Transducer failure?

[Gronk]

What are the first signs of transducer failures? I have a LOWRANCE 337 and recently the unit keeps loosing its depth. It takes a bit until it locates it but you tend to be fishing blind. I checked the transducer and its aligned properly and it doesn't feel as if I have hit anything.
If the bottom is flat no problem but if you get into pinnacles and such it useless.
Yesterday I was fishing Sangster and the bottom is all up and down and the sounder had a tough time same story today except a friend was fishing there in his boat and his sounder was acting up.

So do you guys think its an equipment failure or is it the weird bottom structure at Sangster?

 

[fishwish]

Gronk,

I have a 335 CDF, that I think would be about a year older than yours. It all of a sudden one day simply stopped reading anything deeper than 180'. When I called Lowrance, they were very helpful, but they did simply say that the transducer was pooched. I had used the unit for 4 seasons, and they said that that was about the lifespan of a transducer in salt water ?????? I bought a new one, replaced it, and it has worked fine since.

One thing that they said (that I actually did quite often) was that it is hard on the transducer if the unit is on when the boat is on the trailer. I now shut the sonar off when I'm looking at my electronic charts when the boat is in the workshop

Sorry I didn't have an easy solution for you,

FishWish

 

[Lipripper]

quote:Originally posted by Gronk

What are the first signs of transducer failures? I have a LOWRANCE 337

Thats the first sign

 

[Cuba Libre]

Ripper--- ya beat me to it!!

20ft Alumaweld Intruder

 

[fishwish]

Aww....come on guys.....be nice to us Lowrance faithful

FishWish

 

[TheBigGuy]

Just a suggestion, not saying it is the cause of your problem. Check the voltage on the battery that your unit is running off of. I had a Lowrance that became totally unreliable for bottom readout if the battery wasn't totally charged up and in good condition. If your battery is older and isn't being charged while trolling this could be an issue. Worth checking anyways. The only way to be really sure without buying a new transducer is if you have a buddy who has a good working Lowrance unit that uses a similar transducer on his boat. Either try your unit on his boat or try his on yours. That should tell you if your transducer is the problem.

 

[jimbob]

I had a similar problem the other day with my Lowrance transducer (LCX 18C). it was working fine and then suddenly started to read 8.5 feet in water that was more than 200 feet deep off Secretary Island. I fiddled with it for a while and could not get it to read properly. Finally I turned off the unit and re-started it and all was well. Not sure why it quit working and not sure why it started working again after I turned it off and on.

 

[TenMile]

Had very similar issues with one of the Lowrance skimmer models. Would give some odd bottom readings + would NEVER work at any speed beyond trolling. I finally found a used Airmar P71 shoot thru model and it makes the world of difference. It holds bottom at all speeds up to about 400' depth (at 26 kts) and at trolling speed can hit bottom up to about 1000' (tried it off San Juan Island). These units are 600w so paint the structure much better with greater reliability. Picked it up used for $50 -- it had the wrong wiring harness, but I snipped it and used the old one from the Lowrance and just mated up the wires colour for colour and it works great.

TenMile
<'((((><

 

[scott craven]

This may be too obvious, but have you checked your mount to
make sure the transducer is shooting down at the right angle ?
have had mine go off, and usually it's from hitting a stick in the water which pops it back.

 

[Sea Ranger]

When I bought my depth sounder it came with a faulty transducer. I tried everything to get it to work before I finally realized that the transducer was faulty. I ended up buying a new one and problem was fixed but one thing I found out was to wipe the bottom of the transducer off when it comes out of the water and or wipe off the bottom of the transducer with a rag while its in the water. (if you can reach it) Sometimes something as small as a sheen of oil on it can cause a problem. Now out of habit I always wipe off the bottom of my transducer at least once or twice a trip. Steve.

And remember....Keep your tip up!!!

 

[eaglemaniac]

Those Lowrance skimmers are notorious for packing it in. Check where the wire goes into the skimmer, if its loose then it's toast. Also check the plug-in, same thing. I've replaced at least a half dozen over the years, most at Lowrances cost. They are totally aware of the problem. eman

 

[doger5]

Always had problems losing bottom with the lowrance transducer, even with a new HDS7 sounder and tranducer finaly went with a B164 airmar

 

[finaddict]

I first noticed a problem with my Eagle DF 420 right after I ran over a log and it was swinging from the cable. After that it just could never seem to find bottom