Lowrance HDS 12 Touch will not save fuel used

[SAFisherman]

Hi

I have a HDS 12 touch networked to a Yamaha F150.

This gives me fuel rate and can log fuel used.

I have an EP-85R storage device installed to network.

It works all fine but as soon as I power down the network I lose my fuel used.

The storage device is supposed to save this data.

Its showing up on my device list but will not save.

Lowrance where useless over the phone.

Any help will be appreciated as its doing my head it.

[Moonlighter]

I am pretty sure you have to configure the EP85r. Have you done that in the network menu? Boat setup, number of engines and tanks, tank capacity etc?

If that's all has been done, again, in the network menu, data sources, you should check data sources and may need to correctly set data sources for fuel used and remaining etc to be the EL85r. In other words, you are telling the HDS where to look when it is displaying fuel used etc.

Instead of doing that item by item, you could, in that data sources menu, select the "auto-detect" option, as this often helps sort out data source issues. If not, you will have to do it manually as described above.
That should sort it, unless you've been unlucky and got a dodgy device!

Let us know how you go.

[SAFisherman]

I tried everything you mentioned which I had done before and it worked twice and then stopped saving again.

I'm going to send the storage device back to Lowrance and they can send me another one, it cant be that hard

[chocolatemoose]

crazy question i know. but when you turn the system off do you just hold the power button?

[SAFisherman]

yea, I hold it down until it starts to power down and then I let go

[Moonlighter]

Wrong way to shut down!!! Causes problems. Software doesn't get to close down properly. Doing it that way is like pulling the plug from the wall in your computer.

May be a factor in the issue you are having. Possibly not, but still not good practice.

You should do it properly. Press power button, then scroll to the option to shut down, select that.

(well spotted, Moose!)

[SAFisherman]

No way!!! I have never shut it down like, I will give it a try

Now Navico engineers are saying a need EP-65R fluid level sensor to save fuel used, is this correct?

[Moonlighter]

No. Definitely not. You must have got the trainee at Navico!!!

Read the owner's manual for the EP85, it will show that it does everything you want. The fluid level sensor is completely different gadget, used for reading tank levels similar to the old electric fuel gauge.

i would suggest that you do a soft reset on your HDS before anything else. This basically reboots the units software and gets everything back in order. How to do it is on the Lowrance website. Google.

Then, after doing that, go in and check the configuration of the EP85, and also check the data sources as per my original message.

And then see how it goes.

[SAFisherman]

Cheers Moonlighter

I was trying to tell guy that you don't need an EP-65R but he said that I do, I don't think its needed either.

I will try the correct shutdown procedure and the above reset etc and report back.

In the meantime Navico is sending a new EP-85R and don't want the old one back but they said i will have the same problem lol. I'm stumped

[Moonlighter]

Here is a doc to read, from Lowrance's website.

http://www.lowrance.com/Global/Lowra...Guide_3401.pdf

You don't need a fluid level sensor, it is BS. Quite irrelevant to what you are doing. Dozens of people with Yamahas have set up simply with the interface cable and the EP85r. But the EP85s do seem to be problematic devices at times. I'm betting you have a faulty one. But doing the soft reset first is important to get the HDS software happy again.

I guess the way you have been shutting down is a hangover from the old days of the earlier LCX and LMF days when you could do it that way. Bet you had one of them?!

[Moonlighter]

One further thing.

sometimes the settings for the EP85 don't get saved if the voltage to the network isn't really strong. So to be sure, you could either
(a) have the engine running, on the muffs, when you do the setup; or
(b) have the battery that supplies power to the engine and interface on the charger when you are doing the setup.

Good luck.

As I said, I have heard quite a few people have got faulty EP85s but once you get a good one you should be set. Why would Lowrance send out basically a freebie otherwise!

[SAFisherman]

Just read the doc and I agree you don't need the 65R and I knew that from the start.

Its not rocket science I just want a to save my fuel usage and that's why we pay big dollars for these electronics.

Im keen to try the correct shut down procedure when I get home from work, time to annoy the neighbours with outboard noise gain lol

[scottar]

EP-85's have been problematic. Predominently they have been used with E-Tec's. There is no shortage of complaints on the E-Tec owners website or continuous wave website in the US. As well as hardware issue's there have been the usual Navico software issues as well. Unfortunately dealing with Navico over here can be a bit hit and miss (don't start - I have tried to be polite) when it comes to knowledge. The guys are not techs as such due to the fact that they don't do any repair what so ever - all simply replacement, and as such can struggle.

[SAFisherman]

Don't see why Navico cant get that info stored onto one of the SD cards that my unit has

[SAFisherman]

I have success!!!

I did 2 things,

1. Downgraded EP-85R firmware to 2.20, was reading that some people had the same problem after upgrading firmware.
2. I now shut down using the menu and not the button.

It saved 4 times in a row after powering down the unit and switching off power to boat each time

Now let Lowrance send me another free one because there technical help was completely useless