Humminbird Problems! Please help!

[BizzityB]

Hi All,

I got a boat for the summer. Its an older boat with an old Hbird 200DX. The transducer was ripped off the back so I replaced it with the std xt 6 20 and re- routed the wire to the mount plugged it in to make sure it worked and the screen on the Hbird was very faint. I figured it was a power issue. I followed the wiring system back to the Fuses and everything was tight and secure. the Hbird told me I had 11.3 volts running to the system when the boat was off but I really had to look hard to see the reading it was so faint on the screen? Has anyone ever had this issue? is this a screen issue? is it a fuse or wiring issue. I feel like its power but its getting 11.3 volts which should be plenty to run that. Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks

Biz

[SpecialK]

I am not sure about that model but I wonder if there is a brightness or contrast menu item that could be adjusted? There should be a way to do a Hard reset on it to get everything back to factory defaults. I would do a search and see if you can't locate an online version of the owners manual for it.

[BizzityB]

Thanks SpecialK,

I took a look at the manual and it doesn't say anything about a contrast feature for the 200DX if there was I am not sure if I could navigate enough to see where it was??

[SpecialK]

That's why I think a hard reset would cure it if that is indeed the problem.

If that doesn't fix it then the next question I would ask is when was the last time it was known to work ok? Maybe the new ducer isn't compatible with that finder and drawing to much power?

Hopefully Perchjerker will swing in and give you some more ideas as well.

[BizzityB]

Sounds good I will give it a shot. Thanks for the info appreciate it!

[Koochfisherman]

I just bought a new 596c and it worked fine the first three times out then it did the same thing as yours. I could hardly see the screen. Started the motor and bingo it was normal again. So I figured it was my battery, bought a new one did not change anything. Rewired it directly to the battery still no change. It definitely is a power issue but the unit seems to want more than what a regular battery puts out. So I'm sending my back.

[hanson]

You may have something wrong with your wiring or the unit itself, but there is no issue whatsoever with running a depthfinder off a boat battery. I run 2 1100 series Birds off my starting battery and both screens are bright as day. A 500 series Bird should be able to run off a Vex ice fishing battery all day with no problem.

How much more power should a battery put out? 12 volt is 12 volt. Capacity is a different story but like I said, an ice fishing style battery will run one of these all day.

[dairyman]

I've been running mine ---788ci---off of an older atv battery and when it goes low I just hook it up to my trolling motor battery. I had problems with mine sensing depth-----did a hard re-set and have had no problems since

[CAMAN]

its getting 11.3 volts which should be plenty to run that.

11.3 volts is getting pretty low for most depth finders. I would charge your battery first and see if it improves.

[jac714]

I'm with Caman, 11.3 is a little low, most mobile electronics are rated at a nominl 13.2 vdc (also nominal charging voltage of a 12 v battery.) Your unit is rated for an input voltage of 10 to 20 vdc so you are fine for voltage.

Do you have the owners manual? If not I recommend you go to the manufacturers HSOforum adn download the pdf. There is a hard reset option on the diagnostic menu according to the manual, I would also run that diagnostic.

Do you have a multi-meter (Volts, Ohms, Amps...) or access to one? If yes I would test input voltage and current while in operation, these problems are sometimes hard to find.

Good Luck

[BizzityB]

Thanks for the info everyone. I am going to pull it in tonight and rip it apart. I do not have a voltage tester but i do have a fully charged vex batt which i plan to hook it up to and see if a hard wire direct to a batt does the trick. I will try the hard reset and check my wiring the Boat Batt is about 3 months old can't believe it would be low.

I will test it out and take a look.

Thanks!

Biz

[CAMAN]

the Boat Batt is about 3 months old can't believe it would be low

Any battery will be low if it gets used and doesn't get recharged.

[BizzityB]

Thanks everyone for the info. I have the finder hooked up to the fuse panel of the boat. I tested the batt and its good. Followed the connections to the panel with a tester and everything was good. Followed it to the power end of the Humminbird power cord it was all the same. I hooked up the finder with just power no transducer and now the screen won't show anything. I took the power cord off the connection ran it to a brand new deep cycle batt and the screen was still blank but I can here all of the buttons working and the light comes on just nothing on the screen. I am going to assume the screen is shot and ill need to find a new one. Thanks for all your help!