Marcum technologies LX-6S, LX-7 User Manual

LX-6s/LX-7

Digital Sonar

User Manual

Marcum LX-6s

Marcum LX-7

Versa Electronics

www.marcumtech.com

INTRODUCTION

Congratulations on purchasing the Marcum Digital
Sonar—the most advanced ice sonar system available.
When Marcum was founded over a decade ago, we all
knew that our original flashers were just the beginning.
Every step of the way, we have been designing,
improving, building momentum. This momentum keeps us
in nearly perpetual motion, on the Vanguard of innovation,
with our competition forever in our rear-view mirror. We’re
glad you’ve joined us in the front seat. While our existing
product lines have always beat the competition in every
category, up until now there has always been room for
lively discussion as to the merits of various systems.
These discussions will now come to a stop as we usher in
a new era in ice fishing electronics: The Marcum Digital
Sonar. These units are the most advanced ice fishing
sonars ever designed, and now that you own one you’re
about to see why.

With a customizable dashboard display, superior target separation, 12-level interference rejection, dual-beam transducer, adjustable zoom, and much more, the Marcum Digital Sonar is the perfect combination of macro features and micro precision.

FEATURES

•

LCD monitor

•

Dual-Beam Transducer—Quickly switch betwe e n 20 degree and 8 degree

•

Rugged transport shuttle with extendable transducer arm

•

Padded nylon soft pack offers the ultimate in protection

•

Protective clear shield

•

12 volt 9 amp battery with 3-stage charger

•

2 year warranty

•

User-friendly fully adjustable zoom

•

Dashboard display keeps the angler updated with critical information

•

Five different sonar windows to choose from, display up to three at once

•

Silent operation

Versa Electronics

www.marcumtech.com

GETTING STARTED

Ice System Set-Up

Your Digital Sonar comes virtually ready to fish. Open the top cover of the
soft pack, loosen the knobs and the monitor can now be positioned how you
want it. Once the monitor is positioned, tighten the knobs again to hold the
monitor in place.

Look behind the monitor and hook up the Digital Sonar’s power cord to the
battery. While you are at it, remove the entire unit from the soft pack so
you can see exactly how eve rythi ng c onne cts—this makes it eas ie r d ow n
the road if you ev e r need to change a battery or transducer. Your Digi tal
Sonar is delivered with a 9 amp battery that is charged, so you can take it
fishing right away. Even though the battery comes with a charge on it, due to
storage time or other factors it may not be fully charged when you get it, so if
you are not going fishing immediately you shoul d hook up the charger to make
sure the battery has a full charge. To charge the battery, see below. The
Marcum Digital Sonar will operate for 10 hours or more on a fully charged
battery. If you are going to be in a situation where you will want to
system for more than one day without recharging, having a second, fully
charged battery with you is cheap insurance that will allow you to get full use
out of your system for the duration of your trip.

Inside the Marcum Digital Sonar’s soft case is an electronics shuttle that has
compartments for the battery and the dual beam transducer, as well as a
transducer arm. The adjustable transducer arm allows for maximum flexibility in
positioning the Digital Sonar around the ice hole, and can even be moved to the
other side of the shuttle.

Using the Marcum Digital Sonar can be as simple as turning it on—the factory
settings will come on automatically and allow you to use the Dig ital Son ar in the
most popular configuration.

use your

Be sure to explore all of the options available to customize your Dashboard
Display. With five different sonar portals, four color palettes, two cone angles,
and a myriad of other settings, there are many possibilities. Changing your
settings is easily done on the fly, but experimenting while using the simulator
at home will help you learn the “flow” of the menu and settings.

BATTERY CHARGING

Your Marcum system comes with a 3-stage battery char ger. This style of
charger has proven to be the most effective and easiest to use of all charging
systems available. Because this is a 3-stage charger, there i s no d anger of
overcharging your battery. When properly cared for, a seale d l ead acid battery
will last for at least a couple of years. Batteries are made to be used, and they
need to be used to make the most of them. The most important thing you can
do is to prompt l y r e c h ar g e y o ur ba t t ery after each u se . No t c harging your
battery immediatel y af ter use is the number one thi ng that leads to battery
failure.

For safety reasons, it is recommended that you place your system on a flat,
hard surface like cement or tile when charging it, away from any
flammable materials. Be sure to disconnect the charger from the wall when
not in use, and avoid leaving your battery hooked up to the charger for
extended periods of time.

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www.marcumtech.com

W

hen you get home from a trip, put your battery on charge right away and
leave it ther e overnight, or for around 8-12 hours. Likewise, on the night before
an ice fishing trip, put it on the charger again, just to make sure. Again, there
is no danger of ov ercharging yo ur b at t ery. We often talk to people who
hesitate to ch arge their battery after each use for fear that the batter y w il l
develop a “memory” and this will lead to a sho rt ened run time—THIS IS
FALSE!!! ALWAYS CHARGE YOUR BATTERY AFTER EVERY USE!!! Be
sure to use the charger that came wi th your system, or a s i mi l ar one that is
between .5 amp. and 1 amp. Using a larger charger, like you would use on a
car, truck, RV, or boat is likely to cause damage to the battery. There is really
no danger of overcharging y o ur b at t ery with a low am p c h ar g er , and most
chargers au tomatically go into “main tenance mode” once a ful l charge has
been achieved.

TO CHARGE YOUR BATTERY:

Your battery has a wiring harness attached to it that has “piggyback” terminals
on it, enabling you to keep the power cord from the unit attached to the battery
at all times, as well as having the wiring harness with receptacle for your
charger att a c hed at all times. To charge, si m pl y co u ple the end of the c harger
with the end of the wiring harness. It is normal for a green light to appear on
the charger at this time if the c harger is plug ged into the battery only. It is al s o
normal for th e l i ght on the charger to be green if it is just plugg ed into the wall.
When it is plugged into the wall and battery, you will see a red LED light
appear on the c harger. If the li gh t i s red, the battery is being char g ed. When
your batter y is ful l y ch arged, this re d l i ght should cha nge to green. If it i s ti me
to go fishing and the light has not turned green, go fish and try to allow a
longer char ging period ne x t t i m e.
Batteries are an expendable item, and must be replaced periodi cally. The
batteries that we use are the “Sealed Lead Acid” variety, they are 12 volts, and
range from 7 to 9 amps. The more amps the battery has, the longer it will run
on a full charg e. Your Marcum can be powered off of any battery that is 12
volts, even a large automot i v e or deep cycle bat t ery.

If you are having difficulty with the charging process, please see the Charger
Troubleshooting section at end of the manual.

If you need to remove the battery, slide the power cord leads from the battery.
Remove the strap that is holding the battery in place and lift the battery out. To
replace the battery, plac e a new battery of si m i lar specific ations into the
battery compartment and secure it with the Velcro strap and r e-connect the
positive an d n egative term i nals.

SETTING THE TRANSDUCER FOR ICE FISHING

:
When used in conjunction with the retractable pivoting transducer arm and
rubber stopper, the Digital Sonar’s transducer will automatically level itself in
your ice hole. To begin operation, take the transducer out of the recessed
holder, and rotate the adjustable ice arm out from inside the shuttle. Extend
the transducer arm, (the cable should already be threaded through it with
stopper in place) and deploy the transducer into the water. We recommend
setting your stopper to have the transducer down the least amount possible.
The Marcum Digital Sonar puts out enough power that in most cases it is not
necessary to have your transducer down more than a few inches below the

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water line to get a good reading. When the ice thickness is over two feet, it
may be necessary to have your transducer set somewhat farther down.
Remember--the less transducer cable you have out, the easier it is to pull it
out of the water when bringing in a fish, or to move to a new location. Under
no circumstances should you ever have the ducer below the ice—this can lead
to the ducer becoming damaged.
It is also impo r t ant that you kee p the cable near th e c enter of the ice hole. We
frequent l y he ar fr o m anglers who allowed their c able to freeze i nto the side of
the ice hole. If this should happen to you, make sure the unit is turned off
before atte m pting to chise l it out . If you accidentally cut the ducer cable, do
not try to use that ducer again.

MOVING THE DUCER TO A NEW LOCATION

Being mobile is one of the keys to being successful on the ice. Whenever you
move from one spot to another, it is tempting to leave your transducer hanging
on the transducer arm. This is likely to lead to failure of the transducer arm, and
can cause damage to the transducer itself. Always stow the transducer inside
the pack when you are moving. Keeping the amount of transducer cord you
have out at a minimum will make transporting your Digital Sonar easier.
Similarly, you may need to quickly remove your transducer from the hole when
about to land a fish. We have actually seen anglers in a panic actually grab the
shuttle itself and toss the entire unit to the side. This is

no way to treat any
piece of electronics; a much better approach is to simply lift the transducer out
of your way by the cord, and the shuttle itself can be gently pushed aside.
Whenever you are moving via sled or vehicle, always fold up your transducer
arm, stow the transducer inside, and close the protective soft pack.

FISHING IN SHALLOW WATER

The Marcum Digital Sonar is designed to be an ef fectiv e fishing t ool in a wid e
variety of environments. Most of the time, simply turning on the unit at factory
default settings is all that is necessary. Shallow water [ 10 feet or less] c an be
problematic without making a few adjustments. If you are ha ving tro uble get ting
optimal performance out of your Digital Sonar in shallow water, here are some
adjustments to experiment with. Depending on the actual circumstances, one
or more of these adjustments may be necessary. First thing, when in shallow
water, keep your transducer near the surface of the water [at the TOP of the
ice, almost in the air] no matter how thick the ice is. This gives the du cer a li ttle
more room to “work”. Be sure that you manually select the 10 fo ot range. Next,
press the MENU button, select SONAR SETTINGS, and then s croll to SONAR
MODE. Highlight it and select OPEN WATER MODE. We realize it does not
seem natural to use “OPEN WATER MODE” when you are on the ice, but
making this change will “back off” the gain curve, allowing bette r perfor mance
in certain ice fishing conditions. Re-enter the SONAR SETTINGS sub-menu

and select MAX PING RATE. Lowering this to "1" can help performance.

Finally, you should also consider changing the color palett e from th e default
“SIX- COLOR” to one of the three-color palettes.

READING THROUGH ICE –
The Marcum Digital Sonar will provide accurate information reading through
ice providing the ice is reasonably clear. Wet the ice with at least a cup of
water to improve the coupling of the transducer to the ice. Place the face of
the transducer firmly on the wetted ice, and you will now be able to see the
depth displayed digitally, and a signal showing the bottom (and fish) on
whichever sonar windows you have open. Drilling into the ice 1-2” before
taking a reading may be necessary if the surface of the ice is very rough, or

if the ice is filled with air bubbles.

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OPERATION

The Marcum Digital Sonar has many functions and settings that are selected
or changed by buttons on the Control Panel. Learning what each of the
buttons (POWER, SENS, RANGE, ZOO
ADJUST, MENU/ENTER, UP, DOWN) does will enable you to get the most out
of your Digital Sonar. Note that you can experiment with different settings and
dashboard arrangements in SIMULATOR mode. Many of the selections will
activate just by highlighting your desired setting.

M, IR, CONE ANGLE, TARGET

Control Panel

The following is an explanation of each button on the control panel and what it
does. Some of the button functions can also be accessed in the main menu.
Pressing any of the Control Panel buttons will cause a window to open,
enabling the user to make the desired adjustments. All button function windows
will time out after about 6 seconds. Any changes made to the settings will
activate when the MENU button is pressed, or after a few seconds without
activity.

POWER - Press and hold this button for 2 seconds to turn your unit on or off.

SENS

- The SENS (sensitivity) button controls the amount of sensitivity
required by the unit to pick up objects like bottom, weeds, fish, or lures and
jigs. The lower the number, the less sensitivity, conversely higher numbers
mean more sensitivity. To adjust your sensitivity, first press the SENS button
and a bar will appear at the bottom of your display. Pressing the UP/ DOWN
will adjust your sensitivity, and the sensitivity setting will now be digitally
displayed on the SENS gauge. The best SENS setting is achieved by turning
up your sensitivity until you receive a clear and steady bottom reading. To see
your lure or bait, turn up the SENS some more until you just begin to display
your bait without it fading or flickering on the screen. The sensitivity will go up
to 25, but you are likely to have it set considerably lower.

RANGE

- The Marcum Digital Sonar has nine different fixed ranges, as well as
the ability to create custom ranges using the Dynamic Depth feature. Pressing
the RANGE button on your Digital Sonar will open up a sub-menu with four
different range options.

AUTO RANGE – Selecting AUTO will put the Digital Sonar into a sort of “search
mode” where it will detect the bottom and automatically lock into one of the nine
ranges [10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 120, 180, 240, and 300]. This is a feature that allows
you to simply turn on the unit and begin fishing. To enter Auto Range, press
RANGE, and use the UP button to highlight “Auto”, and the Digital Sonar will
automatically lock into the appropriate depth range. For instance, in 32 feet of
water, the Digital Sonar will lock into the 40 foot range. In 45 feet of water the
Digital Sonar will automatically lock into the 60 foot range.

MANUAL RANGE – Selecting MANUAL will allow the user to decide which fixed

range they would like to have displayed. Highlight MANUAL, and arrow up or down to
the desired depth range.