Lowrance Depth Display Drops Out

[bobhuberman]

I have a Lowrance HDS Carbon which has been on the boat for going on 3-years.  Recently, when getting up on plane the depth reading goes blank.  I get a reading again when I come off plane.  This started about a month ago.  Before then displays were good.  Trying to contact Lowrance has been futile.   I don't know if I unknowingly changed a setting or something malfunctioned.  The depth reading drops out whether in Chart or Sonar modes when on plane.  I'm stumped.

[Mike Cork]

Sounds like your transducer position has changed. If it's a through hull transducer it may be having trouble. When I ordered my last boat I two transducers glassed into the hull and the first one started doing this after 6 years of use. Switched ducers and all is good.

[Oldfart9999]

Sounds like your transducer position has changed. If it's a through hull transducer it may be having trouble. When I ordered my last boat I two transducers glassed into the hull and the first one started doing this after 6 years of use. Switched ducers and all is good.

Start there then check your connections, pull them apart and hook back up, tightly, if these don't help then it's time to call Lowrance, be insistent.
Rodney

[FD]

I agree with Mike.  Definitely a transducer issue.  Either it got bumped or is just going bad.

FDx Custom Rods
Arti-FISH-ial Entertainment
CPF Lures

[WTodd]

If you have that giant Lowrance transducer then what's happening is an air pocket is forming around the transducer; it's a fairly common thing with this transducer........ask me how I know. Anyway let me take a pic of how I solved mine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WTodd]

Ok here are a couple of pics of mine. Now I never lose bottom.

I put "legs" on the metal mount that comes with the transducer; the other mount that comes with it is a plastic one that ripped out 3 times. The legs are marine grade aluminum.

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[bobhuberman]

Just checked my transducer which is mounted to the bottom of the hull in the stern.  Seems to be solidly attached.  Still need to check cable connections but I can't do it until I move the boat.  It's parked in a RV storage lot where I have to keep it.  I'll be moving it out to fish this coming week and will get a chance to checkout the wiring.  Thanks for the input.  I'll let you all know if I find anything.

[Oldfart9999]

Check Lowrance to see if there any updates, I just found 1 each for my units that according to Lowrance will fix at least one problem I have.
Rodney

[bobhuberman]

I made contact with Lowrance.  The technician wants me to update to Software Release 20.3 but so far when I download the software it's not compatible with my browser.  Tried two different browsers with no luck.  When I look up software updates for the HDS Carbon it only shows 18.2.  The Tech also gave me instructions to reset my software but again things didn't go as I was told they had.  I'm taking the boat out on Thursday and can mess with it a little on Wednesday.   So far I'm snowed and may just have to bite the bullet and take it in to some that knows what they're doing.  It was working OK up to a few weeks ago.  I keep thinking I somehow changed a setting that is causing this problem.

[Mike Cork]

I haven't played with the Lowrance download website in quite a while. Let me see if I can find the update you're looking for.

[Mike Cork]

Not sure if this would apply to you but do you have your pop up windows blocked?

Lowrance uses pop ups to do their down loads. I used the Safari Browser on a Mac Air and it downloaded just fine.

[bobhuberman]

I believe I do have popup windows blocked.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks.

[bobhuberman]

Update:  The transducer is glued to the hull and is on tight.  All connections are tight.  I discovered that if while using Navionics that I got the depth reading in Sonar even on plane.  Also, if I switched to Lowrance for Chart I got a depth reading on plane.   I still apparently have an older update of Navionics on my bow unit and it seems to be working OK.  The new Chart display on the console resulted in my doing a software restart requested by the Lowrance Tech.  It changed the display which doesn't even show a depth line.  I think when I did the software restart at the console a new Navionics update took place.  The thing is up to a few weeks ago all was OK.  So, it doesn't look like the transducer is the problem. The only thing I can think is wrong was I selected a setting that I shouldn't have.  I am in contact with Lowrance and just sent in photos of my HDS displays.  I may also need to talk to Navionics.

[Mike Cork]

Very odd, and curious at the same time. I can't wait to see what they figure out is the fix. Thank you for keeping us up to date.

[bobhuberman]

After multiple emails with Lowrance I was sent an address of a YouTube video demonstrating how to use the Edit Overlay feature in Settings.  It took me two tries but today I was able to edit my Navionics Chart Display to have Depth, Speed, Water Temperature, and Time entry lines.  Time and temperature actually were displayed.  I won't know if Depth and Speed will actually readout until I put the boat in the water.  My initial problem was that on an older version of Navionics Chart which had worked for a couple years that the Depth reading dropped out when on plane.  Recently, I was able to have Depth readings on plane using Sonar display and in Chart when using Lowrance GPS.  So a depth signal was being sent by the transducer.  I'm optimistic that now the depth reading will appear on the update Navionics Chart display.  I hope to get on the water sometime next  week and will post what happens. 

[bobhuberman]

On the water yesterday and I got the readings I wanted (including Depth) on my console Chart display.  I guess I'll never know why it dropped out initially but all works now!  Thanks for all the input.

[Mike Cork]

Thank you for all the return input. Great to see a problem get resolved. While we don't know the route cause we do have a list of things to try that led to a fix