FUNCTION

to other functions.

on a sonar units

the

display.

-

Another echo that

caused

the surface of the

to the surface.

-

KEY

A

button that converts the functions

display.

target's

registers

the

by

water,

To determine the

location to the location of

at

roughly

sound waves

travelling

twice the

reflecting

to the bottom

of the

off

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2 27

Discrimination feature on Lowrance sonar units removes

The
false

more.

signals

from other

sonars,

FISH ALARM - An alarm that activates

acoustic and electrical

when a fish or

suspended object

is detected.

FISH ARCH
suspended targets

are

typically

information.

FLUSH MOUNT
transducer

GIMBAL BRACKET

nently.

angle.

GRAYLINE Thi feature shows the

played

displayed
composftion

-

A sonar with

as

upside

hence the name "Fish Arch". See

fish,

-

A transducer that is installed with the bottom of the

flush with the bottom of the hull.

-

A bracket

The sonar unit can

on the screen.

in

black,

Signals

stronger targets

of the bottom.

soft or hard. A hard bottom returns

A

line.
emphasized

soft,

muddy

with a narrow

or

weedy

gray

resolution and definition can

good

down "Vees" or arches. These

page

used to install a sonar unit

rotate in the bracket for the best

relative

weaker than

are

gray.

In other

words,

a

strong signal causing

bottom returns a weaker

line.

strength

the GRAYLINE

It also

gives

can tell if the bottom is

you

sources,

for more

20

viewing

of

signals

setting

clues to the

wide

a

which is

signal

many

and

display
signals

perma-

dis-

are

gray

NOISE
Minimize electrical noise

possible
generators

the instrument

tachometer which radiates RF
results, keep

wiring.

keep
VHF radio

levels than the

20's

radio cables.

If interference

increases,

noise is not

transducer.

Rpm.
Usually,

acoustic noise. The faster a boat travels,

and

transducer

sources of electrical interference.

is the

engine's

panel.

the

power

Also, bilge pump wiring

the X-20's

cables

antenna cables

engine's wiring

power

and transducer cables as far

begins

then a

electrical,

Stop

at slow boat

probable

the

boat,

If the noise does not

air bubbles

generate

installation section

noise on the

passing

routing

by

wiring

This harness

and transducer

from those wires.

away

typically

cause is acoustic

rather

but

put

increase on the

display.

the

harness that runs from the

usually

frequency) energy.

(radio
can sometimes

radiate

harness. It is

speeds,

mechanically

the

engine

over the face of the transducer

To eliminate this

for

proper mounting techniques.

power

One of the

cable

away

largest

from

engine

other

noise

contains a wire for the

For best

cables

RF

energy

important

away

worsening

noise,

in

neutral,

display,

from the

away

radiate noise so

at

higher power

to

keep

as

possible

from VHF

as the boat

or cavitation.

induced

noise from the

and increase

then it is cavitation.

engine

try

the X-

speed

This

the

create

the more air bubbles increase

problem,

read the

to

to

IN-DASH
Usually,

kHz

operates

LCD

Graph

LCG
NOISE

ignitions systems, radios,

of the

display

-

A sonar unit

the face of the sonar is flush

-

Kilohertz. A measurement of

at 192 Kilohertz.

-

Liquid crystal display.

instrument.

sonar

-

Liquid Crystal Graph.

-

undesired

Any

engine

or other mechanical

as random

PDF compression, OCR, web-optimization with CVISION's PdfCompressor

installed

(192,000 cycles per

through

or

nearly

frequency.

The screen or

signal.

Electrical noise is caused

etc. Acoustic noise is caused

sources. Noise

dots or lines.

26

a hole in the boat's dash.

so with the dash.

Your Lowrance sonar

second).

of a

display

Liquid Crystal

engine

by

vibration

the

by

appears

on the

TRANSDUCER

Transducer installation

transducer. Please read the
transducer.

to

prevent

wash the transducer's

may

or

may

organisms

growth

a metal based anti-foulant

sensitivity.

for transducers.

Periodically

oil film that

any

sensitivity

Paint transducers

paint
other marine

Do not use

ity.

transducer's

cally designed

dealers

instructions are

collect. Oil and

even

prevent operation.

on salt water boats with a thin

from

will cause a decrease

There are

packaged separately

instructions

face with

dirt on the face will reduce the

growing.

special

They're readily

3

carefully

If
paint

before

and water to remove

soap

unchecked,

in

the transducer's

as it

anti-foulant

available

with the

install the

you

coat of anti-foulant

barnacles and

sensitiv-

will decrease the

paints specifi-

at most marine