VEXILAR Boundary Waters LC-10 User manual

CONTENTS
General Description 2
Specifications 3
Assembly 4
Installation 6
Operation 10
Menu Functions 13
Typical Indications 15
Maintenance 19
Trouble Shooting 20
Other Products 21
Optional Transducers 24
Service and Support 27
Founded in 1965, Vexilar, Inc.
has a long history of bringing revolutionary technology to
the sport fishing industry. Just some of the Vexilar firsts
include: the first liquid crystal display, the first fish alarm,
the first three color display, and the first CRT and straight
line paper graphs, for the sport fisherman.
1
LC-10 Operation Manual

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Boundary Waters model LC-10 is a compact and
light-weight liquid crystal depth sounder. It indicates depth,
shows changes in bottom content, and conditions. It can
also discriminate between large underwater targets, such
as fish, and smaller targets such as bait fish and plankton.
The unit transmits bursts of high frequency pulses which
are converted from electrical to mechanical energy by the
transducer. These "sound" pulses radiate from the trans-
ducer downward and are reflected back up to the trans-
ducer where the energy is converted back to electrical sig-
nals. The LC-10 then processes these signals and displays
them.
The graphic display is accomplished by activating indi-
vidual or groups of pixels, or dots, on the LCD. The first
vertical column of pixels, on the right edge of the display,
shows the most current information. This column is then
moved to the next place, to
the left, as soon as a new col-
umn is ready. This process is
repeated continually to make
up the graphic display. Thus
what you see on the display
is a brief history of what the
boat just went over. The LC-
10 displays the depth as an
easy to read number in the
lower corner of the display.
2

• Operating Voltage:
• Current Draw:
• Power Output:
• Frequency:
• Beam Angle:
• Resolution:
• Sounding Rate:
• Display Size:
• Dimensions:
• Weight:
8.5 - 15 Volts (12 Volts Nominal)
50mA (100 mA w/Backlight On)
400 Watts (Peak to Peak)
200 Khz
22 Degree
64 x 64 Pixels
750/Min.
2" x 2 1/4"
5.9"H x 6.4"W x 2.5"D
1.6 Lbs. (No Batteries)
SPECIFICATIONS
• Depth Ranges:
0-5', 0-10', 0-15', 0-20', 0-30', 0-40', 0-60', 0-80', 0-120',
0-160', 0-240', 0-320', and 0-400'.
Figure 3
3

ASSEMBLY
Set the battery tray down and place the unit, face down,
inside. Line up the bracket holes and install the gimbal
knobs. Make sure the rubber washers are in place. Turn the
knobs in, but tighten only slightly.
INSTALLING THE BATTERIES
Turn the unit over to access the battery compartment
door. Unscrew the two retaining screws and remove the
compartment door. The screws are restricted from falling
out so you don't need to worry about losing them. Install
eight AAbatteries (not included) by following the imprint-
ed guides in the battery compartment. Use ALKALINE or
NICAD rechargeable batteries. Replace the compartment
door and tighten the screws back into place.
Make sure that the power cord from the battery pack is
plugged into the bottom (3 pin) jack on the LC-10 and that
the retaining ring is screwed
down tight.
Note— The battery com-
partment is not sealed. Water
may leak inside. After use, , if
it is wet inside, remove the
batteries and leave the com-
partment open. This will allow
it to dry and minimize any
corrosion that may develop.
Figure 4
4

ASSEMBLING THE TRANSDUCER
Locate the transducer and bracket assembly. This
includes:
1 - Transducer
1 - Metal angle bracket
1 - Suction cup
1 - Short panhead screw
2 - Short machine screws
2 - Nuts
2 - Washers
2 - Long panhead screws
1 - Safety rope
The two longer wood screws, if included, are for per-
manently mounting the transducer bracket to the boat. They
do not apply here.
The suction cup installs using the single short screw.
Attach it to the slot in the angle bracket. Center the verti-
cal adjustment and tighten
the screw until the suction
cup can no longer rotate.
Note - The small fin at the
edge of each cup is meant to
help you remove the cup
from the surface it is stuck
to.
Figure 5
5

Now locate the transducer and the remaining hardware.
Install the transducer onto the angle bracket. The flat edge
of the transducer should be facing the boat. Install the two
short screws through the transducer slots and into the angle
bracket slots. Place the washers and then the nuts onto the
screws and tighten, only slightly. Slide the transducer up
and forward in the bracket as far as it will go and then tight-
en the screws firmly.
Finally, install the safety rope. Tie the rope around the
upper end of the slot in the metal angle bracket. You will
tie the other end to the boat.
TRANSDUCER INSTALLATION
The suction cup bracket is meant to be mounted on the
transom or side of a boat. You may need to adjust the trans-
ducers position in the bracket to match the angle in which
you mount it on your boat. Ideally, it should point straight
down when your boat is normally loaded.
Wet the suction cup and press the assembly onto the
surface of the hull in the area where you are going the attach
it. Slide the assembly up or down until the bottom edge of
the transducer is close to the bottom edge of the hull.
Tie the end of the safety rope to the boat. Leave as lit-
tle slack in the rope as you can. If the suction cup lets loose,
the rope may save your transducer and depth sounder from
being lost.
If your boat has a flat transom and you wish to get clear
readings while the boat is moving at a faster speed, you
6

may need to purchase
the optional Tri-Cup
bracket shown in figure
6.
ALTERNATE
TRANSDUCER
MOUNTING
If you choose not to use the suction cup mounting
method, you can permanently mount the transducer to
your boat. This can, often, give better results, but you will
lose the portability of the transducer.
TRANSOM MOUNTING
The LC-10 transducer can be mounted, permanently,
on the transom of the boat. Proper installation will allow
a clear depth reading at any boat speed. Attach the angle
bracket to the transducer (flat edge facing forward). Locate
a spot at the bottom of the transom that is clear of ribs and
rivets that would be just in front of the transducer. Hold it
up to the boat. Mark the first hole on the transom, or mount-
ing plate, so that when the bottom of the transducer is flush
with the bottom of the boat, the hole is located at the bot-
tom of the bracket slot. This gives you room to "fine tune"
the position of the transducer and optimize your reading
after you've put the back boat in the water.
7
Figure 6

Drill out the hole,
install one screw, and
tighten the bracket
down securely. Be sure
to seal any holes drilled
into the transom with
silicone to prevent
water from leaking into
the boat.
If you have trouble
keeping a clear reading, try tilting the transducer in the
bracket so that the back, rounded, edge is slightly lower
than the front, straight, edge. If readings are still not clear,
adjust the bracket on the boat downward until the reading
becomes clear. Once you have verified that the unit reads
at all boat speeds, drill out the second hole and install the
second mounting screw.
IN-HULL MOUNTING
This method, gluing the transducer to the hull, gets the
same results as if you were mounting the transducer exter-
nally, only there are no holes to drill in the boat and there
is no transducer on the transom to get damaged by impact.
This method works well for canoes and small boats that
are moved in and out of the water often.
Finding the best location for the transducer before
mounting is critical. Choose a flat smooth spot near the
center of the bilge and near the back of the boat. It is a good
Figure 7
8

idea to make a "test run" before you permanently install
the transducer to make sure that you can indeed get a read-
ing through your hull and at all speeds. Put about a half
inch of water in the bottom of the boat and hold the trans-
ducer in the intended location. Move the transducer around
until you get the best reading. Mark the spot.
To install the transducer, first clean the spot of mud and
oil. Using an epoxy or silicone glue, make a puddle, about
the same size as the transducer, on the inside of the hull.
Place the transducer in the glue. Press it down firmly, gen-
tly twisting it back and forth, making sure that there are
no air bubbles in the glue between the transducer and the
hull. Let the glue dry completely before turning the unit
on.
PERMANENT MOUNTING (Optional)
You can permanently mount the LC-10 to your boat, yet
maintain the easy portability for times when you go fish-
ing in another boat. You will need to have a battery in your
boat to power the unit. Also, you will need to order the
optional Boundary
Waters Mounting
Kit. This kit con-
tains a swivel gim-
bal mount, a trans-
ducer mounting
bracket, and power
cord.
Figure 8
9

OPERATION
Figure 9 shows the main controls
of the LC-10.
ON/OFF
Turns the LC-10 ON and OFF.
Simply turning the unit on will start
the Automatic System. This will give
good results in most conditions. If you
choose to modify any of the control
features, your settings will be saved
in memory when the unit is turned
off. When you turn it on again the
unit will operate the same way as it
did when you last used it.
AUTO
Press the AUTO button to turn on or off the automatic
range control feature. This feature will automatically change
the depth range for you when the depth of the water moves
outside the current range. When the AUTO feature is off
you must change the range manually by pressing the
SHALLOW or DEEP buttons.
Figure 9
10

RANGE CONTROL
The two buttons at the top right of the control panel set
the depth range when the Auto Mode is off. Pressing the
SHALLOW button changes the range to the next shallow-
est range. Pressing the DEEP button changes the range to
the next deeper range.
LIGHT ON/OFF
Press the LIGHT ON/OFF button to turn on the
Backlight. Press it again to turn the backlight off. NOTE -
The backlight will double the current requirement of the
LC-10, thus cutting your battery life in half.
FISH ID ON/OFF
Press the FISH ID ON/OFF button to turn the fish iden-
tification feature on or off. When the feature is on, any tar-
get that the LC-10 sees will be judged as to whether or not
it is a fish. If the unit determines that there is a good chance
the target is a fish it will display a fish shaped symbol on
the display.
ALARM ON/OFF
Press the ALARM ON/OFF button to turn on or off the
fish alarm feature. When ON this feature will sound an
alarm when a fish is detected. This feature works inde-
pendently from the FISH ID feature.
11

EXPANSION
EXP. ON/OFF displays only the bottom half of the water
depth when selected to ON. This doubles the display res-
olution making it much easier to see targets near or on the
bottom. Pressing the EXP. ON/OFF button once puts the
LC-10 in EXPANSION mode. Pressing it again will go back
to the normal view.
MENU
Pressing the MENU button opens the menu page.
Pressing it again will go back to the normal view. Each item
in the menu will be explained in the next section.
12
Figure 10

MENU FUNCTIONS
SWEEP
Press the MENU button and then the LIGHT button to
enter the SWEEP settings. SWEEP controls how fast the
information moves across the display. There are 4 steps of
sweep speed. The top selection, four arrows, is the fastest
setting. The bottom selection, one arrow, is the slowest.
The sweep speed should roughly match the boat speed to
get the most accurate reading. Press the MENU button to
resume to the normal view.
A-MODE
Press the MENU button and then the FISH ID button
to enter the A-MODE settings. A-MODE is a vertical rep-
resentation of the depth that is near "real time" speed, unlike
the scrolling display which has more delay. It will be dis-
played to the right of the normal display on the screen. The
default mode is off. To turn the feature on press the FISH
ID button while you are in the A-MODE setting page of the
menu. Pressing the ALARM button turns off the A-MODE
and replaces it with a depth scale that can help when try-
ing to judge the depth of a target. Press the MENU button
to resume to the normal view.
13

TEMP ADJ
Press the MENU button and then the ALARM button
to enter the TEMP ADJ settings. This page allows you to
adjust or calibrate the temperature reading if you have the
optional temperature probe installed on your LC-10.
Pressing the LIGHT button will decrease the read temper-
ature by one tenth of a degree each time you press it.
Pressing the FISH ID button will increase the reading.
RESET
Press the MENU button and then the EXP. button to
enter the system reset setting. RESET returns all setting
back to the factory original settings. Press the FISH ID but-
ton to reset the system. Use this feature to trouble shoot
problems or to get back to a "known" state .
RESUME
While in any menu page, press the MENU button to
return back to the normal view.
SIMULATOR
There is a built-in simulator that will allow you to oper-
ate the LC-10 without being on the water. To activate it,
turn the unit off. Then, press the ON/OFF button and hold
it until you hear a second set of beeps. You can then let go
and the simulator will start.
14

Typical Indications
Once the boat is in the water and you have turned on
the LC-10 you must allow it time to find the bottom. This
can take just a short moment or several minutes, depend-
ing on the depth and conditions. As soon as the digital
depth appears the graphical representation of the bottom
will start to move across the screen. The appearance of the
bottom signal can give you information as to what type of
bottom you are over.
The LC-10 has a built in Clean Line feature which can
help determine the hardness of the bottom. Clean Line
"cleans out" the target signal on harder objects. Ahard bot-
tom will appear cleaned out in the center. A soft bottom
will be all black.
Figure 11 15

SEEING FISH
With the FISH ID feature on, any target that the LC-10
identifies as a fish will change to a fish symbol shortly after
it appears on the screen.
With the FISH ID feature off, the Clean Line feature will
help you identify fish from floating debris. If the target
appears cleaned out, you can assume it's something sig-
nificant, like a fish. In heavy weeds this can be difficult to
see. It is best to use the Fish ID feature in these conditions.
SURFACE CLUTTER
The line of information going across the top of the dis-
play represents the surface of the water. This line can get
quite wide at times, due to surface clutter. Tiny marine life,
such as algae or plankton, can be responsible for this.
Choppy or rough waters can also be a cause as tiny air bub-
bles are forced down under the surface. Surface clutter has
little effect on the performance of the unit.
HIGH SPEED OPERATION
The LC-10 can read depths at almost any boat speed.
Due to the limited speed of the display, the displayed bot-
tom may be some distance behind you, depending on how
fast the boat is traveling. Use the A-MODE feature to help
you with high speed readings. Here, high speed is defined
as any speed at or above the speed at which the boat planes
out. Once the boat starts to plane, turbulence will develop
16

behind the transom. If your transducer is poorly mounted,
the unit will lose the bottom at a certain boat speed. This
is due to all of the air bubbles in the turbulent water.
Readjustment of the transducer mounting should solve this
problem.
SHALLOW WATER OPERATION
When the LC-10 is in the AUTO mode, it automatical-
ly senses the bottoms depth and tries to keep the best view
at all times. Although the display may not show it, the LC-
10 is monitoring basic sonar signals such as the bottoms
second echo and various target's signal strengths. This way
it can maintain the optimum gain level, automatically, for
you.
In very shallow water (less than 3 feet) the unit can get
"over-welmed". In this condition the unit will show erro-
neous information. The graphic display will become most-
ly black and the digital numbers on the display will read
depths that are much deeper than reality. These depths are
actually multiple echoes of the real bottom. It is important
to use caution when navigating in shallow waters. Use
common sense. Don't rely solely on your depthfinder.
It often helps to turn off the AUTO feature and manu-
ally change the range to the 5 or 10 foot range. This tells
the LC-10 that you are in shallow water and it will adjust
the gain appropriately. If the digital depth reading doesn't
seem right, it is probably a multiple of the correct depth.
Use the graphic display as a better reference.
17

ICE FISHING
The stable platform of ice lets you concentrate on your
bait and the fish around it. The bottom becomes less impor-
tant because it never changes. The only movement on the
display is of your bait and fish.
Unlike open water use, the direction in which the trans-
ducer is pointed is very critical. You want your bait to be
located in the dead center of the cone sound, directly under
the transducer. This way you can see very small baits at
low gain settings and also
see fish come in from all
sides. If you are not using
the optional Ice-Ducer sys-
tem, the transducer must
be attached to an adjustable
arm so that it can be man-
ually pointed directly at the
bait. Sometimes it helps to
attach a bubble level to the
transducer so that you
know when it's straight.
When you drop your bait down into the water, you
should see it come onto the screen as a line curving towards
the bottom. If you are using a swimming bait or a lure that
darts to the side as it's jigged, you will see the signal strength
change as the bait moves. This is due to the changing posi-
tion of your bait. Sometimes it may even disappear if the
bait goes out of the cone.
FIGURE 12
18

MAINTENANCE
Maintenance for the Boundary Waters LC-10 is very
simple. There, simply, is not that much to maintain. Because
of this, problems can sneak up on you if you're not careful.
The unit and transducer should be removed whenever
the boat is parked to guard against theft. Don't store it in
a place that may fill with water.
Power connections need constant checking. Corrosion
can develop and cause intermittent or loss of operation.
Spray the power connector and battery compartment with
silicone to prevent this. Remove the batteries before you
put the unit away for storage.
The transducer should be checked for scratches and
cracks which can reduce the units sensitivity. Cuts or breaks
in the cord should be repaired as soon as possible so cor-
rosion doesn't attack the wire. Periodically clean the face
of the transducer with a mild detergent. An oily film can
develop which will cause weak readings.
Clean the face of the unit with a mild soap. Don't sub-
merge the unit when cleaning.
19

Possible Cause
TROUBLE SHOOTING
Unit is turned on, but there is no
display. Battery voltage may be too low.
The unit will show no display if
the voltage is below 8.5 volts.
Unit will not turn on. Check for proper battery polar-
ity and that you have fully
charged, working batteries.
Unit runs well for a short time,
then the unit quits. Bad battery. Voltage may be good when checked, but may
fall as it is loaded.
Unit runs and shows display
light, but does not read depth. Transducer is not plugged in or not in contact with the water.
Unit works, but needs high gain
to see bottom or targets. Transducer is not aimed cor- rectly or needs to be cleaned.
Unit works, but has too many
lines on the display. Can't tell
what is what.
Many air bubbles or very small
targets in the water.
Unit works well when sitting
still or at slow trolling speeds,
but loses reading when the boat
speeds up.
Improper transducer installation
or adjustment. There is a loss of
clear water flow across the face
of the transducer when the boat
reaches a certain speed.
Unit works, but shows noise
when the engine is started or the
electric trolling motor is turned
on.
Improper ground or missing
ground in electrical system.
Defective engine or trolling
motor.
Unit does not save settings in
memory. Does not sound normal
beeps when turned on.
Internal lithium battery is dead.
Replace with new. Common
number is CR2032.
Symptom
20