898c si Double echo or noise?

[Random guy]

I installed two new 898c si units on my boat. Networked together. After having to replace one unit right off the bat as it was possessed, I had to update the sonar in both brand new units to 6.1 to get the network to work and finally after a day of phone calls I hit the water. Now I have a bad echo or band of color from 2 feet to 3 feet and nobody at home at Hummingbird and the rep won't answer and I need this boat working correctly! All of the settings will not remove it. I tried for an hour to tune out that band of noise with no luck. Any ideas what is causing it? Pretty bad when you are fishing four feet of water and 1.5- 3 is blocked out in all the views. Even in deeper water such as 12-14 that band hangs around at 2-3 feet.

So far I am not very impressed with my first Humminbirds units.

Help please.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Ive always had that echo on both my humminbird and lowrance units.

the echo like the one in this picture? Pretty sure thats normal and you can still see fish in it if they are there but its unlikely as the boat will likely spook them.

Do you really need sonar if you're fishing in 4'? Not to be a smart arse or anything but wont the cone be so small at that depth, are you really missing anything? As long as you know the depth.

[Random guy]

We run 1n six to 2 feet of water on a regular basis. Would be nice to know when the depth is geting close to the prop. Plus it is jacking up my sidescan in deeper water.

[reddog]

Post a screencapture of what it looks like..

[TruthWalleyes]

Post an image. Should be able to identify what is causing it.

Is the interference line always visible, or only when....trolling motor is on, motoring faster than Xmph, bilge pump, other electronics...

Does your transducer have a CLEAR view to each side of the boat, nothing, NOTHING, in the way?

To remove an image from your card, remove card from unit, install into computer. Open files, click the picture icon showing hte interference and upload into here. Be sure to turn "Snapshot" to ON on your unit.

[Random guy]

I will get a snapshot of it next time. I did turn everything off in the boat and even trimmed up the motors in the back and it is still present. If I turn the 83kz sensitivity down to nothing it goes away but so does most of the returns.

I also lose my signal at 6 mph. The ducer was mounted (boat shop rigged the units)in a good flat spot and I have been moving it up and down trying to get at least a little higher speed out of it. I even checked to make sure the ducer was not tilted nose down making for cavitation under it.

Pretty fustrating to spend so much on two new units and have them work worse then the ten year old stuff I had. The mapping/navigsation side of it is awesome but the sonar has me at my wits end. I'm gonna give them a few days and hope somebody has an idea how to make them work or they are going back to where they came from.

[Random guy]

All the screen shots show the side image not the RTS window...guess I need to load my disc and read how to make screenshots work now. I haven't been this fustrated with something in years.

[TruthWalleyes]

These aren't plug and play for everyone's boat...It was for me, but not for many.

When you hit "Mark" to save a waypoint (if "Snapshot" is set to "ON") it will save the waypoint location as 1 file, and an image of whatever was on your screen at the time of hitting the "Mark" button. You should be able to hit the "View" button and go to a screen which shows you all of your waypoint screen shots.

You can pull out your SD card and view on your computer. I like to just click them and view as an image. Some people load into humviewer, but i'm sure your not doing that yet.

It would also be helpful to see a rear view of your boat and the transducer installed location.

6mph no reading is pretty bad. I'm guessing there is something obvious missed by the "Experts" who installed your ducer...BTW, it is highly unlikely that any of those guys actually own one, let alone, each boat has its own "Sweet" spot for the transducer...Some boats don't have a sweet spot.

If it comes down to it, there is a device which reduces cavitation, basically filling the gap between the boat and transducer. I cannot for the life of me think of the product.

It is very important though to have the "Seam" or "Parting line" of the transducer to be level with the bottom of your boat hull so the transducer "Skims" the water at plane, instead of plowing into the water creating cavitation.

Screen shot and pics of install. We'll figure it out. Another great resource, best IMO is (type into google) BBC Humminbird Image Interpretation - many reps from HBIrd willing to answer questions exactly like yours all day long.

[TruthWalleyes]

Do you really need sonar if you're fishing in 4'? Not to be a smart arse or anything but wont the cone be so small at that depth, are you really missing anything? As long as you know the depth.

Sorry, but i have to....

Yes, typical sonar is worthless in less than 15' IMO.

Side imaging sends out 180 degree sonar, so in two feet of water, i can see 100' to the side of the boat. Now to be realistic, there are enough obsticles in 2 feet of water where the signal will be stopped short, but SI prevails where all others fail...Shallow water.

Here's some late fall eyes in >4'

[TruthWalleyes]

Can you see the bass sitting under this T dock?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Truth, no that's not what I meant, I was simply referring to traditional sonar. I have a humminbird side imaging unit, too.

What I was originally getting at is why does it matter if you have echo taking up half the screen in 4' of water? There probably isnt much to see with traditional sonar anyways at those depths. The big thing is at least you know the depth at thats the important part. But all that is a moot point as Johnny P is having bigger problems.

Wish I could help more but Ive been lucky. I installed mine on two boats and both worked great without any tinkering. Like noted make sure the seam is level with the boat hull, and make sure the transducer is level both vertically and horizontally.

Oh and No, I cant see the bass under the dock. Could you point out what Im looking for? Seriously Id love to know, I dont claim to be a master with it yet but love learning new things.

[TruthWalleyes]

My bad TurnUp.

The interference lines (Though i haven't seen them yet) are probably minimal and don't affect much, but i think it is more of an "I just spend $4K on this, i don't want lines!!" ..and that i don't disagree with train of though either. Some boat hulls can be a @@#$ to install one of these to work at all speeds with no interference, others like a ranger- no problems.

[Random guy]

Ok the ducer was only mounted about an inch high, wow I wonder what else was installed worng. I see Humminbird wants the seam of the ducer even with the bottom of the boat, mine was most likely not even touching the water on plane...or when the boat moved. I also replaced the ducer with my spare per a "specalists" advice. Headed out in a few minutes, fingers crossed. Hopefully it works as I am getting a sore arm from poking the long Beckman handle in the water to get the depth.

[TruthWalleyes]

I figured it was something simple that the "Experts" totally missed.

Good luck. Don't run into anything while your starring at the graph

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Jonny, something tells me you found your issue...

Truth, can you tell me how you know those are fish as opposed to some of the other blobs/returns in the image? My take on the image would be the yellow areas I circled are dock pilings as they are metal and give of strong returns and have long black shadows or voided areas behind them but it seems you called some of what I would call dock supports fish. I really am not too good at seeing fish in cover yet.

[TruthWalleyes]

There lies the debate!! A fish in that shallow of water will cast the same shadow, the 3 you highlighted i was least competent in. You might be right though, the bass i caught had to of come from somewhere

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Actually that makes sense, never thought of that. Shallow water is like sun on the horizon, its going to cast a longer shadow but deep water is like high sun and the shadow will be shorter and more below the object. See learning something new all the time!

[Random guy]

1,000 times better. I can see trees, stumps, rocks and even smally beds. Pretty cool stuff. The sonar will read to about 26mph. I did get stupid and stuck my head over the wave wacker at full throttle and seen some water spraying up over the top so tommorow I am going bump it up just a smidge. Night and day difference with the new transducer sitting still and moving it down almost 1.25 inch made the unit work prety good at higher speeds

As for the band at 2.5-4 feet it is still present big time, an bugging me like a fly stuck in the lamp shade. This is with the clutter and sensitivty turned way down in clear mode.

As for deeper water the bar is still present but the unit is working great in max mode.

.

[reddog]

The screen capture is going to take a picture of whatever you have up on the view at the time you push mark with the screencapture menu turned on...

If it's 2D sonar thats giving you fits, then make sure you are on a 2D screen when you push "mark" with the screencapture turned on in your menu.

I have a 1750 crestliner and I get SI readings to top end (40).. there will be a sweet spot for you that will optimize ytour performance, but youve got to keep dinking with it to find out where it is.

[reddog]

Give a picture of the transom of your boat. Something is causing that 2D interference for you. That would not bother me, and Im sure later on it wont bother you so much either, as you see the value of your SI screen and never go back to 2D, unless you are in 20+ fow..

[goose89]

Johnny, have you played with the Switchfire settings?? You might be in Max mode. If you haven't, try it in Clear mode. Much better / cleaner pic in shallow water. good luck....glad things are getting better.

[TruthWalleyes]

I never use clear mode. Always adjust sensitivity of max mode.

I'm with reddog, and i said it earlier. Post a picture of your transom. There is probably a screen for your livewell intake in the way, or something of the sort. If you have NOTHING else on, do you still have the interference?

Reddog, could this be caused from linking the two units together?

26mph is good. I've been caught leaning over the transom at full speed to check the rooster tail too

Glad its working for you.

When you do fish deeper water, try vertical jigging. It's like ice fishing and starring at your flasher. Fish comes in...Whack! All caught on the screen. Seems like cheating sometimes!

[Random guy]

I will stroll out in a bit and take a picture of the transom.

I did have the unit in clear mode and the motor trimmed up and out of the water, everything in the boat was turned off, except the other unit.

[Random guy]

[TruthWalleyes]

Nice clean boat you've got there.

I'm out of ideas. Contact humminbird, i think it may be related to linking the two units together...but at this point i dont know.

[reddog]

Could be the link. It would be fairly simple to just unplug the ethernet cables from both units and see what it does.

What is the relationship left to right with the struts below.

Other than that, It looks good. should run at high speed.

You want clean water to wash the face of the transducer, not scrub it.

an eighth of an inch can make a big difference in your xducers performance at high speed, but I dont see where moving it is going to fix the 2D problem.