Garmin shutting off

I have a Garmin Striker 4 I used on my kayak. Works great. Sold the kayak and have a Gheenoe now, moved the Garmin and mounted the transducer on the trolling motor. Now the Garmin will just shut down. Sometimes it will work fine for a few minutes, maybe 30 minutes, or it may shut down just as soon as I power it up. Battery good & fully charged.
Any ideas?
(I did occasionally flip the transducer arm out of the water while paddling to reduce drag while paddling, without turning it off. I've read varying reports this COULD cause transducer damage due to heat and I've read, NO that won't hurt the newer designs. Regardless, it wasn't like it was out of the water and operating for hours. It worked flawlessly until I moved it to the new boat)

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Originally Posted by Bigtrout

I have a Garmin Striker 4 I used on my kayak. Works great. Sold the kayak and have a Gheenoe now, moved the Garmin and mounted the transducer on the trolling motor. Now the Garmin will just shut down. Sometimes it will work fine for a few minutes, maybe 30 minutes, or it may shut down just as soon as I power it up. Battery good & fully charged.
Any ideas?
(I did occasionally flip the transducer arm out of the water while paddling to reduce drag while paddling, without turning it off. I've read varying reports this COULD cause transducer damage due to heat and I've read, NO that won't hurt the newer designs. Regardless, it wasn't like it was out of the water and operating for hours. It worked flawlessly until I moved it to the new boat)

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Does this model have a cradle where the head unit can be detached? I have heard of the pins becoming loose on these cradles.

If not, how does the power cable plug in? Same issue here. Could be a broken/bent pin or corrosion. Can you power the unit on and wiggle the power connector to see if your unit shuts down? Lastly, check all connections from the battery for tightness/integrity and corrosion.

Unit snaps onto a base but no connection there. Power from battery and transducer cable plugs tightly into back of the unit. Everything is tight and the unit is relatively new, only about 4 months old, so no corrosion. Battery is a small fence battery, connections are good. Only thing I can think is transducer cable is cinched tightly to trolling motor shaft, though I doubt that is the problem. Only other suspect is heavy dew covered and then driving with it wet could have forced moisture into connecting port at the power cable. I’ve never had it that wet then driven with it. Also got it soaked in a downpour the last time I used it on the kayak. I know they aren’t water”proof” but assumed they are water”tight” to getting wet.
Otherwise, no clue.

Since it has a power cable plug on the unit and not a cradle type connection, 1^st Doublecheck your connections at the battery and any inline fuse holder for a possible faulty connection.
If problem still persist after ruling out connections, you suspected a possible problem with the transducer cable, try unplugging the transducer cable from the unit and power it up. If it still continues to go off, I would suggest ordering a new power cable and see if the problem goes away. Shouldn’t cost that much for a cable. If it doesn’t fix your problem then more than likely it’s in the unit. you have narrowed it down to the unit by process of illumination. If its only 4 or 5 months old it should be under warranty. Garmin will repair it or just replace it.

That unit has a system alarm you can turn on to monitor battery voltage. Its worth a try to see if your battery is holding up.
Even brand new batteries can be bad.

Well, when I put the battery on the charger at the end of the day it usually shows 80% +\- On the unit it shows like 13.1v beginning of the day and with use shows 12v. Never dropped below that and with two days use the battery never dropped below 60%. Don’t think it’s the battery. But I’m also thinking that little fuse capsule could possibly have gotten dunked in water in the bottom of the boat which may not be water tight. Seems that could possibly cause connection issues.

It's just the crappy power connector.

I have a Striker 5DV and a 7SV. Both shut off occasionally because the power connectors come loose. They are just a slip fit and won't stay put in heavy chop, or if you move the headunit around.

It really stinks because these are great units, but I will not buy another unless they put a proper screw lock connector on them.