Humminbird 898 si hd combo

[crappietale]

I used my Humminbird 898c SI sonar/GPS combo on LAKE SUPERIOR for the first time 3 weeks ago. We trolled in waters from 40' to 180' for lake trout. The unit performed flawlessly in depths out to about 100', but unexpectedly and unpredictably the digital depth reading would suddenly go to something ridiculous like 2 FEET. The sonar screen would stop and seconds later it would be full of crazy zig zag groups of pixels scrolling right to left. Sometimes the unit would "recover" and work properly, but other times it just kept on with the "nonsense." If I shut the unit off and then tuned it back on it would start reading just fine....BUT.....sometime later the correct digital depth would change to something very shallow and....here we go again.
I had all of the most recent software updates installed. The unit was set to all factory default settings. I have no other electronics on my boat. I was trolling at very low RPMs If this problem was due to electrical interference it should have gone crazy in shallow water too, but this problem is isolated to water OVER 100'.
It will be a huge inconvenience if I have to try out a new transducer or a new head unit because in order to get my boat back on water over 100' I have to drive about 200 miles...ONE WAY!
If anyone can suggest a reason why this is happening....and a fix.. I am all ears (eyes).
Thanks for ANY suggestions!

[rnvinc]

Are you running any other units at the same time...??

Are you using the AS SIDB Y cable with a shoot thru hull 2d xducer...??

Is there anyone you can test your head unit on their xducer or test their head unit on your xducer...??

Rickie

[crappietale]

I have no other electronics on my boat except my marine VHF radio. The marina installed the transom mount transducer that came in the box with the unit. Yes, I can test either the head unit or transducer with different ones BUT.....then I would have to get the boat back to waters over 100' where the problem occurs. For me that would mean a road trip 200 miles ONE WAY. I just don't think (as the customer) I should have to go to that inconvenience and expense to isolate the problem. Unless this problem can be solved by something less than swapping heads/transducers and then driving 400 miles to test each one, I may just return it for a refund and buy something (Lowrance) else. I am still open to any other advice or suggestions.
The only difference in when it works properly and when it doesn't is the depth of the water I am in. I can troll in water less that about 100' all day and it performs great, but when I troll out to depths of 120'-180' the problem starts. Same everything except the depth is different. Makes no sense to me at all. Thank you for your post.

[Shellback]

I feel your pain about long trips to check out a problem. Humminbird customer service would be the place to start. Seeing how you aren't making a trip tomorrow, save yourself some pain and wait until later in the week to call them. Early in the week there's usually longer hold times on the phone. Too late now, but did you try changing transducer frequency settings? You have, 200, 83, or both. I think 200 is better for deeper water. I set mine on both, and it should work properly in deep water. But there's always the chance of a failure.

[rnvinc]

I agree...the depth issue makes no sense at all...

Sometimes tracking down a problem is a process of elimination...

Can you post pictures of your xducer install...?? (From the rear and from the side at xducer level)...

These xducer's are very particular about placement...

Pictures of the xducer install may help us help you...(if its an installation issue)...

These are things some here may be able to help with while we wait for the weekend to be over where you can call HB...

Rickie

[kosmo]

Maybe adjusting the surface clutter would help..also you could try changing from fresh water setting to something else . There's noise settings that be changed also. I would also try shutting the outbound off just to see if it makes a difference. That's all that i cab think of for now good luck

[crappietale]

Here are a couple of pics.

Transom mounted transducer. The tech who saw this said the installation looks fine.

This screen shot shows it all. The left shows a good accurate view....the middle is wacko....and the right(newest information) is locked on again. Sometimes the unit recovers by itself like this and sometimes not. Notice the digital depth (top left) is 166' while the depth of the bottom at the grid on the right is about 140'. BIG DIFFERENCE!! This screen shot shows the whole screen gone haywire. The digital depth says 18.2' but the actual depth is 150'!!!

[crappietale]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try 1) adjusting surface clutter. 2) adjusting the noise filter. 3) shutting off the motor while the screen is haywire to see it it recovers and 4) Check the xducer settin to see which one(or both) it's set on. This means another long trip to get the boat on deep water, but that seems inevitable with any solution. Having seen the photos, are there any other ideas?

[rnvinc]

All the things you just mentioned would be good to try...

It seems to me (from the screen images) that the unit is picking up enough clutter in the water column to make the unit think its the bottom...

Like kosmo mentioned...try the salt water settings as these settings will filter out some of this water column stuff...

I would also try the 200kHz only under the sonar tab so that the unit doesn't alternately ping the 83kHz ...this will make it ping the narrow cone 200kHz every time where the unit will have more frequent depth readings...

On another note not even related to this depth problem...

Is your left SI not getting a good picture...?? (it looks like the motor mount would block the left SI beam...)

Rickie

[mduncan62]

Humminbird customer service would be the place to start. Seeing how you aren't making a trip tomorrow, save yourself some pain and wait until later in the week to call them. Early in the week there's usually longer hold times on the phone.

This has been what everyone has been saying for years.... Is this a sign of a "good" customer service? Waiting on hold for 45 minutes or more, or just not getting through at all. I deal a lot with Dell, HP, and other companies for CS, and there isn't a day that I can't get quality customer service without wasting my time. Just saying that if it's been a problem for several years, you'd think the company would take care of it.