Topic: Helix 9 MEGA DI GN2 reading the wrong depth

[TnTaz]

I have a Helix 9 MEGA DI unit on the bow. It never displays the correct depth, I can be sitting in 30 ft  of water and it will display 600 to 800 ft. Any ideas of where to start troubleshooting this issue. I also have a Helix 9 MEGA SI at the console and it reads correctly. Both are wired directly and independent to the cranking battery as recommended. Thanks in advance to any advise.

[mako9man2]

I don't know if this is the same issue I had last week but my Helix 12si gen1 suddenly went crazy on depth.  It would read fine at 17' then suddenly jump to 1400'.  I called Humminbird from the water and talked with a tech support person almost immediately.  She told me to remove any cards I had in the unit then restore the defaults.  Turn the unit off for at least a minute then power back up and see if that corrected it.  IT DID!  I added my cards back, reset the unit with my preferences and it has been solid ever since. 

[TnTaz]

Thanks for the info. I have to correct what my unit is. It is a Helix 9 CHIRP G2N. After a little more investigation on my part I found that my transducer was pinched. Looks like I will have to replace my transducer, I don't see away to splice it.

I have the factory shipped transducer now. Since I will have to replace it is there a better transducer that be installed instead of the factory one that was shipped with my unit.

Thanks for an help with this. Still trying to learn about these new toys.

[gmoney]

I could use some advise on this issue too. I had my unit installed by the dealer when I purchased my 2017 Lund boat in April 2017. Everything seemed to work fine for the first few hours but then the digital depth reading became erratic at 10 feet or shallower. Absolutely ruined my trip to Canada as I couldn't trust the depth reading in shallow water. I called support and jumped thru all the standard hoops they make you jump thru on this issue, setting max depth, resetting defaults and so on, but none of that worked. I tested my unit by unhooking the Y cable and hooking it up separately to the two separate transducers. It was only happening on the mega. I also put my head unit on another guys boat that had the mega transducer only and it seemed to work fine for the time it ran on that so Humminbird sent me a new mega transducer. In the meantime while I was waiting for it to come the same erratic depth readings started on the 2d high speed transducer after it had ran fine for a few hours.

I called support again and they finally sent me a whole new unit, now after running fine for a few hours the new unit is doing the same thing, it reads a double bottom and has an erratic depth reading. The only thing I didn't replace when the new unit came was the power cord as that looked more complicated for me to tackle and I didn't figure that could affect the depth reading. Can the power cord have anything to do with it??

I really like this unit when it works but I am soooo frustrated. Any advice is appreciated.  THANKS!!

[rnvinc]

I could use some advise on this issue too. I had my unit installed by the dealer when I purchased my 2017 Lund boat in April 2017. Everything seemed to work fine for the first few hours but then the digital depth reading became erratic at 10 feet or shallower. Absolutely ruined my trip to Canada as I couldn't trust the depth reading in shallow water. I called support and jumped thru all the standard hoops they make you jump thru on this issue, setting max depth, resetting defaults and so on, but none of that worked. I tested my unit by unhooking the Y cable and hooking it up separately to the two separate transducers. It was only happening on the mega. I also put my head unit on another guys boat that had the mega transducer only and it seemed to work fine for the time it ran on that so Humminbird sent me a new mega transducer. In the meantime while I was waiting for it to come the same erratic depth readings started on the 2d high speed transducer after it had ran fine for a few hours.

I called support again and they finally sent me a whole new unit, now after running fine for a few hours the new unit is doing the same thing, it reads a double bottom and has an erratic depth reading. The only thing I didn't replace when the new unit came was the power cord as that looked more complicated for me to tackle and I didn't figure that could affect the depth reading. Can the power cord have anything to do with it??

I really like this unit when it works but I am soooo frustrated. Any advice is appreciated.  THANKS!!

There are many reports in the forums of erratic depth readings in shallow water  ...

The most common advice given so far is to try SwitchFire Clear, reduce Sensitivity, and raise Surface Clutter a little  ...

Hopefully  HB is logging reports such as yours so as to maybe release a fix for this issue that seems to be noted on all the electronics forums  ...

It wouldn't hurt to call HB again just to log the issue again in their log reports  ...

Rickie

[TnTaz]

What are you considering shallow water? This happens to mine in 30 fow. The unit will read 600 to 700 fow.

[rnvinc]

What are you considering shallow water? This happens to mine in 30 fow. The unit will read 600 to 700 fow.

The common issue is with shallow water depth less than 10ft (as gmoney is experiencing)  ...

You mentioned a pinched xducer cable and now have the stock xducer that came with the HELIX 9 CHIRP GPS  ...which should be the transom mount XNT 9 20 T  ...

What xducer were you using on the bow (that now has a pinched cable)  ...??

Rickie

[gmoney]

There are many reports in the forums of erratic depth readings in shallow water  ...

The most common advice given so far is to try SwitchFire Clear, reduce Sensitivity, and raise Surface Clutter a little  ...

Hopefully  HB is logging reports such as yours so as to maybe release a fix for this issue that seems to be noted on all the electronics forums  ...

It wouldn't hurt to call HB again just to log the issue again in their log reports  ...

Rickie

Mine is on Switchfire Clear and I have reduced the sensitivity. I'm guessing I've had the surface clutter at least to 5 as I think that is what it goes to when I reset to default the 900 times I've done it but I'll give that a shot. The screen is almost unreadable with the surface clutter turned way up. Just don't understand why some folk are having trouble and some aren't. Thanks for the suggestions.