Lowrance X28c Problem

[LMITOUT]

Anybody have an idea of what would cause this to happen? It started happening towards the end of my last outing, and today it started doing it right away. As you can see in the picture the bottom is still being read along with the correct depth. What appears to happen is the unit loses the gain or goes to reduced power or something. I have to crank it all the way up to 90%+ to get anything to really show up in the water column but it's still not back to normal, and then a while later it'll return to normal and then I have to turn the gain back down. Nothing has changed with the boat. I was just trolling along and it started doing it last week.

I did a hard reset on the unit but that did nothing. I updated the firmware before the season started and I haven't done anything as far as loading other files, etc. It just started happening out of the blue. I checked the transducer which is gelled into the hull and it's clicking away even when it's having one of it's episodes. I'm going to try loading up the firmware again, but if anyone has seen this before please let me know whats going on here. Thanks!

You can see in the photo where the middle strip is normal and the outside areas that are mostly white is what happens when it goes bonkers.

[JohnMickish]

I have a X102 that does a very similar thing. Comes and goes at will, and from what I have noticed it dosen't have anything to do with the bottom structure.

[LMITOUT]

Hmmm. Misery loves company I guess.

[PerchJerker]

Are you sure your shoot-thru-hull transducer is tightly adhered to the hull? I had a shoot-thru-hull transducer come loose one time, it was giving me funny readings then it popped right out of the adhesive. I remounted it and it's been good ever since. Good luck getting it solved.

[LMITOUT]

Yeah, I grabbed a hold of it and it was solid. They (Ranger) used some goop to put it on. Not sure what type of adhesive it is. I have a 520 right beside it so tomorrow I'm going to move the cable over to that and see if the problem transfers over and then I'll know if it's the X28 or the transducer. I couldn't do it on the water today.

[LMITOUT]

Hey Perch....what is involved in installing a shoot-thru transducer? I've read a little about it and I suppose I could dig out the manual because I believe it's mentioned in there. What type of adhesive should be used and how do you ensure no air bubbles get trapped in-between?

[PerchJerker]

It was pretty easy to do, the hardest part is having clear access to the bottom of the bilge and room to work.

I left the old epoxy in my bilge and moved my transducer a few inches to a new location. I used a rotary sander (dremel tool probably) to remove the coating inside the bilge and get down to clear fiberglass. Then vacummed out the dust and used an acetone cleaner to clean the fiberglass and the bottom of my transducer.

The epoxy I used was 2-part mixture where you mix in the hardener but I don't remember what it was called (I got it at Home Depot or a hardware store). Spread a liberal coating over the bottom of the bilge. You don't want to do any more stirring or spreading than necessary so you don't build in air bubbles. When you set your transducer in it you want to set in one side/edge of the transducer first and then slowly press it in until the other side is in - don't rock it back and forth or you'll get air bubbles. Try to get it level for when the boat is in the water. And there you go.

I don't use my shoot-thru transducer very often, I have it connected to a combo unit that I use just as a gps, or a back-up sonar only if needed. The transducer I use the most is a transom mount. But every so often I use the shoot-thru one just for kicks and/or to make sure it's working ---- it works really good, especially if you bump up the sensitivity a couple notches over where the auto setting puts it.

I've heard you can mount them in silicone and get good results, and then you can remove them or relocate them if you want ---- but of course you have a better chance of them popping loose.

[JohnMickish]

FWIW mine acts up going thru a Minnkota universal sonar.

[PerchJerker]

FWIW mine acts up going thru a Minnkota universal sonar.

You might want to check the grounds for both your motor and your graph.

[JohnMickish]

I don't know why I didn't think of that. Thanks.