Author Topic: Issues with depth under 5 feet  (Read 15273 times)

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Offline Camalama

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Issues with depth under 5 feet
« on: April 12, 2010, 08:21:18 AM »
After everyone helped me get my 997 working with the latest updates we had some issues with depth readings. When we would get into water around 5 feet or less it would output some crazy depths like 132 feet or 86 feet. Is anyone else having these issues? If not, any suggestions on what would cause this?

Thanks,

Cameron
Cameron Denison
St. Charles, MO


Offline Jolly Roger

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2010, 08:37:21 AM »
Cameron,

try to adjust your your max. depth stetting to let's say 8 feet and see if that helps.

Regards / Harry
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WE SCAN!

Offline Camalama

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2010, 01:18:08 PM »
Harry,

I'll give it a try. I'll be back on the water Friday. Thanks for the help, hopefully that works.

Cameron

Cameron Denison
St. Charles, MO

Offline swasik1428

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2010, 07:54:04 PM »
If you are running another locator, turn it off and see if that helps. I had trouble like this when I was running my 787 high speed xducer in the hull and my 998 on the transom. The 787 was interfering with it. Also try to adjust your interference filter on the 997, I have mine set on the highest setting and that seems to help.

Offline newkid4si

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2010, 11:34:13 PM »
I was going to post the same question. My unit is a 998C SI. Only unit on the boat.
Over 5' of depth, everything is fine. 5' and under--- display readings are 0.7 to 6.5/7.0'
Reading keeps changing like unit is searching for bottom but can't find it.
I'll change the max depth as this won't hurt anything and I'm not allowed out to deep anyway.
I did change the sensitivity from auto to 1-20 and didn't change the results.
This happened over both hard and soft bottom. Max depth of water around here is 50'.
Surface to 25' fishable. ( spell check didn't know this word )

Offline Jolly Roger

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2010, 11:06:44 AM »
Hello newkid4si and welcome to the forum!

Another thing that came to my mind: Turn the 83 kHz beam of the 2D sonar off in shallow water. Might help as well.

Regards / Harry
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Offline rnvinc

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2010, 01:01:26 PM »
One thing I've learned to do when changing water depths frequently (instead of changing settings)...

My 1197 also reads funny depths when under 7 ft...so when I'm actually in less than 7 ft of water ...I watch the bottom contour on the DI and Sonar (with depth lines 'on' )because they show the bottom depth accurately no matter what the digital readout is saying.....

Offline mendota

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2010, 02:42:25 PM »
Which of course begs the question as to why you can't make the software see the same thing your eye does.

I've all but given up trying to get my 1197 depth readout to work reliably in less than 6' of water.

Pretty sad since my old LCX15mt worked down to 1.5' no problem.

The only work-around I can imagine would be to put a semi-transparent (to sonar) object below the 2D transducer to attenuate the ping a bit.

Offline rnvinc

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2010, 04:38:43 PM »
I agree that it bears to question as to why the digital readout bounces around so varied (in shallow water)...as compared to the bottom contour showing on the DI and 2d...(which is steady)...

Is the digital readout bottom processed from a different element than the bottom contour in the DI and the 2d....??

Or is this quirk totally something different and maybe related to the "double sonar return"..??


Offline newkid4si

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2010, 10:58:36 PM »
Harry,  Thanks for the suggestion on the 83kHz beam. I'll try that also when I get back on the water
Friday. One of the great things about this site is that you can share your on the water results/issues
with others to see if it's just your unit or it's a common problem. Can you imagine how long it would
 take to learn all the settings and adjustments if you had to do it alone. Thanks to all for sharing.

Offline Camalama

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2010, 08:16:05 AM »
newkid4si, that is very true. Everyone on here is very helpful. I too will try the suggestions come Friday and report back on Monday.

Food for thought. I was late updating to 4.5 and 4.75 due to issues with the Interlink. I was still running 4.18 (I think) and never had issues in shallow water. What changed?

Thanks again!
Cameron Denison
St. Charles, MO

Offline Singleshot

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2010, 10:49:06 AM »
My 798c does the same thing.  When looking at the regular sonar graph you can clearly see two bottom echos almost like it's not sure which one to use.  Deeper water no problems.  I'll be interested on how this shakes out.  I wont get back on the water for a few weeks,  On the road for work.

JK
To ignore the facts does not change the facts.

Offline Humminbird_Greg

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2010, 03:24:21 PM »
The differences between the displayed bottom reading and the digital readout is that the unit has to make a decision as to what the actual water depth is and show this as the digital readout.  The sonar returns (bottom reading) are shown regardless of what the unit is showing for the digital depth.

If you are having this issue try the following:
 - Set the Water Type menu to the “Salt (deep) menu setting.
 - Set the Surface Clutter menu to 9.

If this doe not help than you can try an older version of software in your unit.  It is available for the Si units on this web site or you can call the Humminbird Customer Resource folks for it or you can e-mail me and I can try and e-mail it back to you.  Just make sure that you ask for and use the correct software for the smaller 700 series units as there is one version for the external GPS models and another one for the internal GPS models.

Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com

Offline justfishin

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2010, 04:04:53 PM »
So is this a common problem with updated units?  I have the same setup as the OP but am still running the original software they came out with. I just got back on the water after a couple of years (The units were new then) and would love to have the newest software features but both of my units work fine with no interference or shallow water problems.  I would hate to make they perform worse because of an update.

James

Offline Humminbird_Greg

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #14 on: April 14, 2010, 04:14:35 PM »
We aren’t 100% convinced that it is the new software.  It seems like it though as some can load an older version and the problem goes away while others still have the same problem but the majority have not reported the problem at all (with old or new software).  It’s like trying to hold a breeze in your hands…

If you do decide to update your unit; make a notation of the software version you have now so that you can go back to it if need be. 

Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com

Offline jejb

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #15 on: April 15, 2010, 08:35:35 AM »
Add me to the list. Since the update on both of my units, anything from about 5' and under causes the digital depth readout to hunt quite a bit. The 798 for sure did not do that before, and nothing changed except the SW update. Hopefully HB will come out with a fix.
John B
997C SI, 798CI SI  NVB
(formerly owned 1197C SI NVB)

Offline raricker

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #16 on: April 15, 2010, 09:55:19 AM »
Hi Greg,
I'd like to try your experiment by backing out 4.880 out of my 998c. I updated it from 4.580 (I think? - unit was built 03/08/10) before I tried it in the water. I too have seen shallow water issues (less than 5'). I have tried different "Water Type" settings and played w/ "Surface Clutter" settings. My symptom is that the digital depth value is erratic but the 2D graph display is steady.  Note: when I go from Salt (shallow) to Salt (deep), both the 2D graph display and digital value go "nuts". Could that factory installed level be posted here so that everyone could test your theory?

Thanks,
Roger

Offline FuzzyGrub

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #17 on: April 15, 2010, 10:58:35 AM »
I have been out three times this season, and my 798 with latest S/W is doing the same.   Digital depth jumping up and down, display is steady.   Sometimes it changes far enough to change the auto-scale.   It does seem more problematic in shallow hard bottom.    I'll try to keep an eye on it and try some of the settings, but don't want to switch the S/W back to an older version.

Opps, forgot to add: 83kHz is shut-off, but not sure of the other settings. 
« Last Edit: April 15, 2010, 12:34:44 PM by FuzzyGrub »
If it bends my rod, I'm a happy fisherman.

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Offline sonar2000

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #18 on: April 15, 2010, 11:35:41 AM »
Could that factory installed level be posted here so that everyone could test your theory?


http://forums.sideimagingsoft.com/index.php?action=downloads;cat=1

Or you can check the downloads tab at the top of the forum main menu. 

chuck

Offline Rocketman783

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #19 on: April 16, 2010, 12:15:55 PM »
I have a 788 up front (update done by factory in November or December of 09) and I am now having the same shallow water issues with my unit. Eratic digital depth in water less than five feet. The digital depth may resister antwhere from 2' to 10' , and I get multiple (3) secondary bottoms showing. So  the actual water column is compressed and difficult to read. Called the service center and they suggested setting Surface Clutter to 9 and switching the unit to Deep Salt Water. Won't get out till next week to test new settings. Have seen quit a bit of discussion on this issue on the web.

Offline Humminbird_Greg

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #20 on: April 16, 2010, 02:37:53 PM »
raricker,
How about 4.850?  I think that was the first production level software we had.  I don’t know if this goes back far enough in software.  Most guys that have success with doing this sort of thing go back to at least the 4.510 software and the 998 was produced after that.  E-mail me if you want to try it.

Greg Walters at Humminbird
gwalters@johnsonoutdoors.com

Offline richk

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #21 on: April 16, 2010, 02:41:09 PM »
I'm new here,had a 798ci si combo nvb installed,downloaded newest version of software,and am having the same problem under 5-6 feet,Humminbird also asked me to set the unit for salt deep and surface clutter to 9,I'm also not showing any fish at any time but know they're there so was told to set fish sensitivity to 8 and make sure depth offset=0. I'll be tryng it Monday, if that doesn't work I was told to "reset defaults" and try it.

Offline kitsinni

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #22 on: April 29, 2010, 01:50:38 PM »
I have a 998c SI that has the same problems. This still has the software that came with it from the factory so there is no going backwards as far as I know.

Mine seems fine in 2' of water but in 5' it goes nuts. When I am in an area that is consistently showing 1.5-2' it holds solid. When I am in an area that is around 5' it will show 1, 5, 3, 12, 3, 9, all within a couple of seconds. I called humminbird and got the same response about Salt Deep and Surface Clutter. When I turned out both of those features anything under 10' was showing as 10'. So I turned off the Salt Deep portion and the depths seem more normal.  Surface clutter may have helped some I have not had a lot of shallow water testing time yet. It seems like if you get in 10' or more it works fine again. Once I was in what I though was 5' of water until I heard my prop getting torn up and it was still displaying 5' when the prop was hitting. I have also had times it displayed 5' and I put a pole in the water and it couldn't have been more than 2.5-3'. I have tested it in deep water and according to my line counter reels the depths out there are pretty accurate.

Offline scoeri

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #23 on: April 30, 2010, 11:25:52 AM »
i have an 1197 with 4.750 software. in shallow depths less than 6 ' it is so erratic i can not trust it. i rely on my cheap eagle when in skinny water.

Offline JeffA

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #24 on: April 30, 2010, 02:19:45 PM »
my 898si with the 4.880 update does that same thing with the depth reading.. >:(

 "if your going to mess with the kings queens, you better watch your ace, jack!"..

Offline sonar2000

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #25 on: April 30, 2010, 04:26:41 PM »
Our 1197 wokrs fine in 3 foot of water.  Have not had any problems so far.  fingers crossed..... :P.....chuck

Offline nmanley

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Re: Issues with depth under 5 feet
« Reply #26 on: April 30, 2010, 04:36:07 PM »
My 798c has the 4.510 software on it and it works like a champ. My new 898c came with 4.880 installed and I'm installing the unit on the boat tomorrow. Will test this Sunday.

A lot of the water I fish is 5'-8' so I'm curious if I'll have the depth problem or any EMI/EMC interferrance problems.
Thanks


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