Problems with Hummingbird 570 DI

I bought the unit new winter 11, used it all year last year but started having problems with it the last couple trips out last Oct. I thought maybe it was something with where I had the transducer on my boat or maybe it was water clarity or something like that. I just for a new(to me) boat and I put the 570 on it. I mounted the transducer in the same place as the previous one was, and on my maiden voyage yesterday, I was having the same problem as in Oct, only it got worse as the day went on.

What it is doing is it'll show accurate depth, then it'll switch randomly to other depths. I'm talking it'll switch from 8 ft to 40 to 70 to 30 to 80 to 50 to 8 and all around every few seconds. the temps don't change, just the depths and the screen. I tried resetting to default settings, I did the startup menu and it says self test ok. There are 87 hours on the unit total according to the setup screen. I just don't see why this would be doing this.
Another thing I noticed was I remember last year you could hear the little clicks or pings from the transducer. They were pretty fast, but I noticed last night they are much slower than I remembered them. Made me wonder if my transducer is just bad.......but you wouldn't think it was being it was bought new a year ago and only has 87 hours on it.

I'm going to see if I can find all my info, and hopefully there is some sort of coverage for such a thing. I read about software updates, but I have no idea about any of that stuff. Any help is appreciated!

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Originally Posted by rockbass

I bought the unit new winter 11, used it all year last year but started having problems with it the last couple trips out last Oct. I thought maybe it was something with where I had the transducer on my boat or maybe it was water clarity or something like that. I just for a new(to me) boat and I put the 570 on it. I mounted the transducer in the same place as the previous one was, and on my maiden voyage yesterday, I was having the same problem as in Oct, only it got worse as the day went on.

What it is doing is it'll show accurate depth, then it'll switch randomly to other depths. I'm talking it'll switch from 8 ft to 40 to 70 to 30 to 80 to 50 to 8 and all around every few seconds. the temps don't change, just the depths and the screen. I tried resetting to default settings, I did the startup menu and it says self test ok. There are 87 hours on the unit total according to the setup screen. I just don't see why this would be doing this.
Another thing I noticed was I remember last year you could hear the little clicks or pings from the transducer. They were pretty fast, but I noticed last night they are much slower than I remembered them. Made me wonder if my transducer is just bad.......but you wouldn't think it was being it was bought new a year ago and only has 87 hours on it.

I'm going to see if I can find all my info, and hopefully there is some sort of coverage for such a thing. I read about software updates, but I have no idea about any of that stuff. Any help is appreciated!

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rockbass, im going to say it is possible you are having RF interference! Humminbird has a fix for this if you go to their web site. I had to do the same with my depthfinder becuase of this issue! Hope this helps.

ok....what is RF interference? I took it out today and sitting still it read what was prob accurate, then started random again. Had a record depth recorded though. 724 ft

When you power on your unit, immediately start pressing menu. This will bring up a screen that will allow you check your units data. Check what software you have. I've had the same issues, mine is version 5.250. HB said that this is most likely the issue and to return in and they'll re-program.

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Originally Posted by rockbass

ok....what is RF interference? I took it out today and sitting still it read what was prob accurate, then started random again. Had a record depth recorded though. 724 ft

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rockbass try looking at Humminbird :: Fishfinder :: Depth Finder :: GPS Chartplotters :: Side Imaging Sonar Technology :: Marine Fish Finders and go to the support column. click on it and in the right hand column drop down will be a electric interference then click on it and a good description will be on it! Better then what i can tell you?

Could possibly be a broken wire inside your transducers cord. My 798 would read fine when the boat wasn't moving and then when I hit the throttle on the trolling motor the depth readout would jump from 6feet to 100 feet. Upon further investigation my trolling motor shaft pinched the cord and snapped a wire inside....

It sounds like a transducer problem. on a different unit I had it read the depth and then all of a sudden it said I was in 36 feet of water and I was in like 3 feet. I could see the bottom. The water temp stayed the same. I tried resetting the unit. I was going crazy trying to figure out the problem it was like the unit was in demo mode but could find a setting like that. Then upon further investigation I realized the transducer plug wasn't pushed all the way in on the back of the unit. Once I pushed it in it was working fine . Maybe you have a bad connection or a broken wire like bowhunter already mentioned .

I'll check the version today.

I shouldn't have any pinches in the wire......but never know I guess. Of course there's a one year warranty, but that would have expired before I got the boat out since I bought it in the winter last year.

The unit will do this no matter if I'm moving or not. Trolling motor or outboard on or off. I have the finder on it's own battery with the lights, but the only thing on was the finder. I made sure to try it every which way. I'll be checking the version this afternoon. Hopfully that's all it is and they can get it turned around quick. I have a crappie tourney in 2 weeks. It's driving me nuts not being able to know the depths in areas I'm not familiar with.
Thank you all for the input. I knew this was the best site to ask questions!

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Originally Posted by filletfetish

When you power on your unit, immediately start pressing menu. This will bring up a screen that will allow you check your units data. Check what software you have. I've had the same issues, mine is version 5.250. HB said that this is most likely the issue and to return in and they'll re-program.

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Did the reprogram solve the problem? I just checked mine and it is 5.25. I'm going to get ahold of them ASAP to find out exactly what I have to do.

rockbass,
There have been several changes to the software to help the units read the correct water depth in shallower water. How shallow depends on the bottom type. If you know of someone that has the PC Connect cables you could register your unit and update it yourself as opposed to shipping it into us to get it updated. Some marine dealers may have these on hand.