Topic: Biting my tongue

[zdriver]

After having problems seeing fish on 2d sonar, it was determined I send my unit in for repair. SO, I send my unit and transducer in to be checked out.  Two days later I receive my unit back and a new transducer. Installed that very afternoon. The next day I am on the water, I can't see anything. Lots of clutter on 2d, Di and SI. This is with the newest version of software..6.640. On my display I have from top to bottom....DEPTH, TEMPERATURE, POSITION, TIME AND SPEED..The first three work great...time and speed go away, blink back on then go away.  No GPS POSITION FIX flashes up..BUT my position works great..Changes  as I move and stops when I do. I was having NO problems with my GPS before I sent it in..

Anyone having the same problem...I need help

[ITGEEK]

You didn't say at what speed you were running.

Sonars show much better images when standing still
or going slowly.
You may have to lower or tweak your tranducer mounting.
Also, with your boat fully loaded and in the water, is the
transducer pretty much flat against the water?

You also may have interference from other electrical devices.
Have you tried shutting off everything on the boat except your sonar?

Also, have you load tested your battery and checked all power connections
and fuses?

[Humminbird_Greg]

Welcome to the Side Imaging Forums zdriver.
Check those electrical connections to make sure that all are tight and corrosion free.  Don’t forget the fuse, fuse holder and battery connections.  Sonar and GPS problems can be caused by a lack of power to the units, so make sure that all connections are good all the way back to the battery.  Many end up running a new set of wires and new fuse holder for their units.

Try checking your 597c HD that you have listed on your 898’s transducer and power connection to see if it acts the same (for the sonar).

[zdriver]

Yes, I have checked my power connections. I ran the power straight to the battery and I think I wll run it to the fuse panel under the dash. I seemed to have better results this way. My boat has a factory installed Lowrance in the dash and the clutter on my 898 goes away slightly when I turn it off.  I wish there was somewhere else to run my transducer cable besides with all my other cables to the transom. As far as the speed and time issues going on and off, it does it at zero speed or any speed.  Now, I went back and installed version 6.4 and the speed problem goes away. The time problem is not as bad, flashes off very little, but still does.

Greg, my 597 works very good. All seems to be OK with it.
Also, I have worked with my transducer checking the position as far as being level. I turned my trolling motor on to run all the time and adjusted the transducer while watching my screen.

[Humminbird_Greg]

What gauge of wire did you use to extend the original power cable wire?

Speed, Time and Position all come from the GPS Receiver.  They should all come and go together.  Where is the GPS Receiver installed?

Do you know of anyone else around you that has a Humminbird Si unit so that you can test your 898c Si on their boat and their Si unit on your boat?  This does not have to be another 898 model unit as any of the 800/900/1100 series Si units will work for this test.  Check the sonar and GPS functions when you do this.

Keep the other sonar unit(s) off when testing the sonar on your 898c Si unit.  I also recommend keeping the trolling motor off as well.

What I wanted you to do is plug the 597c HD unit into the power and transducer that the 898c Si unit is using to see if it tracks the bottom and shows the 2D sonar information the same as or better than the 898c Si unit.  Plug the 898c Si unit into the 597c HD unit’s power cable and transducer and test the 2D sonar on it to compare too.

[zdriver]

Greg,
 As far as the power cable, I am going to terminate it at the fuse panel under the dash to eliminate the splice in the 12 gauge wire going to the battery.
 With the position, time and speed being from the GPS, I have watched very, very close and the position does not ever blink. The GPS puck is mounted on the very front of the boat.
 When you refer to connecting the units to each others transducer, are the plug connections not different? I will have to disassemble the mount for the 597 to be able to interchange the units.

[Humminbird_Greg]

zdriver,
If you used 12 gauge wire to connect the unit’s power cable to the battery, switching to the boat’s wiring could only be worse as it would not have the same current carrying capabilities as that 12 gauge wire.  So unless you have some bad connections somewhere, the problem must not be power related.

The power cables and transducer cable will have the same shaped connectors on them and will plug up to both units.  Yes you will have to take the mount and connector collectors apart to test this.

Just to make sure here: this is all based on you having a 597ci HD model unit and not the “DI” model (597ci HD DI).  If you have the DI model do not connect it to the 898’s transducer!  You can still test the 898 on the 597’s transducer though.

[zdriver]

Finally got on the water this weekend . I connected my 898 to the transducer for my 597, trolled around and could not see fish, and they were hitting the shad all around me. I connected my 597 back up and fish and shad everywhere. Then I connect my 898 to it's connecters. No fish on my sonar, but when I went to side imaging I could see them. The position, time and speed were flashing on and off. I powered down then back up. PRESTO...everything was OK.

The not seeing fish on my sonar(2D) is driving me crazy. 

[Humminbird_Greg]

Since the 597 unit showed fish on the transducer for the 898 unit; I would say that the transducer for the 898 unit is weak/bad.

The position, time and speed flashing could be the GPS Receiver starting to fail.

[zdriver]

Greg, this is a brand new transducer just shipped to me from humminbird.

[Humminbird_Greg]

I think that I read your prior post wrong zdriver.
Your 898 will not show fish regardless of which transducer it is connected to, right?
Are you using the same menu settings (for those that are common) between the 898 and 597 units?  If you are, than it sounds like the 898 unit may have problems with its 2D sonar.  Be sure and check all of the menu settings even with the 597 unit running in the Advanced User Mode.

[zdriver]

Ok, I got back out on the water Sunday afternoon. I removed software version 6.64 and installed 6.1.  One little blink, that was it. Everything seems to be working like normal.

[Patty]

The not seeing fish on my sonar(2D) is driving me crazy. 

I have the same issue with my 898 not showing much in 2D... Unless I have fish ID off and am in fairly deep water (25'+) then I will see the occasional arch, even though I'm seeing fish on SI and catching vertically jigging...

[V Side Down]

I think it would be safe to say it is the 6.64 programing. I had put it in mine a few months ago when it came out to have a frustrating night on the lake until switching back to an older program. After that it works fine now. We need to wait for another update to come along