Topic: Drats - I keep loosing sonar while I am trying to fish

[SPLMAXSAM]

 
My 898 has been working great.  On 2 of the last 3 fishing trips everything on 898 appears to work but the sonar, I would loose the botton and not mark any fish.  To temporarily correct the problem, I would power down the 898, wait 30 seconds and power the unit back up.  The sonar would work for several minutes and then fail.  Eventually I would get sonar back up and it would work for the rest of the trip.  Very Very very frustrating.

My 898 is wired into its own 12 volt deep cycle battery.  I have voltage display turned on and the voltage is above 12 volts.  GPS works perfect, snap shots work  - but no sonar.

I have emailed Humminbird service (once a month ago and today).

What should I look for?

[RGecy]

Just trying to get specifics here.  At one point you said you loose bottom, but then say the sonar fails?  Is it showing anything on the screen or just blank?  Or is it just not locking on to the bottom?  Is side Imaging working when all this is going on?

Not locking on bottom could be a number of things.  Transducer position, bottom composition etc.  Is the transducer kicking up?

If you are loosing all sonar signal all together, you may have bad transdcuer, bad wire, or losse connection etc.  Possibly something in the head unit, but not likely.

Do you have a friend or anyone with a unit where you could hook your head unit up to their transducer and see if everything works ok? 

Robert

[SPLMAXSAM]

Losing bottom - screen background color stays the same. Depth turns to zero.  From memory i believe the side imaging is not working either.  I checked the transducer and it is perfect position and no nicks or skuffs.  I trailer the boat and it is currently in storage.  I belive i took screen shots when the sonar failed.  I will have to go to the winter storage facilty and pull the sd cars

Transduxer - proper angle
Speed- less than 1.3 mph
Battery voltage over 12 volts
I think side imaging fails also
Verified connections by inspecting plug during failure

[Humminbird_Greg]

Testing your 898 unit on another boat would be the best way to know where the problem is.  This would point to the transducer or the unit as the source of the problem.  You can test it on any Humminbird unit’s transducer except for those that have “DI” or “3D” in their model name or if it is one of the Ice Flasher units.  Any of the others will work to test the 2D sonar.

[ITGEEK]

Eventually I would get sonar back up and it would work for the rest of the trip.

This points to either a bad/loose connection, or a borderline battery.
I would load test your battery and check the battery connections.

Even if your battery shows 12 volts, it doesn't mean your battery
can sustain the amp draw of your unit.

When you finally get it working, are you pulling on any power wires or
the transducer cable?  If so, I would check all connections at the back of
the unit and check that your transducer cable is not kinked or cut.