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Help me diagnose my flasher problem

blackdog1101

By blackdog1101
in Ice Fishing

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blackdog1101 Experienced

blackdog1101

Posted
Posted

I've got a problem with my flasher. When I turn it on I get the red mark at zero, but no depth reading. The battery is freshly charged, and all the wire connection seem sound. Everything looks normal, but there is no depth reading. Any ideas what may be wrong? It is a Marcum VX-1, which has been terrific. Thanks!

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PerchJerker Grand Master

PerchJerker

Posted
Posted

It is probably a bad transducer -- they wear out over time.

Also, did you have it on a deep enough depth range to mark the bottom --- for example, if you're in 25 fow but on the 20 foot depth scale, it will not show you the bottom.

Good luck getting it figured out.

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McGurk Grand Master

McGurk

Posted
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It is probably a bad transducer -- they wear out over time...

Are you serious? What kind of time frame can a guy expect?

I only ask because there are countless examples of vexilar guys stating 20 yr plus reliability.

As a marcun guy with an lx3 on my 4th trancducer it kind of annoys me to see that written here.

In marcums defense it was all a few years ago with the bad batches of transducers and they were all warrantied for free.

If you confirm this i think i will switch to vexilar and chance the transducer aging and roll the dice.

Not picking a fight, just want clarification on what timeframe you speak of.

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Hardyboy Proficient

Hardyboy

Posted
Posted

I think some people take different care of their equipment than others. So banging the units around or not stowing the ducer or banging off of ice or other things has an effect. One person may get 2 years another may get 10. I really think it boils down to this. maintenance maintenance maintenance.

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PerchJerker Grand Master

PerchJerker

Posted
Posted

Are you serious? What kind of time frame can a guy expect?

I am 100% serious - there is a crystal or element inside the plastic housing that resonates, and when it wears out or gets loose inside the housing it will have a negative effect on how well your fishfinder works. Hitting transducers on something, bumping them, putting too much pressure on the cable, etc. are all BAD THINGS for transducers. This is true for any transducer from any manufacturer, for ice fishing or for open water ----- they can go bad slowly over time from just being used, or they can quit suddenly.

There's no way to say how long they'll last. The number of hours you use it has more to do with it than how long you own it. How careful you are with it can really affect the life of it too.

Some examples on how long transducers have lasted for me .......

- I have a 6+ year old LX-5 with a TON of hours on it, on its original transducer, and I think I will replace the transducer the year, it seems like I'm getting a weaker signal from it.

- I have a 5 year old LX-3 that gets a lot of use that is on its original transducer and is still going strong.

- For an FL-8 that I used to have, I replaced the original transducer after 5-6 years, then had to replace the replacement transducer 2 years later.

- I have a HB Ice 45 right now and I think that transducer is going bad after less than 1 year with very little use ---- I've loaned it out to other guys a few times, maybe one of them damaged it blush

- Couple years ago I had to replace the transducer on my trolling motor, it wasn't that old, one day it worked fine, the next day it wouldn't mark anything.

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mabr Mentor

mabr

Posted
Posted

What about a VX1 that doesnt do anything but a solid beep when you turn it on?

No light nothing. It happened to me yesterday. Thought battery, Nope put new one in and it did the same thing. Luckly I had my old FL8 with me.

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NoWiser Mentor

NoWiser

Posted
Posted

I think some people take different care of their equipment than others. So banging the units around or not stowing the ducer or banging off of ice or other things has an effect. One person may get 2 years another may get 10. I really think it boils down to this. maintenance maintenance maintenance.

I'm not sure I agree with this 100%. I've owned an FL-8 for about 15 years and an FL-18 since they came out, and the only time I've had to replace a transducer was when my dad was carrying it into a cabin, the ducer got stuck on a stair tread that he didn't see, and the wire got pulled out of the transducer. I really use and abuse my flasher, too. I should have gone through about 10 of them by now, but they just keep on going. I always run from hole to hole, dragging the ducer, chip ice off with an axe, and have on occasion, been known to take off across the lake on the snowmobile with transducer whipping and bouncing behind me. Maybe I'm just lucky, but, like I said, I have never had an issue except the one time I mentioned. I have heard of many more Marcums needing new transducers after a year or two.

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