Humminbird 596 Help Needed

[Ricochet15]

I have a Humminbird 596c HD DI I've had for about a year and a half. Had it installed originally and worked great for a little over a year. Then it started reading randoom depth readings. It's installed on the bow of the boat, and when I'm in 15ft of water for example it will jump something like 300ft, 800, 1400, 10, 2 ,1000.... Just random jumping on the depth the console finder stays at 15 ft which should be about correct for the location I'm in. Started doing it just before I bought a new boat, transferred it to the new boat, still did it. One time it was installed by a dealer the other time a shop that deals just in trolling motors and depth finders and is a warranty center for trolling motors. I changed out the trolling motor on the new boat for a Terrova with the US2 and tried using the built in transducer, still having the same problem. Has good voltage readings, I have been in contact with Humminbird it's been reset to defaults still had them problem. Finally they said the unit needs to come in for service to get this lined out. Sent it to them paid them almost $200 to "fix" it. They said the couldn't find anything wrong with unit, kept the money, and it still doesn't work. I'm at a loss someone please help. I've pretty much given up on Humminbird they can't seem to figure it out, and they charged me to not do anything to but check it and say it's fine even though somethings obviously not. Thank you in advance for any help.

[Treeline]

Well here goes.. I had a 597 HD DI that did the same thing. A customer service rep told me to Set water type to salt water deep..Surface clutter on 9 and the max depth needs to be set to 10 feet deeper than you would normally fish on your lake.. And it worked.. I think the auto setting for maximum depth is what causes it to jump around. I assume your 596 has these same settins. The salt water deep setting is visible in the sonar menu when you have selected advanced user mode in setup menu. Hope this helps.

[bowhunter1]

I don't know how the universal sonar works on the minkotas, but I would check the transducer cable out for signs of pinch points. I had my readings start jumping all over on my 798 when I would use my trolling motor and then go back to normal when I took my foot off the pedal. Upon closer examination I found I pinched the transducer cable and broke a wire in it... New transducer fixed the oroblem

[Ricochet15]

Thanks for the help. I have checked all the wires for the transducer cable and its all good. I'll give the settings a try and see if it helps.

[Humminbird_Greg]

Ricochet15,
Does this happen when the trolling motor is off and the other sonar unit is off?
Does this only happen when in 15 feet of water or at all water depths?
What do you have the Imaging Frequency menu set at when this happens?
Do not run your 596c HD DI unit with the US2 transducer as it was not designed to work with the DI units.

[Ricochet15]

Doesn't matter if the trolling motor is on or off does it all the time at all depths not just 15' of water. Also doesn't matter if the other sonar unit is on or off, originally when it worked the other sonar could be on and it worked fine, now it doesn't matter, it just acts the same. I understand the DI won't work with the US2 I was trying a different transducer as I was told to do, it malfunctions with the correct transducer as well. I'm not sure what the imaging frequency is set to right off I'll have to check. Thank you for the response.

[Cray]

Im like Bowhunter, everytime i have had a problem like that its been in ducer cable or connector pins. I would try my best to find someone that has a bird similar to yours and try your unit on their set up.

[Humminbird_Greg]

Ricochet15,
Because of the way the DI model units use the sonar beams, you will have to test your 596c HD DI unit on another DI model transducer. The US2, normal 2D and Side Imaging transducers will not work for this. So the problem could be in the transducer even if the cable is not damaged.

[PUBoiler]

Ricochet15,
Because of the way the DI model units use the sonar beams, you will have to test your 596c HD DI unit on another DI model transducer. The US2, normal 2D and Side Imaging transducers will not work for this. So the problem could be in the transducer even if the cable is not damaged.

Humminbird already tested the unit and determined it was OK. What are the odds that (2) transducers he's tested have the exact same problem, especially with one of them being new? Why not just send him the filtered power cord and the ferrite ring and get it over with. It never ceases to amaze me how far Humminbird will go to avoid what has to now be the odds on favorite for the solution to these problems. Even if it doesn't end up being the problem, it will certainly rule it out AND leave the customer with the PROPER equipment that should have come with his unit to begin with.

[Humminbird_Greg]

PUBoiler,
He has not tested his unit on two transducer that should work with his 596c HD DI unit. The US2 transducer in Minn Kota trolling motors will not work with the DI model units. They must use a DI model transducer in order to read the lake bottom depth correctly as they work differently from our other units. He has stated that this happens regardless of whether the trolling motor is running or not so I really doubt that the filtered power cable and ferrite rings will help any. The best way to rule out any sort of interference is to make sure that the unit you are testing is the only electrical device that on at that time.