Topic: Connecting cannonlink, interlink, mag 20 dt/hs and 2 fishfinders

[etkennedy1]

I hand posted this under accessories/cannonlik, and it was requested, that this be posted here under tutorials. I would like to post this so others don't have to go through what I did to get the cannolink, interlink to work. I had asked Humminbird and they said it would not work the way I wanted. They said that the cannonlink can only be connected to 1 fishfinder.  The manuals on cannonlink hookup are very poor.  Nowhere did I find the information to help me make this setup work.  So after many hours off trying------------success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

I have a 798si on the trolling motor and a 898s on the console interlinked to share waypoints. The 798 has an internal gps, the 898 uses an external gps receiver sitting on the transom over the rear transducer. I have a cannon mag 20 dt/hs and a cannonlink. I wanted to still share waypoints and to be able control the downrigger from the 798 or the 898. Since Humminbird customer support said the cannonlink had to be connected to only 1 FF, I considered making a special switch to switch the cannonlink output.  I first  tried various combinations of cables and y cables.

The final setup which works great is as follows:
1-The mag 20 output com cable is connected to the right most socket of the cannonlink.
2-The fishfinder com port from the cannonlink(left most socket) is connected to the 798 com port through a com cable which includes a short length of a com cable with the choke in it.
2-The daisy chain port on the cannonlink(center socket) is connected to 1 of the 2 fishfinder ports on the interlink
3-The 898 uses an external gps so  has a y cable connected to the com port.  The com-asscy out connecter of the y cable is connected to the other fishfinder port of the interlink. The com-nemea out connector of the y cable is connected to the gps external receiver com plug.

This setup allows the 798 and 898 to share waypoints. Also, the mag 20 downrigger view is available on both the 798 and 898. There is no confusion in controlling the downrigger, since the interlink network will allow only 1 of the FFs to have a menu open at any one time. When a change in the status of the mag 20 is performed on one of the FFs,  the change appears in the view on the other FF. Thus I can control the downrigger  from either FF and see the downrigger view on both of the FF at the same time. Changes in the mag 20 status using a menu on one of the FFs is visible when the control menu is opened onthe other FF. It works like  a charm.

By the way, for some strange reason, it did not work when I used a long standard  com cable from the cannonlink to the interlink. I am using a 1 ft  com cable supplied with the cannonlink to make the connection.