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Lowrance X86 DS - page 1
Pub. 988-0151-411 www.lowrance.com X86 DS & X86 TX Fish-finding & Depth Sounding Sonars Installation and Operation Instructions ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 2
Copyright © 2006 Low rance Electronics, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this manual may be copied, re produced, republishe d, transmitted or distributed for any purpose, w ithout prior writt en consent of Lowrance Elec tronics. Any unauthorized commercial distribution of this manual is strictly p rohibited . Lowrance ® is a registered tradem ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 3
i Table of Contents Section 1: In troducti on.................................................................... 1 Specifications: X86 DS and X 86 TX .................................................... 1 How Sonar Works ................................................................................. 2 Preparat ions .............................. ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 4
ii Depth Disp lay ..................................................................................... 41 Temperature Displa y ......................................................................... 41 Voltag e ................................................................................................ 42 Units .............................. ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 5
1 Section 1: Introduction Thank you for buying a Lowrance sonar! Your unit is a high-quality sonar designed for both professi onal 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. To g ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 6
2 Depth capability: ........... To 1, 000 feet (305 meters) with 83 kHz . Ac- tual capability depends on transducer con- figuration and installation, bottom composi- tion and water conditions. All sonar units typically read deeper in fresh water than in salt water. Depth display: ................ Continuous display. Audible alarms: .............. D ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 7
3 Dual Search Transducer Your unit is packed with a Dual Search Skimmer Transducer that can transmit at 83 kHz and 200 kHz. A new innovation, the 83 kHz frequenc y offers superior sonar perform- ance at all depths from very shallo w up to 1,000 ft and provides up to 120º of fish-finding coverage. Preparations You can install the sonar system in so ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 8
4 Notes ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 9
5 Section 2: Installation & Accessories These instructions will help you install your Skimmer transducer on a transom, on a trolling motor or inside a hull. Please read all instruc- tions before proceeding with any installation. Your Skimmer transducer typically comes packaged with a one-piece stainless steel bracket for mounting it to the ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 10
6 NOTE: Some aluminum boats with strakes or ribs on the outside of the hull create large amounts of turbulence at high speed. These boats typically have large outboard motors capable of propelling the boat at speeds faster than 35 mph. Typically, a good location on alumi- num boats is between the ribs closest to the engine. 2. The transducer should ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 11
7 Align transducer centerline with hull bottom. If you want to adjust the transducer slightly higher or lower, the slots in the mounting brackets allow you to loosen the screws and slide the transducer up or down. If you freq uently lose bottom signal lock while running at high speed, the transducer may be coming out of the water as you cross waves ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 12
8 Lack of angle adjustment can be particularly troublesome on hulls that sit with the bow high when at rest or at slow trolling speeds. Third, a transducer CAN NOT shoot through wood and metal hulls. Those hulls require either a transom mount or a thru-hull installation. Fourth, if your Skimmer transducer has a built in temp sensor, it will only sh ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 13
9 I f yo u c a n , t h en g o t o s t e p 3 . If i t d o es n ' t , r ep e a t s t ep 2 , b u t us e a d i f- ferent alignment letter until you can place the transducer on the transom correctly. Insert bolt and check transducer position on transom. 3. Assembling the transducer. Once you determine the correct posi- tion for the ratchets, assemb ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 14
10 Position transducer mount on transom and mark mounting holes. Side view (left) and shown from above (right). 5. Attaching transducer to transom. Remove the transducer from the bracket and re-assemble it with the cable passing through the bracket over the bolt as shown in the following figures. Route cable over bolt and through brac ket. Side vie ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 15
11 6. Route the transducer cable through or over the transom to the sonar unit. Make sure to leave some slack in the cable at the tr an sd uc e r. If possible, route the transducer cable away from other wiring on the boat. Electrical noise from the engine's wiring, bilge pumps, VHF radio wires and cables, and aerators can be picked up by the s ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 16
12 3. Route the transducer cable alon gside the trolling motor shaft. Use plastic ties (not included) to attach the transducer cable to the troll- ing motor shaft. Make sure there is enough slack in the cable for the motor to turn freely. Route the cable to the sonar unit and the trans- ducer is ready for use. Transducer mounted on tro lling motor, ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 17
13 If only the back half of the arch is printed, then the nose of the trans- ducer is angled too far down and needs to be raised. NOTE: Periodically wash the transducer's face with soap and water to re- move any oil film. Oil and dirt on the face will reduce the sensitiv- ity or may even prevent operation. Shoot-Thru-Hull Preparation Hulls Wit ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 18
14 1. Anchor the boat in about 30 feet of water. Add a little water to the sump of the boat. Plug the transducer into the sonar unit, turn it on, then hold the transducer over the side of the boat in the water. Adjust the sensitivity and range controls until a second bottom echo is seen on the display. You will need to turn off Auto Sensitivity, Au ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 19
15 You will need to figure some way to prop the transducer into position while you make your test run. A brick or two might be sufficient to hold it in place. 5. When you are satisfied with a location, mark it and proceed with the installation. Shoot-thru-hull transducer locations for high speed or trolling speed operation. Shoot-thru-hull Installa ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 20
16 WARNING: Use only the epoxy available from LEI. It has been for- mulated to work with these installation procedures. Other epoxy types may be too thin or may not cure to the right consistency for optimum transducer perform- ance. 2. The epoxy consists of the epoxy itself and a hardener. Remove the two compounds from the package and place them on ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 21
17 ble to the auxiliary power switch included in most boat designs. If that results in electrical interference, or if such a switch is not available, we recommend connecting direct to the battery and in- stalling an inline switch. This will let you shut off power to the power cable when the unit is not in use. When you are not using the unit, you s ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 22
18 No damage will occur if the power wires are reversed. However, the unit will not work until the wires are attached correctly. Mounting The Sonar Unit: In-Dash or Bracket You can install the sonar unit on the top of a dash with the supplied bracket. It can also be installed in the dash with an optional dash- mounting kit. The FM-5 mount kit will ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 23
19 In-dash mounting template for X86 DS & X86 TX, showing dimensions. The preceding figure is not printed to scale. A scaled template is avail- able for free download from our web site, www.lowrance.com. Bracket Installation Mount the unit in any convenient location, provided there is clearance when it’s tilted for the best viewing angle. You ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 24
20 Front view (left) and side view (r ight) showing dimensions of sonar unit mounted on gimbal bracket. Drill a 5/8" (15.9 mm) hole in the da sh for the power/transducer cable. The best location for this hole is immediately under the gimbal bracket location. This way, the bracket can be installed so that it covers the hole, holds the cable in ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 25
21 Install the gimbal bracket. Orient the bracket so the arms slope to- ward the front of your unit. Attach the unit to the gimbal brac ket using the supplied gimbal knobs and washers. Slide the rubber washers onto the gimbal knobs then loosely screw the knobs into their sockets. Slide the unit into the bracket with the rubber washers to the outsid ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 26
22 Install batteries in power case battery adapter. Portable Transducer Assembly Recommended tools for installation include a slotted screw driver and two adjustable wrenches. Assemble the transducer and bracket as shown in the following figure. Attach the transducer to the bracket with the supplied hardware. Make sure there is one washer on each s ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 27
23 Portable transducer assembly: rear view (left) and side view (right.) Clean the chosen area of the hull be fore attaching the suction cup. Lo- cate the transducer on the hull as shown in the following figure. Don't allow the bracket to extend below the hull, because water pressure against it can cause the suction cup to come off at speed. M ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 28
24 Notes ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 29
25 Section 3: Operation Keyboard Basics The unit sounds a tone when you press any key. Numbers in the figure correspond to key explanations below: Lowrance X86 DS 1. PWR/CLEAR In this manual, the Power/Clear key is referred to as PWR . Press this key to turn the unit on and off. It also clears menus and menu selec- tions from the screen. To clear a ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 30
26 3. UP & DOWN ARROWS ( ↑ ↓ ) These Up and Down arrow keys are referred to as ↓ (DOWN) or ↑ (UP) in this manual . You will use these keys to adjust most features and functions on your unit. Memory This unit has permanent memory that saves the following user settings when power is turned off: Units of Measure, Temp Size , Depth Size, Fi ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 31
27 In the following figure, the screen shows a depth range from 0 to 80 feet and the bottom depth is 36.9 feet, shown by the digital sonar. The water temperature is 34.5 ° F. Full Chart page. FasTrack This feature automatically converts echoes to short horizontal lines on the display's far right side. Th e rest of the screen continues to ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 32
28 Pages The Pages menu allows you to display a full sonar chart or a Flash- Graf . The FlashGraf is a split screen that displays the sonar chart on the left side of the screen with a flasher on the right. Pages menu with Sonar Chart selected (left). FlashGraf (right). The FlashGraf uses the grayline fe ature to show weaker targets in light sha ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 33
29 Full Chart page showing digital depth (above) and temp (below). The Fish I. D. feature is turned off. Depth Range The unit automatically adjusts the de pth range according to water con- ditions. When in auto range mode, it always keeps the bottom dis- played in the lower portion of the screen. You can override automatic depth range control and m ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 34
30 Zoom The zoom feature enlarges all im ages on the screen by doubling (2X) or quadrupling (4X) the size of the echoes. When you activate the zoom command, the screen will be split in half with the zoomed area dis- played on the left. The norm al view will be shown on the right side of the screen. To zoom in the display, repeatedly press MENU unti ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 35
31 Zoom Range menu with the 40-80 foot zoom selected. Notice the win- dow on the left zoomed 2X. The zoom range, 40-80 feet, covers a 40-foot water segment. When zoomed in 2X, the zoom window will show 20 feet of the water column with echoes m agnified to twice their normal size. You can select from these zoom ra nges: 0-10, 7-14, 10-20, 15-30, 20- ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 36
32 You can change the sensitivity level whether you are in Auto Sensitivity mode or Manual Sensitivity mode. The adjustment method works the same in both modes, but provides slightly different results. To adjust sensitivity in Auto Mode: Repeatedly press MENU until the S ENSITIVITY menu appears. Make sure sen- sitivity is set to Auto, then press ME ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 37
33 Grayline ® Grayline lets you distinguish between strong and weak echoes. It al- lows you to tell the difference between a hard and soft bottom. For ex- ample, a soft, muddy or weedy bottom returns a weaker signal which is shown with a narrow line or no gray line at all. A hard bottom returns a strong signal, which will be displayed as a wid ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 38
34 To change the Grayline level, repeatedly press MENU until the G RAYLINE scroll bar appears. P r e s s ↑ to increase Grayline, ↓ to decrease it. Echoes scrolling on the screen will show the effects of the Grayline adjustment. If you reach the maximum o r mini mum level, a tone sounds alerting you to the limits. Press PWR to clear the menu. Ch ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 39
35 or less). This frequency is the best choice for about 80 percent of the fresh and salt water sport fishing applications. When you get into very deep salt water, up to 1,000 feet, the 83 kHz frequency will work best. The 200 kHz transducer will give you better detail and definition, but less depth penetration. You will not ge t as much detail or ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 40
36 Individual tree limbs extending outwar d from a group of limbs are the hardest objects for the Fish I.D. feature to distinguish from fish. Underwater scene in normal fish ar ch mode (left). Fish I.D. menu with the feature turned on (right). To see what is under your boat in maximum detail, we recommend you turn off Fish I.D. and begin learning t ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 41
37 If you want to turn off FishTrack de pths, but leave Fish I.D. on, press ↓ to select O N , then press PWR . Remember, Fish I.D. must be on in order to use the FishTrack feature. Fish ID menu and symbol with FishTr ack on. The fish is 44 feet deep. Alarms Your sonar unit has four alarms: fish, shallow, deep and battery. NOTE: When one of the al ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 42
38 Depth Alarms The depth alarms are triggered only by the bottom signal. No other echoes will activate these alarms. The depth alarm s consist of a shal- low and a deep alarm. The shallow alarm sounds an alarm when your vessel enters water that is more sh allow than the alarm's setting. The deep alarm sounds a tone your vessel enters water th ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 43
39 Deep Alarm menu (left). Deep Alarm dialog box (right). Deep Alarm To set the deep alarm depth, repeatedly press MENU until D EEP A LARM appears. Press the ↓ to S ET V AL U E . The Deep Alarm Value dialog box will appear. Use ↓ to enter the first number in the dialog box, then press MENU DOWN to move to the next digit. Re peat those steps unt ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 44
40 Press the ↓ to S ET V AL U E . The Low Battery Alarm Value dialog box will appear. Input a voltage value between 7 and 18 volts. Use the ↑ ↓ keys to enter the first number in the dialog box, then press MENU DOWN to move to the next digit. Repeat those steps until the desired value has been entered in the dialog box. To move the cursor back ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 45
41 setting. There are times when you may want to turn off ASP. This al- lows you to view all incoming echoes before they are processed by the ASP feature. To change the ASP setting, repeatedly press MENU until the N OISE R EJECTION menu appears. Use ↑ ↓ to select the desired setting, then press PWR to clear the menu. Depth Display Depth may be ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 46
42 Temperature menu (left). Temperature display set to small size (right). Voltage The Voltage menu allows you to display battery voltage on the screen in a small or medium size or can be turned off completely. To display voltage: Repeatedly press MENU until the V OLTAGE menu appears. Use ↑ ↓ to se- lect the size of the voltage display. Press P ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 47
43 Units set to Feet, which displays temperature in Fahrenheit (left). Units set to Meters, which shows the temperature in Celsius. (right) Backlight The display's backlight allows the unit to be used at night. To turn the backlight on or off, repeatedly press MENU until the B A CKLI GHT menu appears. Press ↑ to turn on the backlight or ↓ ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 48
44 Simulator This unit has a built-in simulator th at shows simulated sonar returns with fish signals. This lets you practi ce with the unit as if you were on the water. All the unit's functions and features are usable in simulator mode. To use the simulator, repeatedly press MENU until the S IMULA TOR menu appears. Press ↑ to turn on the si ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 49
45 Troubleshooting If your unit is not working, or if yo u need technical help, please use the following troubleshooting section be fore contacting the factory cus- tomer service department. It may save you the trouble of returning your unit for repair. For contact information, refer to the last page, just inside the back cover of this manual. Unit ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 50
46 3. The water may be deeper than the sonar's ability to find the bottom. If the sonar can't find the bottom signal while it's in the automatic mode, the digital sonar display will flash continuously. It may change the range to limits far greater than the water you are in. If this happens, place the unit in the manual mode, then cha ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 51
47 In severe cases, it can completely cover the screen with black dots, or cause the unit operate erratically, or not at all. To eliminate or minimize the effects of electrical noise, first try to de- termine the cause. With the boat at rest in the water, the first thing you should do is turn all electrical equipment on the boat off. Make sure the ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 52
48 Notes ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 53
49 LOWRANCE ELECTRONICS FULL ONE-YEAR WARRANTY "We," "our," or "us" refers to LOWRANCE ELECTRONICS, a division of LEI, the manu- facturer of this p roduct. "You" or "your" ref ers to the first person who pu rchases this product as a consum er item for personal, family, or hou sehold use. We warrant ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 54
50 How to Obtain Service… …in the USA: We back your investment in quality pr oducts with quick, expert service and genuine Lowrance replacement parts. If you're in the United States and you have technical, return or repair questions, please con- tact the Factory Customer Service Department. Before any product can be returned, you must call ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 55
Accessory Orde ring Informa tion for all countries To order Lowrance GPS accessories such as computer cables or MMC cards, please contact: 1) Your local marin e dealer or consumer electr onics store. Most quality dealers that handle marine electronic equipment or other c onsumer electronics sh ould be able to assist y ou with these item s. To locat ...
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Lowrance X86 DS - page 56
Visit our web site: Lowrance Pub. 988-015 1-411 © Copyright 2006 All Rights Reserved Printed in USA 042006 Lowrance Electronics, Inc. ...
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