Lowrance HDS 7 transducer

Will the transducer from the Lowrance HDS7 Gen 2 fit in the Lowrance Ready scupper mount? I'm currenty running a Mad Frog Liberator Transducer Deployment Arm on my 2012 Pro Anger 14 with a Humminbird DI transducer on it. It works great and suits my needs but when fishing thick grass it does tend to collect floating grass and add significant drag to the boat while peddaling.

I'm looking to pick up a new Pro Angler 14 and want to run the HDS7 Gen 2 on it but it would be nice if the ducer fit in the scupper mount to prevent the grass issues I'm having now.

Too long I am told, so would have to mount elsewhere. Like the 72023037 RAM 18" TRANSDUCER MNT LSS-1&2

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Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Has anyone tried to mount to the exterior of the ducer mounting plate? You would have to use caution when beaching and transporting.

I want to say the transducer that comes with that unit is a standard 2d sonar ducer and it should fit fine. However if you add structure-scan with the LSS1 or LSS2 ducer it will not fit in the cavity.
There is a total of 2 ducers if you have the entire package to my knowledge. You would not want the side scan in that cavity anyway as there would be blockage from the hull I would imagine.

Ok so I have currently set up my PA 14 with the Lowrance HDS 7 with structure scan. The regular sonar transducer that comes with the HDS is a 83/200 transducer. This WILL fit in the lowrance ready mount. The 53/200 WILL ALSO fit into the lowrance ready mount however; it is big and will take up most of the hole.

On the other hand the lowrance structure scan transducer LSS1 is 6 inches long will not fit and the LSS-2 is 12 inches long and also will not fit. I have the the LSS-2 and the 83/200 mounted on the rear of my PA on the handle. I do not like it there because i can not make it level when I step off to fish or if a line gets tangled up in it is very hard to get off.

I am most likely going to order the RAM LSS ready transducer arm and mount the LSS transducer on the side. Lowrance recommends that the two transducers 53/83-200 and the LSS1/2 be no more than 12 inches apart for the overlay. Very hard to do in the hobie with what is given to mount. Right I have minimal drag but once I mount it to the side I am pretty sure the drag will be more esp. if I mount them side by side.

I do hope the PA17T has a hole big enough to accommodate the LSS transducer or another long transducer.

I have pictures of how I mounted it but I do not know how to post them.

_________________
University of West Florida Student
US Army Ranger 2/75(former)
2015 Hobie PA 17T

Thanks rangerangler275. I will have the same setup as soon as my graph arrives in the mail.

I did decide to go with the RAM ducer arm. I was reluctant as I want a PA17T now but I'll have to wait and purchase new mounts when get the new boat.

pa14naz are you in AZ?

[quote="rangerangler275"]Ok so I have currently set up my PA 14 with the Lowrance HDS 7 with structure scan.

What type of battery are you running?

yes I am - Chandler

I'm in Queen Creek.

I am actually running a 12V lawn mower battery I purchase from Walmart for $24.95. I have placed it under the vantage seat area inside the hull. I took out the foam blocks and pushed the battery all the way back. When you put the battery in the hatch you'll have to lean it forward a bit to let it clear the latch lip inside. After it clears that you can sit it up right.

_________________
University of West Florida Student
US Army Ranger 2/75(former)
2015 Hobie PA 17T

Great idea!

I received my graph last night and decide to try it on a 3 cell lithium polymer battery from a radio controlled airplane. It's 12V 2.2Ah. Not sure how long it'll power the graph for but it's the size of an iPhone folded lengthwise and about the same weight. I can recharge it in about 15 minutes. The specs on the HDS 7 Touch say that the amp draw is 0.9A so one battery should give me 2 hours of power. I got 4 batteries so that's a day of fishing.

Only concern is water near a Li-Po battery which can cause fire is the cell is perforated and exposed to air or water. With proper precautions and above deck mounting I'm thinking it'll be safe. And cheap since I already have them.

Update on the 12V Lawn Mower battery

I have been using the battery for the Lowrance HDS7 and Structure Scan. When I finally got everything hooked up I went out in the Gulf to fish around. The Unit worked good for about 10 minutes then shut off. I would restart it and it would work great for another 10 mins. I turned the structure scan transducer off and only used the sonar. This worked good for about 30 minutes. At this point I am getting very frustrated. The unit would turn on but not stay on for more than 10 mins. with the structure scan running.

Went to a local Battery Source store here in Mobile. The issue was that the 12V LM battery is not a deep cycle battery. So I purchased a 10Amp Hour deep cycle battery. Going to give it a try this week sometime. I will update later.

_________________
University of West Florida Student
US Army Ranger 2/75(former)
2015 Hobie PA 17T

Interesting. But that gives me hope with my Li-Po batteries as they basically deep cycle and have a very linear voltage drop.

Also I wonder if a Power Wheels toy car battery would work. It's 12V, sealed, and is meant for repeated deep cycles.

I'll post how my Li-Po battery experiment works.

I'm willing to bet that if you like to fish for any length of time you won't like your 10Ah battery either. The draw from that unit has to be pretty substantial and while the 10Ah battery will surely power it I'm willing to bet it won't last you a full days fishing especially after the first handful of trips! I'm running a Humminbird 587ci HD DI unit on my boat. The smaller 5" screen and the lack of a second transducer pulls significantly less power than yours. I ended up with a 22Ah battery for my set up. On a full charge I can fish all day (16hrs) and still not discharge the battery past the 50% mark. This is what is ideal for a deep cycle SLA battery.

You need to figure out the amp draw of your unit. Multiply that by the total number of hours that you would possibly fish in a day. Then purchase a battery that has at least twice that number of Ah rating. This will ensure that you have adequate power to last you for a day on the water and not discharge your battery past 50% of it's rating. Regular discharging past that 50% mark will lead to reduced battery life per charge and eventually you will kill the battery. Also, if you run a SLA deep cycle battery down too low then your charger will no longer charge the battery back up. That's just part of the design in how these batteries work.

You'll find that a large percentage of kayakers underpower their fishfinder units. I'm not sure why, but that's just what I've found to be true.

That's interesting.

Li-Po batteries can generally be drawn down to 20% capacity before a recharge without issue. I'll post my results.