Pub. 988-0151-071 www.lowrance.com LCD Flasher Sonar Installation and Operation Instructions LCF-1440 Copyright © 2003 Lowrance Electronics, Inc. All rights reserved. Lowrance® is a registered trademark of Lowrance Electronics, Inc. Marine-Tex is a trademark of Illinois Tool Works Inc. Lowrance Electronics may find it necessary to change or end our policies, regulations, and special offers at any time. We reserve the right to do so without notice. All features and specifications subject to change without notice. All screens in this manual are simulated. For free owner's manuals and other information, visit our web site: www.lowrance.com Lowrance Electronics Inc. 12000 E. Skelly Dr. Tulsa, OK USA 74128-2486 Printed in USA. Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................... 1 Capabilities and Specifications: LCF-1440.................................. 1 Installation Instructions.......................................................... 2 Preparation ................................................................................... 2 Recommended Tools and Supplies ........................................... 2 Mounting the Unit ........................................................................ 2 Speaker...................................................................................... 3 Power Connections.................................................................... 4 Transducer ................................................................................ 4 Operation .................................................................................... 5 Keyboard Basics............................................................................ 5 Memory.......................................................................................... 5 Menus ............................................................................................ 5 Display ­ Opening Screen ............................................................ 6 Range............................................................................................. 7 Sensitivity ..................................................................................... 7 ® Grayline ....................................................................................... 9 Alarms ........................................................................................... 9 Fish Alarm................................................................................. 9 Depth Alarms .......................................................................... 10 Noise Reject and ASP (Advanced Signal Processing) ............ 11 Display Adjustments .................................................................. 11 Temperature on/Off ................................................................ 11 Depth Units of Measure.......................................................... 11 Backlights................................................................................ 12 Display Contrast ..................................................................... 12 Sounds on/Off (Key Beep Menu) ................................................ 12 Simulator..................................................................................... 12 System Info (Unit Type Menu)................................................... 12 i Notes ii Thank you for buying a Lowrance LCF-1440 In-Dash Flasher! Your unit is a high-quality flasher sonar designed for both professional and novice fishermen. All Lowrance sonars have an automatic mode that finds and displays the bottom, fish, underwater structure and more ­ right out of the box. All you have to do is press the on (PWR) key. However, if you want to fine-tune your unit, press the MENU UP key. The sonar has several powerful features you can control by scrolling through easy-to-use menus with the arrow and menu keys. To get started with your Lowrance sonar, first read the installation section. It contains instructions for mounting the sonar unit. If necessary, also consult the accompanying transducer installation instructions. Following recommended installation practices will pay off in optimum performance of your Lowrance sonar. Improper installation can cause problems down the road, especially if the transducer is badly mounted. After you've read the installation instructions, install the unit and accessories. Then, read the rest of the manual. The more you know about your sonar, the better it will work for you. Take advantage of the Simulator feature. It allows you to practice operating your sonar before you get it in the water. And when you finally head for your favorite fishing hole, take this manual along for reference. Introduction Capabilities and Specifications: LCF-1440 General Case size: ...................... 3.8" diameter x 3.5" depth (9.7 cm diameter x 9.1 cm depth). Sealed, waterproof; suitable for saltwater use. Display:.........................Sunlight-viewable Film SuperTwist LCD. 2.5" (6.3 cm) diameter viewing area. Resolution:...................132 x 132 pixels (at x/y axis centerlines). Backlighting:...............Multi-level white LED backlit screen. Input power:................10 to 17 volts DC. Current drain: ............140 mA lights off; 200 mA lights on full. Back-up memory: .......Built-in memory stores sonar settings when unit is turned off. Sonar Frequency:...................200 kHz. Transducers: .................Choice of 20°, 200 kHz transducers with gray connectors. 1 Transmitter: ................800 watts peak-to-peak; 100 watts RMS. Sonar sounding depth capability: ........600 feet (180 meters). Actual capability depends on transducer configuration and installation, bottom composition and water conditions. All sonar units typically read deeper in fresh water than in salt water. Depth display:.............Continuous digital readout. Audible alarms: ..........Deep/shallow/fish. Automatic ranging:....Yes. Auto bottom track:.....Yes. Surface water temp: ..Yes, when transducer with attached temp sensor is used. NOTICE! The storage and operation temperature range for your unit is from -4 degrees to +167 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees to +75 degrees Celsius). Extended storage or operation in temperatures higher or lower than specified will damage the liquid crystal display in your unit. This type of damage is not covered by the warranty. For more information, contact the factory's Customer Service Department; phone numbers are inside the manual's back cover. Preparation Installation Instructions The design of the LCF-1440 allows convenient mounting in the dash of your boat, or it can be mounted on any flat panel at least four inches in diameter. To mount the LCF-1440 in the dash, first make sure there is sufficient clearance behind the panel in the desired location. Also, see that there is adequate room to connect power and transducer cables. At least 3-1/2 inches are needed behind the surface of the dash to clear all connectors and wiring. Recommended Tools and supplies Recommended tools for this job include: hole saw, drill, drill bit (for starter hole). Required supplies for this job include: "U" bracket, lock washers and wing nuts (included). Mounting the Unit Cut a 3-3/8 inch diameter mounting hole with a hole saw. A "U" bracket is supplied to hold the sonar to the dash. Place it over the threaded studs on the back of the unit and secure it with the lock washers and nylon wing nuts provided with the unit. 2 Secure unit to the dash using "U" bracket as shown. The bracket is designed to secure the unit to a dash with a thickness of 2 mm. If your dash is thicker than 2 mm, the "U" bracket will be too long. Simply place washers or spacers between the unit and the bracket until you can tighten the wing nuts and secure the unit it place. Once the unit is in place, you need to connect it to a power supply, to the speaker (provided) and to the transducer. All of these elements are described in the following paragraphs. Refer to the following illustration as needed. Speaker Flasher unit (side view) Black wires Speaker cable Connect white wire to "Lights" switch on your boat's instrument panel. Power/transducer cable 2-amp fuse Red wires Black wire 12 volt battery Pod transducer temp sensor LCF-1440 system components installed, including power connections. 3 Speaker Find a location for the speaker that is protected from the elements, but still lets you hear it. The most common location is behind the dash. Make sure to connect the speaker's wires to the same colored wires from the unit ­ red to red (from the power source) and black to black (from the speaker cable). See previous diagram for details. If the 1440's wires won't reach the speaker, splice ordinary speaker wire to them. Power Connections The LCF-1440 works from a 12-volt battery system. For the best results, attach the power cable directly to the boat's battery. You can attach the power cable to an accessory or power buss, however you may have problems with electrical interference. Therefore, it's safer to go ahead and attach the power cable directly to the battery. The power cable has two wires, red and black. Red is the positive lead, black is negative or ground. Make sure to attach the in-line fuse holder both to the red wire and directly to the power source. This will protect both the unit and the power cable in the event of a short. It uses a 2-amp fuse. CAUTION: Do not use this product without a 2-amp fuse wired into the power cable! Failure to use a 2-amp fuse will void your warranty. The black wire is ground and should be connected to the negative side of the battery or to a suitable ground buss. This unit has reverse polarity protection. No damage will occur if the power wires are reversed. However, the unit will not work until the wires are attached correctly. Transducer This unit sometimes comes packaged with either a Skimmer or podtype transducer. For transducer installation instructions, consult the separate instruction sheet (part 988-0147-581 for Skimmer-type transducers, part 988-0147-721 for pod-type). Lowrance sells many different styles of transducers. If you do not have a transducer installed, consult your local boat dealer or the Lowrance service center for assistance selecting the proper transducer for your boat. (Look inside the back cover of this manual for contact information.) 4 Operation Keyboard Basics The unit sounds a tone when you press any key. This tells you the unit has accepted a command. Numbers in the following image correspond to the following key explanations. 1 2 3 The LCF-1440 Keyboard. 1. MENU UP (menu up) and MENU DN (menu down) ­ This sonar unit has many features that are accessed with the menu keys. The MENU UP key moves up or forward through the menus, the MENU DOWN key moves down or backward. To see the first menu, simply press either MENU key. To see the other menus, press a MENU key repeatedly to cycle through the menu list. 2. UP and DOWN ARROWS ­ Use these keys to adjust virtually every feature and function on the sonar unit. 3. PWR/CLEAR (power and clear) ­ Use this key to turn the unit on and off. Hold the PWR key down for a countdown of five in order to turn the unit off. MEMORY This unit has permanent memory that saves the following user settings when power is turned off: Units of Measure, Fish Alarm, Temp Size, Depth Size, Fish I.D. mode, Noise Reject mode, Display Contrast, Shallow and Deep alarms. It does not require, nor does it use an internal backup battery, so you never have to worry about replacement batteries. MENUS This unit uses menus to guide you through the various functions and features. Menu names and settings appear in the manual text as small capital letters like SENSITIVITY, which represents the Sensitivity menu. The menu keys access these features, allowing you to customize the unit to your particular needs and water conditions. All you have to do to leave one menu and enter another is press MENU repeatedly. If you ever get lost in the menus, simply press the PWR key. This clears the menus from the screen. Menus change depending on the mode the unit is in. Messages may appear in menu boxes or new menus can appear, depending on previous selections. 5 Menu This screen shows a typical menu, the Sensitivity menu. DISPLAY ­ Opening Screen The lights flash for about 20 seconds when the unit is turned on. The backlight menu appears on the screen. To turn the lights on, press UP ARROW. If you don't press a key, the menu will disappear after a few seconds. If you don't want to wait, press PWR to clear the menus. When the sonar unit is first turned on and the backlight menu disappears, the display screen shows the Flasher page. An image like the one below will appear on the screen. A circular dial shows all returning echoes at a high screen refresh rate. It uses the Grayline feature (see "Grayline" below) to sho ...