ICE 45 Troubleshooting

[BuckSutherland]

I have ICE 45. Took it out last night and the flasher display quit working on me. I think there is a pin in there or something that engages to spin the flasher. Anyone know a place close to McLeod county that could fix it??

I still have power to the unit as it displays depth, but the flasher portion is dead. Supposed to leave on Wed for SD.

[thatsawalleye]

Can't help you with the fix but I also had 45 problems last night too. The flasher would hold bottom but. Would see marks on and off all the way up the water column. This would happen more frequent when I would drop my jig fast, then I would see lines. Anyone seem this problem.

[BuckSutherland]

You need to turn your gain down a little. I would guess you were making air bubbles on the way down. Mine is actually broken.

[fishhuntwork]

I actually had an ICE 45 issue tonight too. Mine was unable to lock on to the lure or mark fish, it also read .8 ft on the digital read out for the first 5 minutes. Its only only 2 years old I hope hummingbird stands behind there things bc I'm not happy. I wish I would of never got rid of FL 18! If anyone has ever encountered issues like I've described please point out what you did to repair it.

[thatsawalleye]

It's not the gain, have the gain set so low I can barley mark my spoon. Also when these marks would appear my depth would jump around.

[thatsawalleye]

My jig is on the bottom

[BuckSutherland]

It's not the gain, have the gain set so low I can barley mark my spoon. Also when these marks would appear my depth would jump around.

Then it could be bait fishing swimming around, or like I said when you are dropping it down you might be picking up air bubbles that you created.

[bee]

That could be bait,plankton,debrie from the bottom of the ice. Bubbles lots of things.

[Lusid]

Calling the Bird company and see what they say?

How old is your current battery?

[fishhuntwork]

It would be nice to call customer service but they are closed for the holiday season. They open on thursday the 26th.

[throwback]

Hi

I had something like that happen on my 55 once. Check that your cables to the head are clean and pushed all the way in. Mine came loose and once all the way in it started working.

[thatsawalleye]

I will have to check the cables, I did make sure they were clean and plugged in tight but maybe the is a hole in the ducer cord.

[BuckSutherland]

It would be nice to call customer service but they are closed for the holiday season. They open on thursday the 26th.

Yep, really frustrating. The first year they came out I was one of the first ones to buy one. I was on Red Lake and the same thing happened in the middle of the trip. This year we are leaving Christmas day for SD. Pretty POed

[fishhuntwork]

I've decided I can't go without right now so I'm going to go buy a Vexilar. I'll get this one fixed and sell it.

[Lusid]

I've decided I can't go without right now so I'm going to go buy a Vexilar. I'll get this one fixed and sell it.

wise choice! (which version?)

[Hardwater_Fan]

A few things to check are listed below. Some common sense, but not necessarily always followed or thought of in the frustration of the situation.

As mentioned, make sure the cables are plugged all the way into the back of the head unit. Mine wiggled a little loose one time and that was the problem.

Make sure your battery is good (and charged). If you fish a lot, you may want to get a new battery every year for a few years. Then you know it will (should) be a good battery and you will have a backup or two if needed. Once you have a few batteries after a few years. Just cycle the oldest one out. Engrave the date you bought it on the battery so you always know at a glance how old it is.

Make sure there are no other flashers in the immediate area as it could be interference then.

Never ever drop your ducer onto the ice. Some guys will drop it onto skim ice when hole hopping to break through. The crystal in the ducer is sensitive. Take care of it like it's a several hundred dollar electronic.

[harvey lee]

I agree Hardwater, I have a 35 and a 55 and my wires came a tad loose once and after I reconnected them, all was fine.

I love my Bird's.

Bout all you can do is call Humminbird and they may be able to trouble shoot your issue for you.

Yes, most companies close over the Christmas Holidays as thier families like to be off also. Just bad timing for you.

The pic you have posted above look's right. maybe zoo plankton or many other things. May not hurt to hhok up a battery you know without a doubt is good or a new one to see how it act's then.

I would guess u will have to ship it back to get repaired but I would talk to them first as they could solve your issue over the phone.

You do not use the support cable for the transducer do you? If you do, take that off as the ducer could also be hanging at a slight angle.

MY digital readout will jump around once inawhile when I am jigging but I just ignore it. Does not happen enough to be a concern the few times it does happen.

[harvey lee]

Buck, if you need a flasher for your trip, I believe you are in Norwood and I could lend you a Marcum LX5 if you would like to use it for the trip.

Just e-mail me at

[email protected]

[thatsawalleye]

Thanks for all the advice! The only thing that makes me think it's not something in the water column is my depth would jump around all the time. As for the support cable I have never used that. Think the next thing I could do is swap battery's.

[fishhuntwork]

I called Hummingbird this morning and spoke with there customer service. After complaining that the unit was barely 2 years old and I wouldn't pay the $125 to get it serviced they finally agreed to fix it under warranty. I asked about the turn around and they said 3-5 days after they receive it, which is better then I thought. I still think I'm going back to Vexilar fl 18, thought about the 28 but way to expensive. Thanks for all the ideas on a way to correct the issue I was having.

[ohhfursure]

I also have a ice 45. Last year I had issues with alot of junk/false readings from ice to bottom. I first checked my gain and it was at 20, thats low already. I couldnt read my jig at 20. Normally it would run at 30 to 35. Incase anyone was wondering what my gain was at....Then I was told by a local bait shop to take off the 2nd rubber stablizer that attachs to the transduce cable. Here it was cocking my transduer so it wasnt sitting flat, it was at a slight angle. From that day on I have nothing but good from my 45. Hope it stays that way and I hope one of these responses helps.

[crothmeier]

^^^^^^^ x2

I took both rubber pieces off mine and electrical taped it in a way that the transducer always hangs level. This solved every issue that I had with my unit. False readings, inaccurate readings, clutter were all cleaned up by doing this.