Humminbird Display Problems

Ive got a 385CI and Installed the transducer on one of the clamp on mounts on the transom of my jon boat, I made sure the transducer was more than 15 inches from the prop and angled correctly with the bottom of the tranducer about an inch below the hull of the boat. Now it worked fine for the first couple of trips but now ive got Vertcal bars on the display spaced evenly, doesnt matter how deep the water is...whether the motor is on or off. Im baffled ive call Humminbird tech support three times each time ive waited over 15 min to an half hour and given up. PLEASE help me get the most out of this $400 piece of plastic that aggervates the crap out of me.:confused:

Sounds like a ground issue. Need to ground the neg. side to boat from battery.

Im not following you DTG, Ground the FF to the battery to my Alumunum boat?

Are you 12v or 24v

Make sure the neg side of your ff is run directly to the battery.

Hmmm you just made me think... ive got both FF front & rear tied together and grounded, its 12 volt...Im goig to try wiring them seperate then hooking them to the battery.

After you check your wiring and that does not solve the problem I would call our customer service group at 800-633-1468. If you have any issues let me know.

Percidae Papermouth,
You say that you are seeing evenly spaced vertical lines. Is this only when running the other sonar unit on your boat? Try turning it off and see if that clears it up. If it does, turn the second sonar unit back on and adjust the Noise Filter menu in the 385ci unit until the sonar interference goes away.

If the interference does not go away when the other sonar unit is turned off than try turning everything else on the boat off as well (motors, livewells, radios…). Than start turning each device back on one at a time until the interference shows again. The noise filter menu may help with these as well but you may have a grounding issue on your boat like DTG is referring to.

Thanks greg, i turned everything off and wired them seperate. It would read ok in 30+ FOW but would go haywire in anything shallower....I got my new transducer in the mail yesterday, Hooked it up last night and fished the Buggs Island crappie bash today, worked perfect! Found two brush piles and marked a couple of perfect fish arches. The wind was difficult but we managed to catch 8 crappie largest at 11.25 Inches.

Thanks Joby! You hit the nail on the head with the transducer being faulty, You have sold me on hummingbird, your customer service speaks for itself.