trouble with lowrance locator/ transducer location?

[Dahitman44]

I had problems with this unit last year as well. Seemed like we had the issues cleared up, but I will try an explain everything that is / has been going on.

Ok -- it is an x-17C/ (I think) it was about $1,000 w/ gps and bigger screen.

Ok -- put it on my new trophy 185 last year and mounted it myself on a plate I put in. The plate location was where the "book" showed me which was about halfway between middle of the back of the boat and the "right" side. That is the side of the ladder location, but when I asked the dealer they said it will not be a problem.

Last year I lost "contact with the bottom and had a lot of flashing depths. i tried everything including running its own power to a battery and everything.

I called Lowrance custer service and they were not much help.

I ended up running a different transducer and that seemed to work. I left the old one on the boat just not mounted.

I went fishing during the opener and I could not get it to get a reading on the bottom. i cleaned it off, checked cabels, blew on them, turned it off etc.

For the heck of it I hooked up the old transducer that did not work and it worked better than the other one.

One thought I had was the transducer location is by the ladder and the kids were in and out of the boat quite a bit when it was in the driveway, maybe they hit it?

The water temp did work, but no bottom reading.

I am going to hook up the "old" one and mount it and I got a new ducer from lowrance as well and I might hook that up too. I am also going to change the location of the ducer plate making it further from the later and lower in the water and closer to the middle of the back of the boat.

Any thoughts to my issue?

Thanks

Hitman

[tjwierz2]

I had similar problems with my X91 last year that worked just fine for 3 years...the transducer slowly stopped working basically...stopped reading bottom at higher speeds, then slowly stopped reading bottom altogether... New transducer for $70 fixed the problem........for about 2 months at which point the unit just wouldn't power on.

Does your ducer work when the boat isn't moving???

[Surface Tension]

First eliminate the transducers placement as the problem. If its working when your not moving then theres your problem. You'll want no ribs in fount of the ducer. If you have a V-hull that goes all the way back to the transom, its possible your boat is lifting out of the water enough that the ducer is loosing contact with the water. Next realign the angle of the ducer and its depth. The ducers bottom should not be above any point of the hulls V. The angle of the ducer should be that the front of the ducer is raised a hair so the water flows across the bottom of the ducer without cavatation.

If your not getting a reading when sitting still chances are your ducer is bad which from my observations, happening more often with LEI transducers.

About the swim ladder. If the ducer is getting banged move it over to the other side of the boat. The reason for suggesting mounting it on that side is because of turbulences from the props rotation. Just don't move it so far off center that it'll loose contact with the water.

[zelek]

  Surface Tension said:

The angle of the ducer should be that the front of the ducer is raised a hair so the water flows across the bottom of the ducer without cavatation.

Great post ST...I am having problems too and I think this may be it. I'm sure an old manual I had showed the ducer tipped down a hair so that's the way I've always had it. What you're saying makes sense. I'm going to try that. Thanks!!

[Dahitman44]

No it did not work at all on saturday, but did work off and on (blinking) even sitting still.

[Dahitman44]

  Surface Tension said:

You'll want no ribs in fount of the ducer. If you have a V-hull that goes all the way back to the transom, its possible your boat is lifting out of the water enough that the ducer is loosing contact with the water. Next realign the angle of the ducer and its depth. The ducers bottom should not be above any point of the hulls V. The angle of the ducer should be that the front of the ducer is raised a hair so the water flows across the bottom of the ducer without cavatation.

Not sure if I follow you. the back of my boat looks like a V so I need to have the transducer sitting below the "point in the V" which is the middle of the boat? is that what you are saying?

Also -- what about the bumps from the rivots will that cause some problems when I mount the mounting plate?

Thanks.

Hit

[Dahitman44]

Can you explain where your ducer is mounted?

Do you think that is the problem?

[Fishinguy40]

If your not getting a reading when sitting still chances are your ducer is bad which from my observations, happening more often with LEI transducers.

I have been reading issues on here about Lowrance units losing bottom signal. I too am experiencing this right now. Sometimes it happens even when the boat is sitting still so it would seem to be the transducer. But is there another brand that can be used with my Lowrance 522c GPS/Sonar that is more depandable than the LEI?

[Surface Tension]

Note how the bottom left portion of the ducer is a hair bellow the hull.

As said, if your not getting a reading when sitting still its the transducer.

As far as blinking off and on, please explain more.

[Dahitman44]

Ok --

Currently, my mounting plate and my first ducer (one not working) is located about 24 inches from V-point in the middle of the back of my boat. It is directly in the middle of my boat ladder.

I measured and there is room for a 6-inch plate a few inches from the middle V area. Then there is three round "rivot heads" then about six more inches for the plate and then more rivots and the start of the originall mounting plate.

So -- any thoughts to where I should mount it?

I would like to mount the plate right over the rivots, but it will not fit flush so I think that is a bad idea.

would the section closer to the "V" or the next section over be best? Any thoughts?

thanks

Hit

[Surface Tension]

Lets start fresh and reboot your sounder. With the sounder off, push in and hold both zoom buttons. Continue to hold in the zoom buttons while turning the power on. You'll hear a beep.

While sitting still in shallow water can you read bottom? If no your ducer is bad. If yes, try it in deeper water. Has the bottom faded or is it loosing bottom? If no, your ducer is probably good.

About the rivets, don't worry about the rivets on the transom, its the rivets on the hull that you try to avoid mounting the ducer in back of. Anything that could cavatate in front of the ducer is not good. As long as there isn't any part of the ladder hanging in the water when your underway then its just a matter of the ducer not getting banged. If your 24" from center you could move it a little closer. As long as you have the ducer below the hull like shown in the picture and that its bottom surface is parallel to the surface of the water your fine.

[minneman]

44, I can fix you up, call me

[cmalis27]

  Quote

While sitting still in shallow water can you read bottom? If no your ducer is bad. If yes, try it in deeper water. Has the bottom faded or is it loosing bottom? If no, your ducer is probably good.

I am having similar issues with my X71. Are you saying that if the bottom is faded in deep water that the ducer is bad or going bad?

[Surface Tension]

"I am having similar issues with my X71. Are you saying that if the bottom is faded in deep water that the ducer is bad or going bad?"

If the bottom content is the same, then yes your ducer could be on the way out. If you have to max out the gain to pick up bottom then your ducer is on its way out.

I'll explain further. Say you in 10' of water and your can pick up bottom. As you get out to 25' or 30' you start noticing a faded bottom. First thing you do is increase the gain, that doesn't do anything. Go deeper and things get worse. That is a ducer that is not good. If you think back to when your sounder was new you'll realize it right away. Or do this, put it in simulate mode. Pay no attention the the hooks, just compare bottom. Before someone says theres a difference between soft and hard bottom, I know that. The sim mode is just a reference.

[sparkyaber]

Hey all, don't forget the issues with the software! I had issues with about six units in different boats, all losing bottom at speed, in shallow water, etc. Lowrance had never admitted this as an issue, it was. I downdated all of the units to a previous version, ang they worked just fine. I have since installed the newest version, and have had no problems. Always keep a copy of the older versions on your computer, just in case the new version is no good. Did you do a software update over the winter? What version are you running?

[Dahitman44]

gosh -- I have no idea