Fishinder depth is waaaaayyy off

cd1 · August 01, 2010, 04:25:52 PM

My fishfinder went on the fritz last night. At one point the display had some lines running through it and the fish symbols looked wierd, then I got no fish returns at all, then my depth began to show 800 to 1200 feet in a 35 foot deep lake.

One of my wires coming in has had some connection problems in the past. That didn't seem to be the issue last night though as I made sure it was connected. The depth issue would happen while running at speed. When I was running slow it was not an issue...but when I got up on plane and was running at speed it was showing crazy depths.

My battery connections are good. I fixed the connection issue on the cable for good this afternoon. It's sittng in the driveway right now showing 900 feet. Normally when it's on the trailer it shows 2.5 feet.

I dunno. Any ideas? The Humminbird manual was useless (it's a 385ci).

NateG · August 01, 2010, 04:53:05 PM

I'd start by checking out the transducer.... If you haven't already.

Plugger · August 06, 2010, 06:47:45 AM

Had the same problem you have in the past. Weak transducer. Moved the unit to the trolling motor and bought a new unit for the transom. If you have indenical

Plugger · August 06, 2010, 06:51:34 AM

sorry about that. Was trying to use spell check. If you have identical unit on front of boat just change out that
transducer. It might keep from buying a new one ( if that's not the problem ).

Good Luck
Plugger

tsmith35 · August 06, 2010, 07:06:32 AM

Have you already checked the support page for depth problems on the Humminbird site? They also reference the common checks page, but you may have done all the common checks already.

From what you said about the unit going "on the fritz", it's possible that the problem is actually in the unit. Like Plugger suggested, swapping transducers/units should point to the problem.

cd1 · August 06, 2010, 07:17:55 PM

I swapped with a new transducer tonight and I'm still getting some funkiness. Admitedly I checked the new transducer in the driveway...I'll take it to the lake tomorrow to see if there is any improvement.

I really think the problem is in the unit. With either transducer I get no depth at all when I power it on. Then after it's on a bit I get 0.6 feet. Then it begins to wander. I had it in a 1 foot bucket of water and the new tranducer ranged anwhere from 0.6 feeto to 7 feet. There are thick bars of color with some jagged lines all the way down the screen too. Ungood.

I get no feedback at all for the 200khz beam...only the 80khz.

Depth wanders for no reason.

The GPS and charts functions work fine.

BassBUFF · August 07, 2010, 06:11:27 AM

Look in the manual or on their website for a "factory reset" option. Usually involves hitting certain buttons together. This puts it back to the original settings. Have you tried this yet?

cd1 · August 07, 2010, 02:58:12 PM

Quote from: BassBUFF on August 07, 2010, 06:11:27 AM
Look in the manual or on their website for a "factory reset" option. Usually involves hitting certain buttons together. This puts it back to the original settings. Have you tried this yet?

Yep. No difference. The finder went from working great one day to completely messed up the next. In fact it was fine for the first hour of my last trip and then something went wrong with it in the middle of the trip. Really strange.

tsmith35 · August 08, 2010, 03:13:38 AM

Quote from: cd1 on August 07, 2010, 02:58:12 PM
Yep. No difference. The finder went from working great one day to completely messed up the next. In fact it was fine for the first hour of my last trip and then something went wrong with it in the middle of the trip. Really strange.

Wait a minute... that sounds like it could be one of several things: water in the unit, a loose/bad wire or connection, or low supply voltage.

cd1 · August 08, 2010, 10:39:30 AM

Quote from: tsmith35 on August 08, 2010, 03:13:38 AM
Wait a minute... that sounds like it could be one of several things: water in the unit, a loose/bad wire or connection, or low supply voltage.

I've got good voltage and I've checked all the connections. My first thought was loose wire so pulling the batteries and torquing evertthing down was my first step.

I took it out again last night and the problems started to look more like the unit itself. Last night I got good depth...no wandering. But I got ZERO display on sonar. I mean nothing. In the driveway I'd get some trashy looking returns on the 83khz beam and nothing on the 200 khz. Last night it went to just about nothing on either. I'd get depth but it showed no bottom, no surface clutter, no fish, no structure...I'd get a few dots along the screen randomly but it was largely a blank screen.

At one point I was on top of a school of white bass so I know it should have been alarming on the fish but I got nothing. I tried the new transducer and had the same results.

cd1 · August 09, 2010, 07:18:30 PM

I shipped it off to Humminbird today. It's still under warranty...although it's a discontinued model. They say 3 to 5 day turnaround. I'll have to fish without it for a few trips.

I'll post back with what they find.

cd1 · August 14, 2010, 11:34:27 PM

After a very quick turnaround time from Humminbird I got my fishfinder back...about two hours before I planned on going fishing so it was pretty good timing. I got it all hooked back up...and it's still screwed up. I have to call them Monday to ask them if they even bothered to check it. They told me it was a transducer problem and sent me a new transducer.

I'm sure part of the problem was the transducer as I had completely lost my 200khz beam on the display and the 83khz was messed up badly. But now that I've got both of those beams back the display is still terribly messed up.

Not sure what the deal is.