H-bird PiranhaMAX 170 question

Bought a boat mid Sept, and it had a dead Piranha on it. Bought a new 170 and plugged into old power and transducer, worked OK. Thursday I kept seeing bunches of fish 10 ft off bottom, thought I found the mother load. Then I noticed flashing in the bottom left corner"simulation".....? I turned it off & on, changed depth, sensitivity, and about everything else but no better. I got a message about transducer not connected and unplugged/plugged in but no change. When I pulled the boat out I looked at the foot. Everything looked OK, no torn wires. What's up??? Temp reading looked OK all day. It never read depth above about 7 mph. This thing is driving me nuts! Who knows this unit? :confused:

I have the P-Max 220- sounds like your unit is in demo mode, it defaults into demo mode when it doesnt detect a transducer. You could have a cut transducer wire somewhere and not know it. "Simulation" is demo mode. Temp is displayed in simulation mode. It will also show fish, bottom contour change etc. When you fire up the unit, it will look for the transducer, it will tell you if it found teh transducer. It could be that the transducer you ahve is not the right version? Since you bought a new unit, hook up the transducer that came with it and see if that makes a difference.

Rain today but if is OK tomorrow we'll head for the river. I'll try it again then I'll plug in the one that came with it and hang it off transom beside the mounted one. If it works I'll start fishing the wire through when we get home, if not I'll know it's the head ??? Sound reasonable?

If you get it figured out let me know...send me a PM. I have one doing the same thing and I have tried three trandsucers that are the correct type and are good and I get the same thing.

G3

I would call out customer service group and let them send you one out of stock and see what happen. There number is 800-633-1468. It should not be a problem to send you one.

Gator Bait

I would try the new transducer and it should detect the transducer and not go into the simulator mode.

Joby, I got it as a gift last Christmas....I do not have a receipt. Humminbird Customer service wants a flat fee of $69.95 ( you can buy a new one for $25 more ) to repair this because I do not have proof of purchase for warranty.

OK...that explains some things! I got under the boat with a camera and found the manuf. or dealer mounted the transducer IN LINE with the ONLY strake on the hull!

No wonder I loose mph when I get above 7 mph (gps).

Attachment 50269

Measured along transom line it is 27" from center to outside edge. The strake is about 13 1/2" from center with the trailer bunk along outside edge of strake

Attachment 50267

Manual calls for at least 15" from motor, looks a bit close to me.


It is 8" from bunk to edge of hull. I would think half way between would be the best place for the transducer. Flat away from motor, strake and bunk.

Man I love digital cameras!
What do you all think?

not real smart about these things, but I'd put the 'ducer just to the right of the bunk in the pic.

Yup, that's what I was thinking. About 2-3" right of the bunk should just about center it between strake and edge. That's about as flat and smooth as it's going to get.