Topic: Humminbird 898csi problem with sonar

[Mini-me]

I'm having trouble with my 898 unit it is mounted on the bow of my boat and transducer to trolling motor! I am getting wild depth readings and the picture is scattered . When I got the boat home I began to troubleshoot and there is a ticking noise in my transducer when the unit is powered up! So I figured transducer is bad so I took unit and hooked it up to stern setup that I have my 1198 hooked to and it started the same thing on that ducer so it's not my transducer ! I upgraded software to the new 7.01 and it is still doing it the only time it will stop is with sonar off ! I have good voltage readings the unit powers up properly and all pictures are good until you turn sonar back on ! Any ideas?

[Humminbird_Greg]

Welcome to the Humminbird Side Imaging Forums Mini-me.

Hearing the transducer ticking when it is out of the water is not that uncommon of a thing and only means that the transducer is firing (transmitting) not that it is either good nor bad.

When your 898 unit showed the wild depth readings, was the trolling motor on?
Was the 1198 unit on?
Next time out on the water try turning both off and see if the 898’s water depth readings straighten out or not.
Try and notice if there is anything else that sets it off like only shallow water or only when the aerator is running...

[Mini-me]

Alright Greg I got out and tried your suggestion it appeared to work fine until I turned the 1198 on! But what still boggles me is I have been using them this way for a while now! What is causing the interference and how do I fix ?

[Humminbird_Greg]

If this is only happening when both units are on at the same time then the problem is sonar-to-sonar interference.  The best “fixes” are to either shut the sonar on one of them off or have them share transducers through an Ethernet connection.  Another is to try turning on and up the Noise Filter menu.

Sonar interference really gets back to timing.  You may have been lucky up to now and both units were using different transmit/receive times and showed no interference and now they do.  There are a whole host of cofactors that contribute to this (either way) which are out of our control.

[Mini-me]

Alright thanks for your help sir I'm gonna look into the Ethernet cable and see if that fixes the problem ! Again thanks for the advice !

[zdriver]

Mini-Me,

I have had the same problem and I believe Greg is right. While using the 898 si at the console while riding and looking, I always hit the power button to turn sonar off. I don't shut it all the way down. A lot of interference shows up with both running, especially in shallow water. I can tell if I leave my console unit on when I drop my 858 di unit down. Lots of vertical lines.