Vexilar stoped working

[grousehunter]

My vexilar all of the sudden just stopped working. It gets power and turns on..gives me that smooth soothing buzzing sound, but no color..just black. I know its movign around because the two things you can see end up in a different place. It also will work for like 3 mintues if I turn it off for a long time and then the whole screen goes yellow, then there are four reds and then it goes black again. Anyone have any ideas what might be wrong with it? Thanks,

Blake

[TravP]

have you tried a different battery?

[grousehunter]

would that make a difference even though its still getting power?

[TravP]

Yep.

[bturck]

Even a very weak or almost totally dead battery can give you power to spin the dial, but if the battery is not up to par you won't get a reading. I had it happen, new battery fixed the problem. Good luck.

[grousehunter]

sounds good..I'll try it. Thanks!

[mike11]

probably the brushes vex sells a brush kit for $21

[Dozer]

You can try hooking it up to your truck battery just to see if it works without buying a new battery.

[LakeDocktor]

Yep, sounds like the brushes. Before you go out and buy a new battery, just hook up your alligator clips from your charger directly to the power leads. If you get color, replace the battery, if not, you need new brushes. How old is the unit?

[vook]

Try getting one of your buddies transducers and hook that up and see what happens?

[Bottle Fish]

Check the battery first I had a similar problem with an aqua-view the picture kept scrolling. Went and bought a new battery as good as new now.

[andrew chadwick]

it may be a transducer problem. Mine died this week. I could tell the spinny thing was spinning but there was no color.

[Tom7227]

I think I've read about the service that vex provides. I think I might send it in and spend a few bucks rather than try and replace the brushes myself. Be a pizzer if you screwed it up.

[TravP]

I think its pretty easy to replace your brushes, if thats the problem.

[wildeskimo]

i have the same problem mine just sits an humms with 1 red line that doesn't move older fl8 i heard you can send them in ,dont no anyone that has done that ??

[Garette Lee]

You probably have a weak battery. Do you have a battery status that comes with them? Otherwise, as stated above, a weak battery will still put out enough juice to get the brushes spinning but thats about it.

[Flood the Rink]

Took my older fl-8 in last year to the Vexi offices in Bloomington. Mine would not spin and it had a continuous beep. 30 minutes later they replaced the brushes and a few other components. 100 bucks well spent. It looked brand new after all the cleanup. Maybe call first but they can likely do it while you wait.

[Ed Carlson]

If a brush is shorted it will show a solid screen color...then nothing...then color again... as it is making intermediate contact and shorting out against the contact surface.

As long as the power supply is good (12V), I suspect a brush is shot and it is in need of a tune up kit and a good internal cleaning.

I would have the service tech-pro's at Vex service it, as was previously stated...money well spent. And you will know it is 100% when you get it back on the ice.

[Rick G]

Good advice Ed. Unless you have a good soldering gun and the skills to use it realy well and a working knowlege of small electric motors I wouldnt even try to do the brushes yourself. The tecs at velilar can do a much better job.

[grousehunter]

it ended up just being the battery. It worked all morning for lakers and all afternoon for perch. Thanks guys!

Blake

[Ed Carlson]

Kewl!

I love easy fix's, and happy endings!

[Sir_Jonny_Fishalot]

Kewl!

I love easy fix's, and happy endings!

Yep, Happy endings are great!