Topic: Problems with a 997c...NEED HELP!

[keithallen]

Hello,
I was out on the lake this past weekend. The boat had been in storage for a couple of months. Everything worked perfect prior to putting  the boat into storage. I launched the boat and everything was fine. However, after just a few minutes I noticed that the depth reading on the 997 was 1.6'. I powered down the unit and once it started up the depth was working...after a few short seconds the depth started moving down until it reached 1.6'. Sometimes the unit would work just fine rather I was moving or not. Sometimes the unit would quit working if I was moving (above 30mph). Sometimes the unit would work, quit, work again, quit again, work.....so forth and so on. I checked all wiring. I checked all connections. I unpluged and re-pluged and the problem is still there. What do I do???
Voltage on the boat: 13.2v
Unit: 997C SI
Software: V. 5.840
Thank  you for any help........

[sonar2000]

Look at the transducer and make sure it is not dirty or has a film of old lake water water on it..

I see you check the voltage but is the battery freshly charged with a good storage of amps.

Maybe check a connector or two..

Chuck

[keithallen]

I did look at the transducer and everything was fine. Also, this is interlinked with a 787...it did not matter if the 787 was on or not. Also, I have a dual transducer on the 997....neither of them would work....
The only thing that I can think of that is different is that I updated the software before storage.....is there a known problem with the 5.840?

[ITGEEK]

When in doubt, always load test your battery.
I would fully charge the battery, then load test it.
I think the battery is the number one culprit for 99% of sonar problems.

Even though your unit is showing 13.2 volts, it doesn't
mean that your battery is good enough to sustain any type
of load.

You said you checked all of the connections which points to
the battery even more.

Good Luck.

[keithallen]

But what if the big motor is running...this should keep the voltage up and the unit should work fine...or am I wrong on this? I would agree if I was trolling for long periods of time but once I start the big motor and run...the sonar should work....

[ITGEEK]

Yes,
The big motor should have an alternator in it which charges the battery  (only when the big motor is running).
But, if your battery is bad, it may not accept a charge.
Also, your alternator in your big motor may be going bad.
I think you could check that with a volt meter.

If you turn your big motor off, or it's just idling slowly, then your sonar would be working mainly off the battery.

Another issue could be interference.
If your sonar is hooked to the same battery as your big motor,
then you could have interference from your big motor, which might affect
your sonar depth readings.

You might want to in the future think about getting a separate battery for your
sonar(s).  With nothing else hooked to that battery.

First things first.
I'd charge up and load test your battery, then go from there.

Good Luck

[LocDown]

curious. exactly how much milliamps do you think the 997c with 2 transducers would pull?

[Whistler]

I'm with you lockdown...geek is up the wrong tree...According to humminbird the 997 draws less than 1 amp (800ma).   Even with accessories and backlight I can't imagine it going above 3 amps. If that battery can crank the big motor, it can run that little 997.

http://www.humminbird.com/Faq.aspx?TaxonomyId=94A2903

Keith, did you set you unit back to system defaults before the upgrade?  You may want to try that then manually set all your settings back the way you had them. I doubt this will fix it, but it is an easy thing to try and I have see some weird issues corrected by setting back to defaults.

[LocDown]

I guess check if anyone around you has the 997 you can swap out and check.
Have you tried running in simulator mode and see if it goes whacky there also?

[keithallen]

When I did the update, I did set back to defaults. I have done this many times and never had any issues. Like I said earlier, I have never had any issues with this unit before. The problem that I have is the inconsistancy. It will work fine and then SLOWLY quit working....There is no pattern to the problem. If it was a loose connection then it would come and go, but not slowly. I have never seen anything like this but there is a reason its not working and sooner or later I will find it....Thanks for all the help so far......!

[George]

keithallen

Based on your comments it appears that you have troubleshooted your unit, you may want to reload the previous update to see if it makes a difference.  As far as the battery, you can put the voltage on your screen to track it as you go.  When I had problems with my battery everything worked well until the unit shutdown because of low voltage. 

George

[ITGEEK]

I still say it could be the battery.
It may be borderline.
It may have enough juice to crank the motor, but then
only take a partial charge.
It could be a combination problem of  battery and alternator/voltage regulator.

He said the unit works for awhile then SLOWLY quits working.
Sounds like a perfect scenario for a bad battery.

It doesn't take much to charge it up and test it.
At least then, you could eliminate that potential problem.

You've got to start the diagnosis somewhere.

[LocDown]

Switch over to your trolling battery next time out

[keithallen]

Thanks guys for all the help...we will see what happens.

[stillbear]

You stated that your rig has been in storage for 2 months. Was the unit on or off the boat ?
Sounds to me like this is a common connection problem. I would check and clean every connection
on the unit. Any connection that is not tight I would gently spread the pins apart.That should fix the problem.
If it don't call HB customer support. Gary

[Bob B]

I'm with Stillbear on this one.....sounds more like a connection problem that a battery problem.

[Humminbird_Greg]

The #1 thing to try would be to test another Humminbird Si unit on your connections.  It does not have to be another 997c Si unit but I would seek out one of the larger units to test with.  You can also try testing your 997 unit on another Si users boat.  This is in an effort to point to where the problem is: unit or boat.

ITG may not be so far out of the ballpark on this one guys.  Even though the battery may test fine; the connections to the unit may not be.  Typically with bad electrical connections you also see a reduction in the voltage shown on the unit but not always.  I would try temporarily connecting the unit directly to the cranking or trolling motor battery and testing it again just to eliminate the battery and/or wiring as the cause of the issue.

You stated that you are running a dual transducer system.  I am assuming that this means the standard HDSi transducer along with an inside-the-hull DualBeam transducer like the XP-9-20, is this correct?  If so, try unplugging both transducers from the AS-Si-DB-Y cable and testing each transducer (at idle speed) by plugging it directly into the 997 unit.  It could be that the AS-Si-DB-Y cable is intermittent or that the inside-the-hull transducer is intermittent.  Make sure all other sonar units are off during this testing.

[sonar2000]

I think it might be easier to just swap out to a new known working battery.  If this does not fix then start the lengthy component swapping process.
Batteries will die for no reason at all. Especially if they have sat unused.
Chuck