Tranducer Problems

[the_admeral]

I have a Lowrance 332c. It's basically the bottom model with gps capabilities and a color view finder.

I am having problems with loosing sonar. Every now and then, on the screen the dept will blink and it will not mark anything. I have tried to make small adjustments to the angle of the tranducer mounted on the transom. I think it's getting better. Not to sure, because it was really bad before. Do I need to fine tune it even more?? What else can I do?

[Undertaker]

You might want to check the side to side angle too.
Front to back angle is good to adjust for signal lost at speed, but if its shooting to the side too far, you could lose signal return.

[the_admeral]

You might want to check the side to side angle too.
Front to back angle is good to adjust for signal lost at speed, but if its shooting to the side too far, you could lose signal return.

I have tried that. It's hard to figure out how the boat sit's in the water. I think this summer I can jump in the water when I am swimming and inspect things. The only thing is, I need it now. :mad: I could probably go to an empty dock and look at things.

[Undertaker]

Hmm... it should be easy enough to eyeball it and see if it's level.
Maybe your trancducer is faulty?

[Starfish]

Give me a shout if you're up this direction and I'll be happy to take a look at it and see if there's anything obvious wrong with the transducer placement. Is it flipping out only when on plane or does it have problems while trolling too? I've got the same sonar without the GPS capabilities and it performs great even at 60 mph. You might try posting a photo of the transducer on the transom.

[the_admeral]

Give me a shout if you're up this direction and I'll be happy to take a look at it and see if there's anything obvious wrong with the transducer placement. Is it flipping out only when on plane or does it have problems while trolling too? I've got the same sonar without the GPS capabilities and it performs great even at 60 mph. You might try posting a photo of the transducer on the transom.

Thanks starfish and undertaker. It is going out while trolling to. On Plane it is off and on also. I have eye balled it and stood back about 15 feet and it looks good. I think I will have to do some more adjusting.:passout: This all happened when I mounted a 9.9 kicker to the transom. Maybe the weight put it off angle. I need to get it fixed before springer season. I'm heading to a new area and it would be nerve racking with out sonar.

[the_admeral]

Thanks starfish and undertaker. It is going out while trolling to. On Plane it is off and on also. I have eye balled it and stood back about 15 feet and it looks good. I think I will have to do some more adjusting.:passout: This all happened when I mounted a 9.9 kicker to the transom. Maybe the weight put it off angle. I need to get it fixed before springer season. I'm heading to a new area and it would be nerve racking with out sonar.


Here are a couple of pictures. When I was back there, It looked like it could be angled towards the kicker. I will try and move it and hopefully that works. Transducer looks fine. It's sealed good. No exposed wires.

[Starfish]

That looks like it's angled way too far to the rear (rear end of the transducer is too high). The back of the transducer needs to be pushed downward until it is at least level with the front of the transducer and preferably even a tiny bit below the front of the transducer.

[skunkedalot]

What he said. Definately.

[Randy]

For most situations, you should install your skimmer transducer so that its centerline is level with the bottom of the boat hull. I used a straight edge (square or yard stick) on the low side of the angle.

Transducer angle of 14 degrees is recommended. Most outboard and stern-drive transoms have a 14 degree angle. On the side of your bracket maybe some letters, with the letter "A" aligned with the dot stamped, this would put you at there recommended starting of settings.

Something may have hit the transducer and put it out of adjustment. Suggest you look it over for possible damage.

This information was out of my manual and has worked great for me.

Randy

[5150Dan]

I am no expert on this but I thought the transducer should be located on the other side of motor.My instructions state on that if your prop. turns clockwise mount it on the starboard side. If it moves counter-clockwise mount it on the portside.Not sure if this applies to your f.f. but this is from my hummingbird manual.

Dan

[Starfish]

I am no expert on this but I thought the transducer should be located on the other side of motor.My instructions state on that if your prop. turns clockwise mount it on the starboard side. If it moves counter-clockwise mount it on the portside.Not sure if this applies to your f.f. but this is from my hummingbird manual.

Dan

Typically it's a good idea to mount it on the side away from your kicker, but I'd just about guarantee transducer placement isn't the issue on this one... it's just tweaked out of position as described above. I've got a tranducer on each side and they both read just fine.

[the_admeral]

Typically it's a good idea to mount it on the side away from your kicker, but I'd just about guarantee transducer placement isn't the issue on this one... it's just tweaked out of position as described above. I've got a tranducer on each side and they both read just fine.

I have been messing with it for about a month. Thats why it's tweaked back so far. This boat is very rear heavy. I agree, I need to move it down. Do you think I should move it to the left? Towards the kicker because of the new added weight?

[baitsauce]

Looks to me like the transducer isn't far enough in the water. For it to work properly it needs to be in un-turbulant water.

I bet your problems would go away if you were able to mount the transducer so the top of it is below the bottom of the boat.

:twocents:

[the_admeral]

Looks to me like the transducer isn't far enough in the water. For it to work properly it needs to be in un-turbulant water.

I bet your problems would go away if you were able to mount the transducer so the top of it is below the bottom of the boat.

:twocents:


Well, I adjusted the transducer again. I will keep making minor adjustments until it works. :pray:
Thanks again for everyone's input.

[TEC]

I'm no expert in any way, but the 3 main issue's I've had are:

1. Transducer not mounted low enough. You really need clean water for the transducer. Any bubbles at all will really degrade the signal.

2. Oils on the transducer. Just oils off of your hands (or 2 stroke) will degrade the signal. I keep a bottle of Lemon Joy on the boat so I just grab it and rub a drop on the transducer before each launch just to be safe. Don't worry about soap residue as it will wash off as soon as you start to drive.

3. Over voltage from the charging system. This was the hardest for me to t-shoot as my boat didn't have a volt meter and neither of my sonar units do either. The charging system on my old Merc was unregulated and would go over 18 volts at anything above an idle. The symptoms were one FF would just shutdown after awhile and the other would suddenly show over 600' when the water was only 20'. A $70 regulator added to the system fixed it though.

[baitsauce]

In an effort to try and help you out admeral, and since we are having such a beautiful day here in the southern Willamette Valley, I took some pictures of my set up to give you an idea of how far into the water (IMHO) a transducer should be mounted.

A little background. I have two sonars (fishfinders) on my boat. The transducer on the left goes to the sonar in the front of my boat. An Eagle Fishmark 320.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/a100.jpg


And another view:

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/a101.jpg



The tranducer on the right is for the sonar I have mounted at the back near where I run the kicker motor, a (dual frequency) Raymarine DS500X.


http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/a102.jpg

As you can see I have both sitting pretty far into the water. They both work very well no matter what the boat is doing, either trolling or on plane or anything in between.

That being said, I bet that is your problem. Just like TEC said transducers are notorious for needing "clean" water. That is water with no turbulance.

Let us all know how it goes.

[SilverBullets]

The way I got the boat level on the trailer was to put a level along the scum line on the sides and the back, and jack up the trailer to get the boat level. This will show how it sits in the water, then use a level to get the ducer mounted from side to side, and run a straight edge along bottom of boat to adjust for height. As already stated, stay away from prop wash, and ribs on bottom of boat. Hope this helps.

[the_admeral]

Baitsauce: Am I sure glad it was a beautiful day in the valley.:excited: That actually helped out allot. I think the transducer should go down to. I am going out tomorrow evening and I'll let you know. Thanks again.

[Starfish]

Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about moving the transducer farther away from the main motor, in my experience that has been a minimal concern. Getting the transducer level is most important, and I second the recommendation to scrub the transducer with some soap if there's a chance it might have picked up some oil or tar on the road.

Moving the transducer deeper in the water is only a concern if you're losing signal at high speed. The fact that you're cutting out even while trolling tells me that's not the issue and turbulence isn't your problem. If you put the transducer too deep in the water you'll create a roostertail off the tranducer when running at speed.

[the_admeral]

UPDATE: Went out yesterday and the dept finder works better. Not perfect. I would say about every 20 minutes I would get a blinking dept and no sonar for about 45 seconds. It's allot better but not perfect. I think all it needs is a little more fine tunning. Thanks again for everyones help. :applause:

[Starfish]

That's good! Glad to hear it's improving, hopefully you can get it dialed in and working great.

[SilverBullets]

UPDATE: Went out yesterday and the dept finder works better. Not perfect. I would say about every 20 minutes I would get a blinking dept and no sonar for about 45 seconds. It's allot better but not perfect. I think all it needs is a little more fine tunning. Thanks again for everyones help. :applause:

Sounds like your getting close, what did you end up doing?

[rew]

I have the same problem, I just figured it was my low-quality depth finder. It usually only works if I'm going slow.

I didn't realize I could move the transducer so close to the outboard... but it makes sense, right in front of the engine the water isn't as turbulent.

Thanks for the thread!

[the_admeral]

Silver bullet..

I ended up moving it down and to the left towards the kicker. I'm affraid to mess with it. I will make very minor ajustments now that it works decent.